November 12, (THEWILL) – Gerard Pique was on the first 55-player shortlist for this winter’s World Cup in Qatar, according to Spain manager Luis Enrique.
Pique decided to retire from professional football and left Barcelona this month with the insistence that he would not be open to playing for any other club. While he was an unused substitute in their comeback triumph at Osasuna where he was red-carded, his final game for Barca was in a victory at Camp Nou over Almeria.
Sergio Ramos and Thiago Alcantara were not included in Enrique’s final squad of 26, which will travel to Qatar on Friday. But, he acknowledged that Pique had a chance to compete in one final World Cup before calling it quits.
Enrique said: “Yes, Gerard was on the pre-list. He is one of the most important centre-backs in Spain of all time and I put him on the list not as one of the first options, but as a possibility if anyone dropped out.
“Pique is a competitive beast, a great player. Last season, he ended up playing injured and producing excellent performances like always. That is why he was on the list. For me, he is a great centre-back.”
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Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
