The Piqué factor

This Saturday it was just a month since Gerard Piqué was injured. His last image 'at stake' is his euphoric celebration after scoring 2-0 against Sevilla at the Camp Nou in the last gasp of regulation time of the tie. The goal, a fantastic header that honored a great Griezmann center, allowed Barça to lift the tie. “If we come back against Sevilla, the season changes completely “, the center-back had said four days earlier, after winning the League match at Sánchez Pizjuán in a match that restored credibility and faith to Barça, and which he confirmed by flipping the semifinal of the Cup.But that same night, Piqué made a strange gesture to give a relatively easy pass during the second part of extra time. He turned his right knee too much, the one who had been injured at the Wanda, and was injured. Although he wanted to downplay it himself, he had sprained his medial lateral ligament and he had to lie fallow for a month.

After a month out, Piqué is ready to return. He has trained when appropriate and when not, demonstrating involvement and desire to collaborate in the conquest of titles. Piqué has burned down what happened in Lisbon on August 14. That 2-8 left Barça much more than badly injured, because everything was blown up. He raised his hand five minutes after the game and dared to say that if it was a problem, he was willing to step aside. “We have hit rock bottom.” Piqué also seemed jaded, as if wanting to close a folder.

But no one told him to go away. On the contrary, Koeman reinforced him. The first months were not easy, but since his recovery stretcher (Piqué was injured in November at the Wanda when, by the way, he had already renewed until 2024), he has seen the environment change in the locker room, the team's performance on the grass. and the union of the house. The appearance of young people clean of old vices in the dressing room has ended up pushing the veterans, all of them, including Piqué, now have to give the touch of quality by providing experience and performance in the last days of the season. Piqué is aware that in the next fifteen days a large part of Barça's future this season will be aired with the Clásico on April 10 and the Cup final on April 17. His return to the pitch will involve changes. Mingueza or Griezmann may be the great victims of their return, depending on where Koeman wants to place the Catalan and De Jong. But that's really the least of it. For Piqué, recovering hegemony against Madrid after the 1-3 of the Clásico in the first leg and winning his seventh Copa del Rey (he would equalize, along with Busquets and Messi, Gainza as the player with the most Cups in history), is a question honorary. He's been failing for a long time and he doesn't want to do it now.