Gerard Pique will be looking to get one over on Manchester United when he faces his old club in the Champions League final at the end of the month. Pique made the move back to his native Spain last summer having been raised under the wing of Sir Alex Ferguson at United.Now Pique wants to snuff out the United attack and prove to the current European champions that they were wrong for ever agreeing to let him leave. He said: “It means a lot. It will be special because I have three good years there, maybe I didn’t play a lot but they were important years for me.”
“There are no words to describe how happy the team is. A team like this, trying to attack all the time, cannot go 180 minutes without scoring a goal. It was in the last minute but it was enough.”
The significance of Pique’s transition as a player is outlined by the fact he is bound to start the final for arguably Europe’s best current team, when he would have struggled to even get in the squad if he was still at United. There will not be any malice or bitterness in his wanting to beat United, but he will be spurred on by the fact that he feels he may have something to prove.
If it is a good night in Rome for Pique then he won’t have an awful lot to do but this is very doubtful considering the rampant display that United showed against Arsenal the other night. Even Barca’s players could not help but sit back and admire the way they destroyed Arsene Wenger’s men.
The Spaniard has transformed himself from a fringe player at United into a first team regular at Barcelona and he will square up in the opposite number to Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic in the hope that his team comes out well on top. If he scores then celebrations are unlikely as is the mutual respect obviously evident between Pique and his former club, but he will be as determined as ever when he puts on that Barca shirt.
It is impossible to predict what Pique’s performance will be like in the final. Both United and Barca have come a long way from the club’s they were this time a year ago. On the one hand United have learnt how to win the hard way and get through dodgy spells of form and bad performances this season. On the other, Barca have proved that they can take apart any team at will, but have frailties that United can exploit.
Pique will have one hell of a time trying to keep Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney quite all night when the teams meet in Italy but the determination he must feel after his Old Trafford exit could raise his level of performance to heights that United fans didn’t know he could reach. It is an impossible final to call but the feelings involved are already open on display.
“There are no words to describe how happy the team is. A team like this, trying to attack all the time, cannot go 180 minutes without scoring a goal. It was in the last minute but it was enough.”
The significance of Pique’s transition as a player is outlined by the fact he is bound to start the final for arguably Europe’s best current team, when he would have struggled to even get in the squad if he was still at United. There will not be any malice or bitterness in his wanting to beat United, but he will be spurred on by the fact that he feels he may have something to prove.
If it is a good night in Rome for Pique then he won’t have an awful lot to do but this is very doubtful considering the rampant display that United showed against Arsenal the other night. Even Barca’s players could not help but sit back and admire the way they destroyed Arsene Wenger’s men.
The Spaniard has transformed himself from a fringe player at United into a first team regular at Barcelona and he will square up in the opposite number to Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic in the hope that his team comes out well on top. If he scores then celebrations are unlikely as is the mutual respect obviously evident between Pique and his former club, but he will be as determined as ever when he puts on that Barca shirt.
It is impossible to predict what Pique’s performance will be like in the final. Both United and Barca have come a long way from the club’s they were this time a year ago. On the one hand United have learnt how to win the hard way and get through dodgy spells of form and bad performances this season. On the other, Barca have proved that they can take apart any team at will, but have frailties that United can exploit.
Pique will have one hell of a time trying to keep Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney quite all night when the teams meet in Italy but the determination he must feel after his Old Trafford exit could raise his level of performance to heights that United fans didn’t know he could reach. It is an impossible final to call but the feelings involved are already open on display.
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