Piqué explains himself and now we wait
I was on my way to Barcelona when it was confirmed by the Spanish FA that Gerard Piqué was set to speak to the media at the Las Rozas training complex. I crossed my fingers and wondered what he'd say. Was he planning to leave and satisfy those intolerante individuals on both sides of the divide? Will he decide to stay and add to his already impressive 91 cap haul with a World Cup winners medal to boot? Happily (at least from my perspective) he opted for the latter. Piqué feels proud to play for the national team, is what exactly he claimed. A look at his Wikipedia page relating to his time in "La Roja" shirt reveals his debut and 91 international matches are a sufficient number of games to dispel any question of commitment.
Origins
One can play for the Spanish national team and harbour leanings towards Catalan independence he stated, adding that that was not his case. He also pointed out that his children are Colombian, Lebanese (Shakira's origins), Catalan and Spanish and on numerous occasions we've seen him with his eldest boy (wearing a Spain shirt) having a kick-about post match as we have seen them together at a pro-referéndum march in the Catalan capital, which doesn't necessarily suggest a leaning towards aspiring for an independent Catalonia. In many cases it's actually the opposite.
Entrenched
The Barça defender also maintained that he'd like to talk face-to.face with those individuals who whistle him during Spain games and give them a reason for not doing so. Sadly that is not realistic and his efforts yesterday in a press conference that lasted well over 40 minutes are to be applauded although each person will draw their own conclusion from his comments. Sadly for him, there is so much previous "baggage" that has led to this situation and unfortunately there are those already entrenched in their view on the player and despite those who applaud his comments yesterday there will always be those who elect to use him as a scapegoat.