Post by Sky Sports 1 on Jul 21, 2006 9:31:06 GMT
Piqué the pick for Spain
Spain have made a highly entertaining start to the UEFA European Under-19 Championship and, if history is any guide, a number of the players who are impressing in Poland will be senior internationals in the none too distant future. One such rising star is the imposing Manchester United FC defender Gérard Piqué. uefa.com spoke to the centre-back about the finals, learning how to cope with pressure, and his hopes for the future.
uefa.com: Are you enjoying this tournament?
Piqué: It’s certainly interesting, in the first match the team was a little nervous and it was our first game together since the Elite round at the end of May. But we started well and, although we were lacking a little sharpness and there are things we can improve, as we play more games we will get getter and better.
uefa.com: What does playing for your country mean to you?
Piqué: I’m very proud. To represent Spain is a feeling you cannot explain. Every match you have to give everything and if you play well you can be proud of yourself. If you don’t play well, you have to do better next time because it’s important for you and important for your country.
uefa.com: What do you learn from these tournaments?
Piqué: The most important thing is how to play under pressure. You are under pressure to win every match, to reach the semi-finals, to reach the final, to win the tournament. In top-level football, you have to learn how to cope with such pressure and to play for the result.
uefa.com: You joined Manchester United from FC Barcelona shortly after the U17 finals in 2004. What prompted that move?
Piqué: Maybe there I saw a better future for me with more opportunities. When I was talking to the boss [Sir Alex Ferguson] before I signed, you can sometimes see in someone’s eyes that they want you and he wanted me for United so that was the main reason why I decided to go there.
uefa.com: Was it difficult to move abroad at such a young age?
Piqué: When you arrive in England everything is very different and you’ve left your friends and family behind. But you start to grow up, you make friends and finally you feel at home so I’m happy that I made the move. You miss your family, that’s maybe the hardest thing but even that’s not that bad. I went to Manchester to play football, that’s my job and if that's going well, everything else is as well.
uefa.com: Was it hard to adapt football-wise?
Piqué: Football around the world is more of less the same, training is quite similar as well although the coaches maybe think differently because of the different cultures. The level at United is really high, players like [Wayne] Rooney mean you have to be 100 per cent every time. But here we have a strong team with top players and it’s the same idea really; you have to be concentrated 100 per cent if you want to give your best.
uefa.com: You moved to England a few months after your U17 team-mate Cesc Fabregas left Barcelona for Arsenal FC. Did you take advice from him?
Piqué: I speak to Cesc all the time, we're very good friends. He explained his situation to me when he went to Arsenal and the next year I followed him to England, and we both decided to move for similar reasons. In England, they don’t care about your age; if you’re ready for the first team they do it, no problem. Fabregas did that and now he’s one of Spain’s best players, he went to the [FIFA] World Cup and showed that he belongs there. I’m trying to do the same.
uefa.com: Spain have a fantastic record in youth football but struggle to repeat that success at senior level. Why is that?
Piqué: Because of our history, there's a lot of pressure on us and maybe we're expected to fail. People need to disconnect from that and let the team play as they can and maybe one day we'll succeed. At the World Cup we played well in the group stage but it was as if the press and public expected us to lose to France and you can’t think like that.
uefa.com: Spain coach Luis Aragonés obviously has belief in young players so that’s good news for the U19 team.
Piqué: Aragonés has shown he is prepared to put his faith in young players, he has confidence in them and that's good for us because we can see that the senior team is not as far away as we might think. Fernando Torres played in the U19s in 2002 and he quickly jumped into the first team. In football everything happens very quickly and you never know what the future will hold so just keep working hard and in the end, everyone who works hard gets rewarded.
-Uefa
www.uefa.com/magazine/news/Kind=16/newsId=438206.html
Spain have made a highly entertaining start to the UEFA European Under-19 Championship and, if history is any guide, a number of the players who are impressing in Poland will be senior internationals in the none too distant future. One such rising star is the imposing Manchester United FC defender Gérard Piqué. uefa.com spoke to the centre-back about the finals, learning how to cope with pressure, and his hopes for the future.
uefa.com: Are you enjoying this tournament?
Piqué: It’s certainly interesting, in the first match the team was a little nervous and it was our first game together since the Elite round at the end of May. But we started well and, although we were lacking a little sharpness and there are things we can improve, as we play more games we will get getter and better.
uefa.com: What does playing for your country mean to you?
Piqué: I’m very proud. To represent Spain is a feeling you cannot explain. Every match you have to give everything and if you play well you can be proud of yourself. If you don’t play well, you have to do better next time because it’s important for you and important for your country.
uefa.com: What do you learn from these tournaments?
Piqué: The most important thing is how to play under pressure. You are under pressure to win every match, to reach the semi-finals, to reach the final, to win the tournament. In top-level football, you have to learn how to cope with such pressure and to play for the result.
uefa.com: You joined Manchester United from FC Barcelona shortly after the U17 finals in 2004. What prompted that move?
Piqué: Maybe there I saw a better future for me with more opportunities. When I was talking to the boss [Sir Alex Ferguson] before I signed, you can sometimes see in someone’s eyes that they want you and he wanted me for United so that was the main reason why I decided to go there.
uefa.com: Was it difficult to move abroad at such a young age?
Piqué: When you arrive in England everything is very different and you’ve left your friends and family behind. But you start to grow up, you make friends and finally you feel at home so I’m happy that I made the move. You miss your family, that’s maybe the hardest thing but even that’s not that bad. I went to Manchester to play football, that’s my job and if that's going well, everything else is as well.
uefa.com: Was it hard to adapt football-wise?
Piqué: Football around the world is more of less the same, training is quite similar as well although the coaches maybe think differently because of the different cultures. The level at United is really high, players like [Wayne] Rooney mean you have to be 100 per cent every time. But here we have a strong team with top players and it’s the same idea really; you have to be concentrated 100 per cent if you want to give your best.
uefa.com: You moved to England a few months after your U17 team-mate Cesc Fabregas left Barcelona for Arsenal FC. Did you take advice from him?
Piqué: I speak to Cesc all the time, we're very good friends. He explained his situation to me when he went to Arsenal and the next year I followed him to England, and we both decided to move for similar reasons. In England, they don’t care about your age; if you’re ready for the first team they do it, no problem. Fabregas did that and now he’s one of Spain’s best players, he went to the [FIFA] World Cup and showed that he belongs there. I’m trying to do the same.
uefa.com: Spain have a fantastic record in youth football but struggle to repeat that success at senior level. Why is that?
Piqué: Because of our history, there's a lot of pressure on us and maybe we're expected to fail. People need to disconnect from that and let the team play as they can and maybe one day we'll succeed. At the World Cup we played well in the group stage but it was as if the press and public expected us to lose to France and you can’t think like that.
uefa.com: Spain coach Luis Aragonés obviously has belief in young players so that’s good news for the U19 team.
Piqué: Aragonés has shown he is prepared to put his faith in young players, he has confidence in them and that's good for us because we can see that the senior team is not as far away as we might think. Fernando Torres played in the U19s in 2002 and he quickly jumped into the first team. In football everything happens very quickly and you never know what the future will hold so just keep working hard and in the end, everyone who works hard gets rewarded.
-Uefa
www.uefa.com/magazine/news/Kind=16/newsId=438206.html
