Finally Addressing Pique’s Departure From Barcelona, Xavi

One of the biggest choices of Xavi Hernandez’s managerial career, according to the Barcelona manager, was allowing Gerard Pique to leave the team.

Pique said on Thursday that his last match for the Catalan giants will be the La Liga match on Sunday at Camp Nou.

Xavi called the choice of his teammate to retire a “gesture of extraordinary excellence.”

Given that Pique is one of Barcelona’s highest-paid players, the ruling will boost the team’s financial fair play margin.

Speaking to the media on Friday before of the games this weekend, Xavi said:

“Pique’s gesture shows amazing excellence since he still has a contract and could have stayed at the club.

At the start of the summer, we had a private discussion. It was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do as a coach to convey my aims to him.