Barcelona president Joan Laporta has reacted to Thursday’s shock news that Gerard Pique is set to retire from football after Saturday’s match against Almeria.
Pique made the announcement on Twitter and has confirmed he’s decided to call it a day almost immediately, with the game at the Camp Nou set to be his last.
Laporta says he knew what Pique was thinking but that the final decision was left to the 35-year-old to make.
“The retirement of Pique is something we’d spoken about three months ago and previously, with more intensity, we’d discussed the idea together, to value this possibility, but knowing how he is, we decided to leave the final decision up to him,” he told Barca TV.