Football Player's Biography 7: Gerard Piqué

Full name	Gerard Piqué i Bernabéu
Date of birth	2 February 1987 (1987-02-02) (age 24)
Place of birth	Barcelona, Spain
Height	1.92 m (6 ft 3¹⁄₂ in)^[1]
Playing position	Centre back

Gerard Piqué i Bernabéu (Catalan pronunciation: [ʒəˈɾar piˈke]; born 2 February 1987 in Barcelona, Catalonia) is a Spanish footballer, currently playing as a central defender for FC Barcelona.
A product of Barça's cantera, he initially left the club for Manchester United in 2004, where he remained for four years, before returning to Barça under Josep Guardiola's leadership, helping the club become the first Spanish club ever to complete the treble. Piqué is one of four players to have won the UEFA Champions League two years in a row with different teams, the others being Marcel Desailly, Paulo Sousa and Samuel Eto'o.^[2]
Piqué has also represented the Spanish national team, making his debut on 11 February 2009. He played an integral role in the Spain team that won the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Club career

Early career

Piqué started his career in FC Barcelona's youth teams as a defensive midfielder, but before he signed his first professional contract with the club, he decided to join Manchester United. The Premier League side did not pay a fee for Piqué as he was too young to have a professional contract.

Return to Barcelona

On 27 May 2008, Piqué signed a four-year contract with Barcelona, with a €50 million buy-out clause.^[3] Barcelona paid a €5 million fee for the player, which later escalated to €11.5 million after making his 50th appearance.^[4] He expressed his joy at re-signing with his boyhood club, although he admitted he had enjoyed his spell at Manchester United
Piqué's first goal for Barcelona came in the club's 5–2 UEFA Champions League group stage win at Sporting CP on 26 November 2008. His first domestic goal for the club followed two months later, on 29 January 2009, in a Copa del Rey match against local rivals Espanyol. The goal, which came from a corner kick in the 57th minute, turned out to be the game winner in a 3–2 victory for Barcelona.^[5]
Piqué scored his first league goal for Barcelona on 2 May 2009, in a 6–2 away thrashing of Real Madrid, in El Clásico. On 13 May 2009, he picked up the first trophy of his Barcelona career as he helped his club to a 4–1 victory over Athletic Bilbao in the Copa Del Rey final. Three days later, Barcelona clinched the league title after Real Madrid lost 3–2 to Villarreal, with two games left in the season.
He played against his former club Manchester United in the 2009 Champions League Final on 27 May, which Barcelona won 2–0, hence completing a historic treble. On 26 February 2010, Pique signed a contract extension that will keep him at Barcelona until at least the summer of 2015.^[6] On 28 April 2010, Pique scored in Barcelona's semi-final second leg against Internazionale, scoring the only Barcelona goal of the game. Barcelona lost 3–2 on aggregate.^[7]

International career

Piqué was a member of the Spain under-19 side that won the 2006 U-19 European Championship in Poland.^[8] In a 2–1 final win against Scotland, Piqué put in a strong performance in defence, hitting the crossbar with a header, and also providing his team's second goal for striker Alberto Bueno.^[9]
Subsequently, he played in the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup, starting all six of Spain's matches and scoring a goal in the team's come-from-behind 4–2 victory over Brazil in the round of 16.^[10] However, Piqué missed the deciding penalty against the Czech Republic and Spain were eliminated at the quarter-final stage.^[11]
On 6 February 2009, Piqué was called up to the senior squad for the friendly against England on 11 February.^[12] He played the entire match in a 2–0 win, in Seville.

On 28 March 2009, he was called-up as a replacement for injured teammate Carles Puyol, and ended up scoring the only goal in Spain's victory in the 2010 World Cup qualifier against Turkey in Madrid, in what was only his second appearance.^[14] Four days later, he also started in Istanbul in a 2–1 win, also in the group stage.^[15] Pique was Spain's first-choice centre back playing along side Barcelona teammate Carles Puyol at the World Cup finals in South Africa, starting all seven matches as Spain won the tournament, defeating the Netherlands 1–0 in the final. In Spain's 1-0 group stage defeat to Switzerland, just before Gelson Fernandes scored the only goal of the game, Swiss striker Eren Derdiyok tumbled over Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas and accidentally kicked Piqué in the face, knocking him over and leaving him with a nasty cut beside his right eye

Personal life

Piqué was raised in a Catalan family. His father is a lawyer, and his mother is the director of a medical institute.^[23] His grandfather, Amador Bernabéu, is the former vice-president of Barcelona.
He is very good friends with fellow club colleagues Carles Puyol, Bojan Krkić, Spanish national teammate Cesc Fàbregas, as well as former Manchester United teammate Rio Ferdinand, who he often jokes around with on Twitter. It has been rumored that he and Sergio Ramos aren't on good terms. ^[24]^[25]
Piqué has been rumored to have once dated model turned Bollywood actress and Miss Universe UK 2008, Lisa Lazarus.^[26] He is currently dating Shakira, whom he met in the summer of 2010 in South Africa where the pop singer performed at the World Cup.^[27]^[28]^[29] Piqué was also featured in the music video for Shakira's Waka Waka (This Time for Africa), to celebrate South Africa hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2010.