By 90min | Created at 2024-10-29 21:33:04 | Updated at 2024-11-05 13:36:00
1 week ago
Former Barcelona centre-back Gerard Pique never needs a second invitation to poke fun at Real Madrid, and wasted no time in issuing another taunt shortly after Saturday's one-sided Clasico.
The Catalan defender, whose grandfather was once Barcelona's vice-president, made more than 600 appearances for the first team and won an array of honours, including nine league titles. Pique faced Madrid in 40 Clasicos across his career, starting that sequence by scoring the sixth goal in a famous 6-2 victory at the Santiago Bernabeu in 2009.
The final whistle of Barcelona's 4-0 thumping in Madrid this weekend had barely been blown by the time Pique took to social media.
"We are unique," the proud Catalan wrote in the regional dialect on X. "They can never be like us. With all the youngsters from La Masia. What a recital. What pride."
Lamine Yamal (left) celebrates with his fellow Barcelona academy graduate Alejandro Balde / Soccrates Images/GettyImages
Six of the starting XI which Hansi Flick named were 21 or under and as many had spent some time in the club's famed academy known as La Masia. Pau Cubarsi, the unflappable 17-year-old who was part of a brave backline which caught Kylian Mbappe offside eight times, still lives in the academy's on-site accommodation. Barcelona's record-breaking goalscorer on the night, Lamine Yamal, only moved out at the start of this season.
Pique's insistence that Barcelona are "unique" is a direct jibe at Real Madrid. The reigning Spanish champions are not as famed for their academy graduates - even though the Fabrica youth system has produced some gems over the years. The 33-year-old captain Lucas Vazquez, who joined Real Madrid's under-17s in 2007, was the team's only starter with any experience of the club's age categories.
Ironically, it took the departure of Pique's fellow academy graduate Xavi Hernandez and the arrival of German coach Flick for Barcelona's young stars to blossom. A proliferation of injuries and the club's dire financial situation have undoubtedly also played a key role, but Flick has been quick to harness La Masia's prolific production line.
