Gerard Piqué

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Gerard Piqué
Personal information
Full name Gerard Piqué Bernabeu
Date of birth February 2, 1987 (1987-02-02) (age 21)
Place of birth    Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Height 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Playing position Centre Back, Right back
Club information
Current club FC Barcelona
Number TBA
Youth clubs
2001–2004 FC Barcelona B
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
2004–2008
2006–2007
2008–		 Manchester United
→ Real Zaragoza (loan)
FC Barcelona		 12 (0)
22 (2)
00 (0)   
National team2
2006–2007
2006–		 Spain U-21 11 (3)
00 (0)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 11:35am, 27 May 2008 (UTC).
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of 22 January 2007.
* Appearances (Goals)

Gerard Piqué Bernabeu (born 2 February 1987 in Barcelona) is a Spanish football player currently playing for Spanish football club FC Barcelona.

Contents

[edit] Career

[edit] Manchester United

Piqué made his debut for Manchester United in October 2004 in the Carling Cup as a late replacement for John O'Shea, in a 3-0 victory at Crewe Alexandra.[1] He made his full debut for Manchester United on 29 March 2006 against West Ham in a Premier League game at Old Trafford playing at right-back, as Gary Neville was unavailable through injury. He even managed to get a shot on goal from 40 yards out which was saved to stop him scoring on his full Premiership debut.

His performances, most notably in the reserve team, earned him a new contract which he signed in February 2005 to run until the summer of 2009.

Piqué was a member of the Spanish under 19 side that won the UEFA Under-19 Championship on 29 July. They beat Scotland U19 2-1 in the final with Piqué putting in a strong performance in defence, hitting the crossbar with a header, and also providing his team's second goal for teammate Alberto Bueno.

On 4 August 2006, Spanish La Liga outfit Real Zaragoza secured Piqué on a season-long loan. The conditions of the loan involved Piqué having to feature in at least 20 games for the Estadio La Romareda outfit.[2]

On 5 May 2007, it was announced that Piqué would be staying at Old Trafford next season. It was intended for Sir Alex Ferguson to be at La Romareda to watch Piqué play on 6 May, in an effort to gauge the youngster's progress, before having a meeting with the player to discuss his future with Man Utd, but this was unable to take place, due to problems with flights.[3]

Piqué's return to Old Trafford, saw him make 9 Premier League appearances during the 2007–08 season.

He scored on his first start in the Champions League in a 4-0 win against Dynamo Kiev played on 7 November 2007 at Old Trafford, Piqué scored the first of Manchester United's 4 goals in that match. In doing so, he became the 450th Manchester United player to score at least one goal for the club.[4] Following his first goal for the club, Piqué got his second in an away match to AS Roma on 12 December.

[edit] Barcelona

On Tuesday, May 27, 2008, Pique signed a 4 year contract with FC Barcelona with a €50 million buy-out clause[1]. Barcelona have paid an undisclosed fee for Piqué, rumoured to be around €7 million [2]. The player expressed his joy at re-signing with his boy-hood club, although admitted that he had enjoyed his spell at Manchester United; "I am very happy to be back, I didn't think I would be here again but this is very good for me. Manchester is a great club and I enjoyed winning things. To play with world class players has helped me and now I want to continue this at Barça".

[edit] International

Piqué played for Spain 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[5]. However, Piqué missed the deciding penalty against the Czech Republic and Spain were eliminated at quarter-final stage.

[edit] Personal life

The fact that Piqué's maternal surname is Bernabeu has led to some confusion regarding his origins, as he shares his name with the former Real Madrid president Santiago Bernabéu after whom the club's home stadium is named. In fact, the name Bernabeu is of Catalan origin and well spread in Barcelona. Piqué (another typical Catalan surname) is a grandson of the celebrated former vice-president of FC Barcelona, Amador Bernabeu.

[edit] Honours

[edit] With Manchester United

[edit] Career statistics

Club Performance League Cup League Cup Continental Total
Season Club League Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
England League FA Cup Football League Cup Europe Total
2004–05 Manchester United Premier League 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 3 0
2005–06 3 0 2 0 2 0 0 0 7 0
2007–08 9 0 0 0 0 0 3 2 12 2
Spain League Copa del Rey Copa de la Liga Europe Total
2006–07 Real Zaragoza La Liga 22 2 4 1 0 0 0 0 26 3
2008–09 Barcelona La Liga 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total England 12 0 3 0 3 0 4 2 22 2
Spain 22 2 4 1 0 0 0 0 26 3
Career Total 34 2 7 1 3 0 4 2 48 5

[edit] References

  1. ^ Crewe 0-3 Man Utd. BBC Sport. Retrieved on May 27, 2008.
  2. ^ Zaragoza's Pique: My future is with Man Utd. ontheminute.com. Retrieved on January 30, 2007.
  3. ^ Ben Hibbs (2005-04-05). Pique set for OT return. ManUtd.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-18.
  4. ^ All Goalscorers In All Competitive Matches page 5 of 5. StretfordEnd.co.uk (November 2007). Retrieved on 2007-11-08.
  5. ^ Spain-Brazil Match Report. fifa.com. Retrieved on 2008-04-02.
  6. ^ Bumper Go Figure: Season In Numbers. Football365.com (2008-05-12). Retrieved on 2008-05-25.

[edit] External links

v • d • e
FC Barcelona – current squad

1 V. Valdés • 3 Milito • 4 Márquez • 5 Puyol • 6 Xavi • 7 Guðjohnsen • 8 Iniesta • 9 Eto'o • 10 Ronaldinho • 13 Pinto • 14 Henry • 16 Sylvinho • 17 Giovani • 18 Ezquerro • 19 Messi • 20 Deco • 21 Thuram • 22 Abidal • 23 Oleguer • 24 Touré Yaya • 25 Jorquera • 27 Bojan • –– Cáceres • –– Keita • –– Piqué • Coach: Guardiola


Persondata
NAME Piqué, Gerard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Piqué Bernabeu, Gerard
SHORT DESCRIPTION Footballer
DATE OF BIRTH 2 February 1987
PLACE OF BIRTH Barcelona, Spain
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH