Reuters, November 5, Barcelona – Barcelona enjoyed a 2-0 win over Almeria on Saturday but the night belonged to defender Gerard Pique’s who was playing his last game at the Camp Nou after he announced he will retire from soccer when LaLiga breaks for the World Cup next week.
Having won with goals from Ousmane Dembele and Frenkie de Jong in the second half, Barca has 34 points after 13 games, two more than Real Madrid, who has one game remaining and will go to Rayo Vallecano on Monday.
After missing several opportunities in the first half, including a penalty for a handball that Robert Lewandowski missed, Dembele finally scored after the interval by squeezing a crisp effort from a counterattack into the bottom corner.
De Jong was perfectly situated inside the box in the 62nd minute to score off a rebound from Barcelona goalkeeper Fernando Martinez and secure the victory.
At a sold-out Camp Nou where the focus of the event was the veteran Pique, the Barca players wore shirts that said “Sempr3,” Catalan for “Forever,” with Pique’s number 3 in place of the letter E.
Pique, 35, who served as captain to begin the game, won 30 trophies with Barca, including three Champions League and eight LaLiga championships.
He played well and almost scored in the first-half with two towering headers from corners against a defensive Almeria side who only had one shot on target in the match.
Pique was substituted in the 83rd minute, walking off the pitch in tears to a standing ovation from the 92,605 fans – the highest attendance at the Camp Nou so far this season – who packed the stadium to say goodbye to a club great.
At the conclusion of the game, he was launched into the air by his teammates and delivered an impassioned address to the cheering crowd.
At the conclusion of the game, Barca fans stayed behind for a while to honour their idol. As tears streamed down Pique’s cheeks, he spoke to them, “After a relationship of so much love and passion, I thought it was time to give ourselves some space.”
“I’m certain I’ll return to this location in the future. This is not a farewell; I previously said it when I went to and returned from Manchester United when I was 16 years old. I was born here, and I shall die here, as my grandfather says.
Come on, Barca!
Pique enrolled in the Barcelona academy at the age of 10, but he left when he was a teen to join United, where he made his career debut in 2004.
He played one season on loan for Real Zaragoza before going back to Old Trafford where he was part of the team who won the Champions League and Premier League double in the 2007-8 season before heading back to Barcelona at the end of that campaign.
In 15 seasons at the Nou Camp, he has surpassed Andres Iniesta (694), Sergio Busquets (694), Xavi Hernandez (767), and Lionel Messi (778) to rank sixth in appearances for the Spanish club (674).
Pique, who was regarded as one of his generation’s top centre backs, won 36 championships over the course of his 18-year career, including a World Cup and a European Championship with Spain.
Pique’s bittersweet farewell to Barcelona was marked by Almeria’s victory.
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