Gerard Pique doesn’t mind being in the news and once again, he has revealed some of the reality behind the veil of footballer’s lives.
Speaking to Gary Neville for SkySports programme ‘The Overlap‘, Pique revealed how he changed the lifestyle of his former captain at Barcelona.
The two came onto the topic after Neville asked Pique about his enjoyment of life with Cristiano Ronaldo, Nani and Anderson as part of the younger contingent at Manchester United at the time.
On returning to Barcelona, Pique had a thing or two to show his captain Carles Puyol.
“I remember when I arrived here I was 21, and Puyol was 30, he was the captain here and he never went out. I arrived here and we started to be very good mates. He was 30 and he never went out before. I arrived here and I said come on, come with me, let’s have a drink.”
“He said, ‘Oh Gerard, I need to do this more’. And then after 3 or 4 days, everyone in Barcelona started to say ‘oh Puyol is going out’ and so he said ‘I’m not going out anymore.’ It’s not easy for Puyol, you know with his hair, he is easily recognised.”
[Gary Neville] “So you were a bad influence on him/”
“I think I was a good influence on him and he was a good influence on me. There were good parts from both of us.”
The anecdote followed on from a wider outlook from Pique, who was describing the lifestyle of a young footballer. Pique as convinced that having a social life and not being focused on football the entire time is healthier.
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