Barcelona defender Gerard Pique announces retirement after decorated career

Syed Shayaan Bakht, Gulf Today

Spanish star and Barcelona defender Gerard Pique suddenly announced his retirement from football at the age of 35, stressing that he will play his last match on Saturday.

"Saturday's match (against Almeria in the league) will be my last at the Camp Nou," the star player said in a video posted on his social networking sites.

"Football gave me everything, Barcelona gave me everything, and you Catalans gave me everything," he continued in a short film in which scenes appear as a child dressed in Barcelona's uniform. Now that that boy's dreams have come true, I want to tell you that it is time to put an end to this journey.”

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"I have always said that there will be no team after Barcelona...Sooner or later I will be back."

Pique arrived in Barcelona at the age of ten before leaving Catalonia in 2004 to join the Manchester United academy, with which he won the domestic league title and the European Champions League in 2008, before returning in the same year to the childhood club.

With Barcelona, he won eight titles in the Spanish League, the Champions League three times (2009, 2011 and 2015), the King's Cup seven times in addition to other titles.

He played with the Spanish national team between 2009 and 2018, and won the 2010 World Cup and the 2012 European Cup, before retiring from international football after the last World Cup in Russia.

Off the field, he was associated with the Lebanese-Colombian singer Shakira, and they have two sons, but they announced their separation last June.