How brilliant is Barcelona defender Gerard Piqué?

A two-time UEFA Champions League winner and a FIFA World Cup winner by the age of 24, Gerard Piqué confirmed his retirement from football at the age of 35 this week.

UEFA.com takes a moment to reflect on his achievements.

What they say

"Gerard Piqué is the finished product, he's one of the best centre-backs in the world."
Josep Guardiola, former Barcelona coach

"Everyone knew how good a player he was. He had so many qualities. Maybe he wasn't suited to the Premier League, but Spain suits him down to the ground. Gerard has been phenomenal."
Rio Ferdinand, former Manchester United team-mate

"Piqué was a terrific player and I was deeply disappointed when he told us he wanted to move back to Spain. He was an exceptional passer of the ball and a great personality with a winning mentality."
Sir Alex Ferguson, former Manchester United manager

Current tally

International: 102 appearances, 5 goals
UEFA club competition: 137 appearances 17 goals
UEFA Champions League: 128 appearances, 16 goals*
Domestic competition: 524 appearances, 40 goals

*Group stage to final; including qualifying, he made 130 appearances, and scored 17 goals

Claims to fame

Manchester United
• Sir Alex Ferguson was so keen to sign the centre-half, just 17 at the time, that he joined the player and his family for dinner. "I was surprised, because he was the coach of United for 20 years and he had the time to come and speak with my family and with me," remembered Piqué, who has called Ferguson "a second father".

• Piqué made 23 appearances in all competitions for United over three seasons, scoring two goals as his club won the League Cup in 2006 and a Premier League and UEFA Champions League double in 2008. He spent 2006/07 back in Spain, on loan with Real Zaragoza.

• He chose to return to Spain as he was unable to break up United's central defensive pairing of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidić. "They were one of the best centre-back partnerships in the world," he recalled. "It was really difficult to get in and get games."

Barcelona
• Piqué ended up being a European champion in successive seasons with different clubs; he appeared three times in United's 2008 UEFA Champions League run – but did not make the bench for the final – yet was a starter as Barcelona beat his old team 2-0 in the 2009 decider in Rome. The game was notable for Barça's supreme control in midfield but Piqué made a vital early intervention, bravely blocking a goal-bound shot from Ji-Sung Park to prevent United scoring first.

• Piqué lifted 30 trophies with Barcelona, including eight Liga titles and three UEFA Champions Leagues, making him the joint third most decorated player in Blaugrana history alongside Sergio Busquets, behind only Andrés Iniesta (32) and Lionel Messi (35).

• A striker as a youngster, Piqué always liked getting forward and boasted an impressive 57 goals for Barça, making him the club's second top-scoring centre-back behind Ronald Koeman (90).

• He confirmed his retirement from football in November 2022, writing: "Football has given me everything. Barcelona have given me everything. You [Barcelona fans] have given me everything. And now that this kid's dreams have come true, I want to tell you that I've decided that now is the time to bring this journey to its end."

Spain
• A losing finalist at U17 level in 2004 against Karim Benzema's France, he won the 2006 UEFA European Under-19 Championship with Spain – yet missed the decisive shoot-out penalty as his side were beaten by Czech Republic in the quarter-finals of the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

• The defender made his Spain debut in a 2-0 friendly win against England on 6 February 2009 and had a dream competitive debut in a FIFA World Cup qualifier against Turkey the following month, grabbing the only goal in a 1-0 victory.

• Piqué won the 2010 World Cup and UEFA EURO 2012 with Spain, striking an unexpected partnership with Real Madrid rival Sergio Ramos in the heart of defence as his club-mate Carles Puyol was injured. "Now we have a great relationship," he said of Ramos. "The day before every game, we always meet up in the captain's room and speak about everything."

• Piqué announced his retirement from international football in August 2018, saying: "I have had a really good time, with a European Championship and a World Cup, but that story is at an end. I have experienced amazing things, but sometimes you have to bring cycles to an end, and you have to do that in the right way."

What you might not know

• He was born and bred a Barcelona fan thanks to grandfather Amador Bernabéu, a longstanding club director and vice-president, who signed him up as a member the day he was born.

• The centre-back had a brush with tragedy as a toddler, falling off a balcony in his grandparents' home and spending hours in a coma before making a full recovery.

• Piqué took a particular interest in the dressing-room pranks at Manchester United. "They do hilarious things to each other and it's fine; they don't complain, they just try to get their own back," he said, recalling one instance when Patrice Evra's brand new shoes were burned. "I tried a few pranks when I went back to Barcelona, like deflating car tyres, and they went ballistic at me." Piqué did not entirely lose his mischievous side, however, setting off a stink bomb on the team plane on a pre-season trip to Helsinki.

• He enjoyed a close, albeit unlikely, friendship with Barça colleague Puyol, in many ways his polar opposite and who acted like an older, wiser brother. Piqué summed up their contrasting characters with an anecdote. "One time the game was stopped, someone was on a stretcher, and he was shouting at me. I said to him: 'Calm down, it's 4-0.' He said: 'So what? Focus! I know you.' I was dying with laughter."

• Piqué began courting Colombian singer Shakira before the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, first meeting the singer in Madrid to appear in the music video for her hit song Waka Waka alongside other Spain players. He then made a bold promise. "I knew she'd be at the closing ceremony so I said to her: 'If I have to reach the World Cup final to see you again, I'll make sure Spain make it.'" The couple have two children but announced their separation in 2022.

• A video games fanatic – particularly football games – the defender created his own game Golden Manager, setting up the company Kerad Games with his family.

• Piqué has a peculiar way of marking milestone wins: stealing goal nets. He cut the nets from the goals after each UEFA Champions League final triumph with Barça, and also went to great lengths to take home the nets from the World Cup final in Johannesburg, heading to the groundsman's office to demand his unique souvenir.

What he says

• "There won't be any more Messis, and we don't expect there to be, just like there won't be another generation at La Masia like the one with Xavi, Busi [Serguio Busquets], [Carles] Puyol, [Andrés] Iniesta and me."

• "I'm very impulsive and like to stray from the established way. It's as if we should all act in the way society wants and stay within certain limits, but not me. I like to express myself – I do what I feel and I'm happy to be that way."

• "If you stop now and start to realise what you have achieved then you start to relax and you start to lose. I don't think about everything I have achieved. I will do when I retire because then I will have a lot of days to remember."

• "It's a responsibility when you have won as much as I have done – as much as the teams I have played for have done – because the fans are waiting for more."

What he might achieve yet

• He has made no secret of his ambition to emulate his grandfather by becoming a Barcelona director, with his eyes on the top job of president. "Piqué has great leadership qualities – he always achieves what he wants," said Xavi. "It'd be a dream to be the coach while he is president. I can certainly see it happening."

• Former Barcelona coach (and current Spain boss) Luis Enrique added: "He is a great communicator and he can be whoever he wants to be at Barça. When he finishes playing he could be a coach, a president, whatever he likes, because he's a Barcelona fan through and through, and he's a very intelligent guy."