FC Barcelona’s defender Gerard Pique has surprised many in an interview with Spanish digital magazine Jot Down, praising Cristiano Ronaldo and confessing he felt happy when he saw the Portuguese winning the Ballon d’Or.
I’m happy he has won the Ballon d’Or. He deserves it for his outstanding career. It might have surprised the world and those who don’t know him, because of his tears, but not me. In fact, not only I wasn’t surprised, but I liked it. He’s got that fame of a tought guy who is above good and bad, and it was good to see that reaction. That was really important for him, he had suffered a lot and that came up. I liked it.”
Pique and Ronaldo were teammates at Manchester United, where the Spaniard developed great admiration for the Portuguese.
“He’s a perfect machine, a natural-born hard-worker who always wants to win. He can shoot with his right foot, with his left, free kicks, penalties, headers,… He would be the perfect player. He’s the first one to demand a lot from himself. At United he was already like that, he as a player that wanted to conquer the world,” Pique said.
“I haven’t spoken to him lately, because I’ve changed my number a few times, just like him I guess, but I always speak good things of him because I like him. People get an opinion of him for his gestures or words without knowing him. I also have to say he’s changed a little bit, for what I see. For me he’s a nice chap, and he helped me a lot when I arrived to Manchester United,” the Spanish international confessed.
