Gerard Pique: Will he spoil United's party again?

Glory in the Eternal City

In 2009 at the Stadio Olimpico, Sir Alex Ferguson, for once, might have wondered whether it was right to let a young Catalonian defender move to his beloved home straight after disposing off Chelsea in the 2008 Champions League Final at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. Even the great mind of the great Scot Sir Alex would not have guessed that Gerard Pique, having collected a Champions League winning medal the previous year, would come back to haunt Manchester United in 2009 in the same competition in the Eternal City and help Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona to win an unprecedented treble.

Manchester United is a club known for success and rich tradition and mentioning this alone would be regarded as blasphemy in itself for any Red Devil fan for the name Manchester United is synonymous to success and the whole world knows it and there’s no point in writing the success stories afresh.

Gerard Pique was probably one of the very few players in United’s glittering history who had shown the courage to leave Old Trafford for the Nou Camp in the hope of bigger and better things. Surely no one could achieve more other than United yet come the 28^th of May 2011 at Wembley Stadium, Wayne Rooney and company would hope not to repeat the scenes of Rome as Pique would be looking to repay Sir Alex Ferguson by denying him the coveted European title for the second time in three years.

A former young Red Devil

The 25 year old joined United in 2004 as a sixteen year old from Barcelona’s youth ranks and the central defender stayed there until 2008 seeing first team action for only fifteen matches before Pep Guardiola re-signed him in 2008 and transformed a normal young footballer into a World Cup winner as Pique picked up one medal after another both for club and country. Infact the transformation was remarkable after 2008 as United considered the player to be surplus to requirements as Gerard Pique failed to break into first team action at a consistent basis. It was good for the player to move and just have a look how changed a budding footballer can be when he returns to his beloved native land.

Since returning to Barcelona on a four-year contract in May 2008, Pique has won three straight La Liga titles, one Champions League (against United) and one Copa del Rey.

His stay in England included a loan stint with Spanish side Real Zaragoza but despite a more than satisfactory performance, Sir Alex could not include his young central defender in an already star studded back line. The Catalan boy has no regrets in leaving the Theatre of Dreams though and he himself is grateful to the United manager for allowing him to move back to Spain. Pique was quoted as saying,

“Ferguson has won loads of titles and although the teams change, he keeps winning. I had several good years there but Barcelona is my home and I wanted to return here. He(Sir Alex) understood that.”

The final in Rome two years back would always be remembered for Barca’s clinical and commanding display in which Gerard Pique frustrated the likes of Christiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney for long stretches of the game that nullified the United attacking prowess giving Samuel Eto’o and company a fine 2-0 win over the then defending champions. The bad news for Manchester United fans is that the Wembley showdown would pit a much experienced and an even better player in the form of Pique against the attacking line up of either Rooney and Berbatov or Rooney and Javier Hernandez or a three pronged attack. What would be immensely captivating to view is the potential Pique-Hernandez duel that could decide the fate of the tie.

Since leaving Old Trafford, Pique’s reputation has flourished like the Roman Empire in its heydays and this reputation would go up a notch if he condemns Wayne Rooney and the rest of the United forward line to another forgettable night in North London. Talking about Wayne Rooney, the 6ft 4ins Spanish international was full of praise for the England star and his former team-mate. The Catalan said in an interview,

“I have a good friendship with Rooney but we both want to win this game and we will be fighting for our own interests. It was always difficult playing against him in training as it is with Lionel Messi now. I will have to concentrate hard to not to give him space.”

Whether it’s Rooney or the ‘Little Pea’ to counter on Saturday, Gerard Pique would again be up for it to spoil the United ambition in his own Catalan way at Wembley.