Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta was unable to hide his surprise when he discovered the news of Gerard Pique’s imminent retirement.
The Barcelona legend announced on Thursday that he will be calling time on his storied career, following this weekend’s game with Almeria. Pique has played 615 times for the Blaugrana winning every major club honour including eight LaLiga titles and three Champions Leagues.
“It is the moment to end this stage of my life. I always said that after Barcelona there will be no other club, and that is the way it is going to be,” he posted on his social media channels.
“I will become a regular fan. I will support the team. I will pass my love for Barca to my children, like my family did with me. And you know me, sooner or later, I will be back.”
The 35-year-old’s announcement came just before the Gunners’ final Europa League group game, as Kieran Tierney’s goal earned them the 1-0 win needed to top the pool. Arteta, five years the senior of Pique, also came through Barcelona’s famous La Masia academy and was full of praise for the central defender after missing the news while preparing for the match.
The Gunners boss was asked for his thoughts on Pique’s retirement during his post-match press conference and his facial expressions made it clear it had come as a shock. After clarifying the question with his press officer, he said: "I just found that out - I will remember that you gave me the news!”
When told his final game would be this weekend, a stunned Arteta added: “Wow! I don’t know what to say. [He’s had] an incredible career and an incredible character.
"He’s given so much to this game… and he will be missed because I think he was a world-class player."
The win over Zurich means Arsenal will advance directly to the last-16 of the tournament, avoiding the extra two games Manchester United will have to play after the World Cup. The narrow victory ensured they pipped PSV to top spot, despite the Dutch outfit beating them in Eindhoven last week.
On the response to that defeat, just their second in all competitions this season, he continued: "That’s what we wanted. Losing football matches is part of it. It will happen at certain stages and you have to react to that.
“It affects you just in the moment and then you move forward, analyse what happened and try to become better as a team. That’s what we’ve done. We’ve managed to win the last two games and now we have to go to Stamford Bridge."
Arteta added: "I expected it to be a tough match. I’ve watched them in the last few games – how they’ve changed since their new manager arrived, how they played against Bodo. You’ve seen it and it was really difficult to get any real momentum with the way that the game developed.
"We have to adapt to that. We had some big chances that we didn’t put away and that made the game more difficult in the last 15 or 20 minutes. We didn’t control certain situations and we had to dig in, which we did. We found a way to win and we’re top of the group."
