BARCELONA, Aug 7 — Barcelona star Gerard Pique is relishing the opportunity to play in front of his team’s Malaysian fans in Saturday’s showpiece friendly at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium.
“I think it’s really important,” he told us in an exclusive interview. “Barcelona are a Catalan team and we’re proud of that, but we also know that we have fans all over the world.
“We have to treat every fan the same — it doesn’t matter if they’re from Malaysia, the US or Spain. They are all Barca fans and lots of people want to see us. The only time we can travel to places like Malaysia is during pre-season, so spending a few days there will be great.”
Pique already has plenty of prior experience of pre-season Asian tours, having first visited China and Japan at the age of 17 during his brief spell with Manchester United.
“I’ll never forget that experience,” he laughs. “The fans were crazy! I was really young and for me it was very different. It was amazing. There were so many people waiting just to see us in the airport.
“I’ve been back to Asia many times and the fans are always so excited. I guess that’s because they can’t see us every weekend. You can feel that so many people are waiting to see you and they really want to enjoy it.
“I’ve never been to Malaysia before, so I’m very excited to go there for the first time. I’ve been told a lot about the country and it will be very exciting. I know people are crazy about football so it will be great to feel that atmosphere.”
The 26-year-old clearly values the support of his team’s Asian fans and, in a region where the English Premier League is still king, he believes Spanish football needs to work harder to grow its fanbase.
For example, he supports the suggestion that one of this season’s Clasico meetings between Barca and Real Madrid should kick off at midday Spanish time to suit the huge Asian television audience.
“They’re talking about it and maybe this year it will happen,” he said. “The problem is that we’re not used to playing at that time. Our culture in Spain is to play at night, maybe because of the hot summers. It’s difficult for us to play at midday.
“But we’re in a global sport and if the best way to bring Spanish football to a bigger audience is playing a Clasico at 12 o’clock, we will do it. We have to share our sport with everyone.
“In 10 or 15 years, I can imagine lots of games in Spain kicking off at 12 o’clock. It’s difficult for our culture so the changes will have to come step by step, every year a little bit more, and eventually maybe Madrid and Barca will play 15 or 20 games every season with an early kick-off.”
Pique insists Spanish football warrants more supporters all over the world, stating: “Barcelona and Madrid are the best teams in the world right now. There are great teams in England too, but I think Barca and Madrid have the best players.
“We can improve our marketing, but we also have to remember the positives and the really important thing is that we have a really good national team — we won the last three major tournaments.
“This proves we have lots of great players, and fans all over the world are starting to realise that Spanish players are the best quality. Spanish football has a great future.”
The star attraction in Malaysia — the same as everywhere else in the world — will be record-breaking striker Lionel Messi, who has been crowned FIFA’s World Player of the Year in each of the last four seasons.
Nobody knows Messi better than Pique who is the same age as the Argentine genius and has been playing alongside him ever since he first arrived in Europe.
“I met him when he was 13 and we played together in Barca’s youth teams,” Pique recalls. “It’s easy to say this now, but I knew he was special immediately.
“The problem was that he was really small, so at first you weren’t sure if he could make it. But he had so much quality and the greatest skills with the ball at his feet. For me he’s the best player in history — it doesn’t matter if he never wins the World Cup. He’s the best.
“It’s so important for us to have him and make sure we use him a lot. Some people say we depend on him too much, but he’s the best player in the world, so of course we do! I hope we can stay with him for many more years. It’s a joy to play in the same team.”
Pique also pinpointed one particular mental quality that he believes allows Messi to consistently excel: an unquenchable competitive spirit.
“Every professional football player is really skillful,” he said. “But the difference is being competitive and having hunger, trying to be the best and win every game, and Leo has that. He’s been the best for five or six years and he wants to be the best again. He wants to win in everything he does, even if it’s just training or playing cards.”
Messi will soon have another pursuit to test his competitive edge thanks to Pique’s creation of a new online football game, which is poised for international launch in the next few weeks.
Pique is a keen user of modern technology — he has more than six million followers on Twitter – and he revealed that he has spent a lot of time on the project. “The game will be free to play on the website www.goldenmanager.com,” he revealed.
“You’re the manager and president of the team, signing the players, managing the economic areas of the club, developing the stadium and so on.
“I personally devised it – when I was younger I played a lot of games like this against a machine, but now it’s online so people can connect all over the world. We have a team of people and we’re really proud of it. The game is launched now in Spain and in the next few weeks we will go global.”
If Pique’s business enterprise follows in the footsteps of his football career, it will only be a roaring success.
