Piqué: “I have nothing to hide; everything is legal”

Gerard Hammered ensures to the newspaper The Team that he has “nothing to hide” in the matter of awarding the Super Cup to Saudi Arabia, reiterates that “everything is legal” and denies any conflict of interest due to his status as a Barcelona player and president of Kosmos.

“I have nothing to hide, everything is legal. Then there is the issue of conflict of interest. For me there is none. The only thing illegal is that someone has accessed private voice messages and leaked them to the press”indicates the footballer in an interview published this Friday by the newspaper.

Piqué recalls that Barça has not won any of the Super Cups held in Saudi Arabia, which, in his opinion, shows that there is no conflict of interest and that Kosmos took a commission for his intermediation, for which the Federation did not owe him any and I didn’t have to favor him on the ground.

The player gives as an example that the Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic is the owner of the Belgrade tournament and that does not imply that he wins it or that the referees favor him.

“This type of situation is becoming more frequent in sport. And it will be more so because there are more and more athletes like me who invest in sport before retiring”he adds.

Piqué admits that he has maintained a friendship with the president of the Spanish Football Federation, Luis Rubiales, since he was president of the players’ union and that some have confused this with favoritism that, in his opinion, does not exist.

He pointed out that thanks to Kosmos the Federation increased its income and that favored modest clubs and that bringing the Super Cup to Saudi Arabia can help change a country where “many things have to improve”.

The footballer acknowledges that he likes “a little” to look for controversy, although he admits that sometimes that has caused him problems.

“It’s adrenaline, I need it. When I’m bored, I go on Twitter, I want to move something and I provoke two or three journalists and interact with them. It amuses me. Sometimes it has brought me problems, but I have never regretted it,” he says.

Despite his presence in the business world, Piqué affirms that nothing equals the emotion he feels on the pitch and that, the day he stops feeling it, he will leave football.