He enjoyed a close, albeit unlikely, friendship with Barça colleague Puyol, in many ways his polar opposite and who acted like an older, wiser brother.
"I tried a few pranks when I went back to Barcelona, like deflating car tyres, and they went ballistic at me." Piqué did not entirely lose his mischievous side, however, setting off a stink bomb on the team plane on a pre-season trip to Helsinki. "They do hilarious things to each other and it's fine they don't complain, they just try to get their own back," he said, recalling one instance when Patrice Evra's brand new shoes were burned.
Piqué took a particular interest in the dressing-room pranks at Manchester United.
#Piqua now plaaying full
The centre-back had a traumatic brush with tragedy as a toddler, falling off a balcony in his grandparents' home and spending hours in a coma before making a full recovery.Ģ011 final highlights: Barcelona 3-1 Man.
He was born and bred a Barcelona fan thanks to grandfather Amador Bernabéu, a longstanding club director and vice-president, who signed him up as a member the day he was born.
Piqué's latest Barcelona contract runs until June 2022 and includes a buyout clause of €500m.
"The day before every game, we always meet up in the captain's room and speak about everything."įrom the archives: Piqué speaks to in 2007 "Now we have a great relationship," he said of Ramos.
Piqué won the 2010 World Cup and UEFA EURO 2012 with Spain, striking an unexpected partnership with Real Madrid rival Sergio Ramos in the heart of defence as his club-mate Carles Puyol was injured.
The defender made his Spain debut in a 2-0 friendly win against England on 6 February 2009 and had a dream competitive debut in a FIFA World Cup qualifier against Turkey the following month, grabbing the only goal in a 1-0 victory.
A losing finalist at U17 level in 2004 against Karim Benzema's France, he won the 2006 UEFA European Under-19 Championship with Spain – yet missed the decisive shoot-out penalty as his side were beaten by Czech Republic in the quarter-finals of the 2007 FIFA U20 World Cup.
A striker as a youngster, Piqué has always liked getting forward and boasts an impressive 39 goals for Barça, making him the club's third top scoring centre-back, behind Alexanko (42 goals) and Ronald Koeman (90).
Piqué has now lifted 28 trophies with Barcelona, including seven Liga titles and three UEFA Champions Leagues, making him the joint third most decorated player in Blaugrana history alongside Sergio Busquets, behind only Andrés Iniesta (32) and Lionel Messi (33).
The game was notable for Barça's supreme control in midfield but Piqué made a vital early intervention, bravely blocking a goal-bound shot from Ji-Sung Park to prevent United scoring first.
Piqué ended up being a European champion in successive seasons with different clubs he appeared three times in United's 2008 UEFA Champions League run – but did not make the bench for the final – yet was a starter as Barcelona beat his old team 2-0 in the 2009 decider in Rome.
Watch Barcelona's 2009 Champions League win "It was really difficult to get in and get games." "They were one of the best centre-back partnerships in the world," he recalled.
He chose to return to Spain as he was unable to break up United's central defensive pairing of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidić.
He spent 2006/07 back in Spain, on loan with Real Zaragoza.
Piqué made 23 appearances in all competitions for United over three seasons, scoring two goals as his club won the League Cup in 2006 and a Premier League and UEFA Champions League double in 2008.
"I was surprised, because he was the coach of United for 20 years and he had the time to come and speak with my family and with me," remembered Piqué, who has called Ferguson "a second father".
Sir Alex Ferguson was so keen to sign the centre-half, just 17 at the time, that he joined the player and his family for dinner.
International: 103 appearances, 5 goals UEFA club competition: 104 appearances 12 goals UEFA Champions League: 100 appearances, 12 goals Domestic competition: 398 appearances, 34 goals
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