Gerard Piqué has always been surrounded by controversy. Sometimes because of his gestures or actions, and sometimes simply because he is a public figure. Be that as it may, his life and each of his movements have always been scrutinized ad nauseam and have been judged by society.
Surely the biggest whirlwind of his career coincided with the beginning of his relationship with the well-known Colombian singer Shakira. They met in 2010, a few months before the World Cup in South Africa, where she composed what would become the official song of the tournament, the popular 'Waka Waka'. The popularity of both made this romance quickly come to the fore internationally, but it also made the Catalan center-back the focus of ridicule on the soccer fields.
The rival fans began to sing the tune of 'Waka Waka' when they faced Barça and the derby against Espanyol in 2014 went one step further, with serious insults against Shakira and her son Milan. This messed up the already complicated relationship between the 'parrots' and Piqué, who in the following derby did not hesitate to make controversial statements on the Camp Nou pitch: "They say they are a wonderful minority, but I hope they fill the field because the other day it wasn't full”, alluding to the blue and white club's motto 'wonderful minority'. The dispute continued through social networks, in which Piqué shared a video of the 2014 chants along with the phrase 'You will never understand it', alluding to another of the club's Christmas campaign slogans that year.
If we focus on the sporting plane, the most iconic image of Gerard Piqué was the gesture of the 'little hand' that he showed in the 2010 classic. A gesture that outraged Real Madrid, already hurt by the embarrassing defeat, and that the Catalan would return to repeat eight years later, when the win at the Camp Nou was repeated.
That was the most turbulent time in the relationship between Guardiola's Barça and Mourinho's Real Madrid and it would undoubtedly seriously affect the cordiality between the players, who despite being rivals in their clubs, were teammates in the national team. The atmosphere deteriorated so much that Casillas and Xavi had to intervene. The Real Madrid captain called the now Barça coach to redirect the situation and restore harmony in the team.
Another of the darkest chapters linked to Barcelona took place in the framework of Barçagate, in which it was uncovered that the club had hired the communication company I3 Ventures to orchestrate smear campaigns against figures who were not related to the then president Josep Maria Bartomeu. Among them was Gerard Piqué: “He lied to Leo and me to our faces on a very serious issue. He said that he did not know anything about Barçagate ”, the footballer would admit years later.
Outside the playing fields, Gerard Piqué's facet as an entrepreneur has also served him numerous controversies in recent years. His producer made the documentary in which Antoine Grizmann announced his decision to stay at Atlético instead of signing for Barcelona and it cost him a harsh internal report from the Catalan club in which he spoke of the ethical problem that his involvement in an activity entailed. that affected the club with which he had a contract.
It has not been the only issue for which their ethics or even the legality of their businesses have been questioned. Piqué's company, Kosmos, negotiated with the president of the Spanish Federation, Luis Rubiales for the transfer of the Spanish Super Cup to Saudi Arabia, charging a large commission for it. The whole matter came to light after the leak of some audios in which Piqué and Rubiales can be heard talking about the subject in a very friendly tone that aroused much criticism.
