Gerard Pique has announced that he will retire from professional football after playing his last game for boyhood club Barcelona on Saturday evening.
The seven-time La Liga winner announced the end of his 18-year spell in the game in a video on his social media accounts on Thursday evening.
"Football has given me everything. Barca has given me everything," said the 35-year-old. "You, culers [fans], have given me everything. And now that all that kid's [himself] dreams have come true I want to tell you I have decided that now is the time to bring this journey to its end."
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He added: "You know me, sooner or later I will be back. I'll see you at Camp Nou. Long live Barca. Always."
The Spaniard, who also won the World Cup in 2010, played for Liverpool's arch-rivals Manchester United in the Premier League between 2004 and 2008 before he was re-signed by the Catalan club. But despite the magnitude of trophies he has accumulated during his career - cementing his status as one of the game's great defenders - it is his involvement in Anfield's most famous night that will be a lasting memory for Liverpool supporters across the globe.
That is, of course, referencing the Champions League semi-final between the two clubs in May 2019, where - after defeating the Reds 3-0 at Camp Nou - Pique and his team-mates blew their three-goal advantage and lost 4-0 during the return leg on Merseyside.
Jurgen Klopp's side would go on to beat fellow Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur in the subsequent final and claim their sixth European Cup, leaving Pique to his express his anger at being on the receiving end of a historic Anfield occasion.
"Anfield," Pique told Spanish TV3 program Nexes, as per the Daily Mail, when asked about the biggest loss of his career.
"I'm not the kind of player who comes into the dressing room throwing things on the floor to express my anger.
"But because of the first leg advantage, I did just that."
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