Real Madrid fans come to the Santiago Bernabeu stadium every week like a pilgrimage. For this temple of football, Pique's name is synonymous with the enemy. He plays for Barca, he prides himself on being a Catalan, he's arrogant and arrogant, and For Meeringer, Pique is a villain. Still, there was one night when the Bernabeu cheered him on. Let's recall what really happened that night.
We all remember the 2010 Matadors Dream World Cup, but back in 2009, they were just new European champions and still needed a ticket to South Africa. New coach Bosque took over and the team was placed in a difficult group of rivals such as Belgium, Turkey and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
After four victories, the Matador Legion faced a back-to-back battle with turkey, the group's strongest rival. The first match will be played at the Bernabeu on 28 March 2009. At that time, the Turks were strong, reaching the semi-finals at the European Championship a year ago. Pique returned to Barca from Manchester United in 2008 and, under Guardiola, built barca's defence with Puyol. But he has yet to finish the entire game in Spain.
It was Guardiola's first year at Camp Nou, and the team was gradually on the throne track. Pique excelled at Barca and made his debut for the national team in a friendly against England in February 2009, helping the team to a 2–0 win. In March, Pique replaced injured Puyol as the starting centre-back of the national team in the World Preliminary Tournament against Turkey.
Pique, 22, partnered with Albior, ramos at right-back, Capton Villa on the left and St. Cassie at goal. At the Bernabeu, Turkey adopted a deep defensive strategy against the rising Spain team, and made the Matadors army particularly struggling with the attack. Pique and his back-line partner were not challenged much except for the threat of some long passes. But Pique still left his mark on the game.
In the 59th minute, Spain won a free kick from outside the penalty area. Harvey took the penalty, Ramos did not grab the landing point, and Pique stood in the most suitable position at the crucial moment, scoring the ball easily. "Intuition told me where I should show up and hit the ball in," Pique said after the game.
The Spanish team does not have a fixed home stadium, like the Wembley Stadium, like the Stade de France. The national team's matches travel back and forth between cities in the country, inspiring enthusiasm for the Matadors in various regions. In different cities, home club fans, especially season ticket holders, have priority access to national team matches and discounted ticket prices.
Therefore, each home of the Spanish team has a different characteristic. In Mestalla, the fans are mostly valencia hardcores; in Villamarin, most of them are real Betis fans; and at the Bernabeu, naturally, they are mostly fans of the White Army. When Pique scored, most of the people in the Bernabeu stands cheered and sang were Real Madrid fans, and when Spain took the lead and began to familiarly fall, the fans also gave a round of applause.
Pique's goal was decisive, with Spain winning the match 1-0, meaning the team was one step closer to the World Cup finals in South Africa. Four days later, the team beat Turkey 2-1 in Istanbul, and Pique played the full game again. In the subsequent qualifiers, Pique also scored two goals, and his outstanding performance booked him a starting position and won the Gold Cup in South Africa with the team.
However, by the time he won the Gold Cup and returned with the team, Pique had already lost the support of many Madrid fans. Pique scored again at the Bernabeu 35 days after scoring against Turkey, but this time in Barca's 6-2 victory over Real Madrid. Pique scored the last goal of the game for Barca, who won the treble that season.
Pique's goal infuriated Real Madrid fans. First, the staunch supporters of the Whites could not forgive a sworn opponent of the centre-back for rushing into the penalty area to pour another handful of salt on Real Madrid's wounds when the overall situation of the game was already decided. Secondly, the celebration of Pique's bright jersey is also unacceptable. Finally, Madrid fans have deeply felt that the core of Spanish football has quietly shifted.
Guardiola's Barca are so good, they have won again and again, and they have won the title again and again, accompanied by Pique's complacency. With the arrival of madman Jose Mourinho, real Madrid's competition with Barca has become white-hot. The atmosphere of the game became more and more tense. In Barca's 5-0 win over Real Madrid, Pique's humiliating "five-fingered mountain" made the real Madrid fans' last kindness to him disappear.
Since then, every time Pique visits the Bernabeu, he has been greeted by a flood of insults and shrill boos. In 2011, Spain played a friendly at the Bernabeu, beating Colombia 1-0. In that match, due to the news that Pique and Shakira had established a relationship, many non-Real Madrid fans gave him applause in the game.
On 2 September 2017, the Bernabeu once again welcomed the Spanish national team's World Preliminary Tournament. The team beat Italy 3-0. In the past few years, both Real Madrid and Barca teams have undergone considerable changes. Guamu looks like a thing of the past. But many Real Madrid fans have said that Pique supports Catalan independence, although Pique only shows respect for the voting rights of catallans.
Before the match against Italy, coaches Lopetegui and Ramos had both called on fans not to boo players in such a crucial World Cup, but in the game, from the first foot Pique touched the ball, the boos did not stop. But suddenly, some fans began to applaud Pique's pass, even shouting: "Pique! Pique! "They've had enough of the blind attacks of the fans against individual players. Moreover, this is also a meritorious player who has always done his best for the national team from the youth team to the adult team, and a player who has helped the team win the World Cup and the European Championship.
Indeed, Pique likes to humiliate Real Madrid fans at the club level; indeed, Pique supports the Catalan referendum; indeed, he has publicly mocked the pure "Madridist" Averoya. But as long as he wears the national team's jersey, he will contribute his blood, his sweat, his tears. Unfortunately, not all fans can see Barca's Pique and the national team's Pique separately, although Pique himself has done well enough.
On that night in September 2017, some sane and brave fans stepped forward. It was a night when the Bernabeu really cheered Pique. Against Turkey, fans cheered because the scoreboard was rewritten. This time, the fans cheered for him, affirming his dedication to the national team and applauding such an honorable player in a gentlemanly manner.
Coincidentally, Pique's full name is Gerald Pico Bernabeu. Pique and the Bernabeu took their respective surnames from their parents. Pique shed the blood of the Bernabeu, and on that World Cup night he won the support of the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. For Pique, how could this not be a precious memory?