Gerard Pique Announces Retirement From Soccer After Shakira Split: ‘I Will Pass My Love for Barca to My Children’

usmagazine.com:

Leaving it all on the field! Gerard Piqué announced that he is retiring from soccer less than four months after his split from longtime partner Shakira.“The last few weeks, months, lots of people have been talking about me.

Until now, I haven’t said anything. But now, I want to be the one talking about me,” Piqué, 35, said in a video posted via Twitter on Thursday, November 3, noting that FC Barcelona’s match against UD Almería on Saturday, November 5, will be his last game.The Spain native shared that he has “always been a Barca fan” throughout his life, explaining that he was “born into a football-loving family of Barca fans” and knew from “a very young age” that he didn’t just want to play soccer — he wanted to play for FC Barcelona.“I’ve been thinking a lot about that kid lately,” he said. “About what little Gerard would have thought if he had been told that all of his dreams would come true.

That he would make it to Barca first team. That he would win every trophy possible. That he would become European Champion and World Champion.

That he would play alongside the best players in history. That he would become one of the team’s captains. That he would make friends for life.”The defender’s career began in 1997 at age 10 when he joined the club’s youth team U12B.