Gerard Piqu\u00e9, speaking during the presentation in Madrid of a collaboration between Uber Eats\u2014the food delivery platform he endorses\u2014and the burger chain Vicio, addressed several current topics in the world of football.<\/p>\n
The former player, a World Cup champion in 2010, remains optimistic despite Spain\u2019s draw against Cape Verde in their tournament opener.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter a draw, I think our chances of winning the World Cup actually increase, because a setback can be helpful,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the players know how good they are\u2014they\u2019re coming off winning the Euros,\u201d he added about the squad.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the national team will do better against Saudi Arabia because of their style of play.\u201d<\/p>\n
Piqu\u00e9 continues to back Luis de la Fuente\u2019s side as title contenders:<\/p>\n
\u201cI still think they\u2019re one of the favorites. Just having players like Lamine, Pedri or Cubars\u00ed means their ambitions remain the same,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve already lived through 2010\u2014we lost to Switzerland, it felt like a disaster, and we ended up winning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mourinho, Real Madrid and a \u201cshow\u201d<\/p>\n
Piqu\u00e9 also touched on Real Madrid topics. Regarding Jos\u00e9 Mourinho\u2019s return to the bench, he suggested the Portuguese coach will bring plenty of spectacle:<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he\u2019s a good candidate to put on a show and make people talk even less about football.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also mentioned former coach \u00c1lvaro Arbeloa:<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring the season, I actually wished Madrid would do a bit better\u2014not win titles\u2014but just enough because I wanted Arbeloa to stay,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he generated a lot of content. The trophy cabinet moment, the \u2018Juanito spirit\u2019 in a Madrid-Levante game\u2026 I enjoy that kind of thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Juli\u00e1n \u00c1lvarez and a dig at Madrid<\/p>\n
When asked about Juli\u00e1n \u00c1lvarez, Piqu\u00e9 didn\u2019t hold back:<\/p>\n
\u201cBarcelona have already signed Gordon, and Juli\u00e1n is now a big dream,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMadrid has stepped in, like they do with every transfer, so I don\u2019t know if it\u2019ll happen. That\u2019s up to Deco and the club.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cucurella and Bernardo Silva transfers<\/p>\n
Piqu\u00e9 also discussed Marc Cucurella\u2019s move to Real Madrid:<\/p>\n
\u201cI would never criticize a player for joining one club or another. I wish him well personally because I know him and he\u2019s a great player, but in the end he signed for Madrid\u2014and you know what I think about them as a club.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the timing of transfers being announced during the World Cup, like Cucurella and Bernardo Silva, he added:<\/p>\n
\u201cIf my teammate signs for another club, I don\u2019t really care. Another thing is whether the player himself might be a bit distracted,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re playing in a World Cup\u2014it\u2019s the opportunity of a lifetime to win something unique that only comes around every four years. Everyone knows what they need to do to stay focused and perform at their best.\u201d<\/p>\n
Argentina and Messi<\/p>\n
Finally, he spoke about Argentina and his former teammate Lionel Messi, now playing in his sixth World Cup:<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re still one of the favorites, without a doubt\u2014and Messi, at 38, is still the best,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gerard Piqu\u00e9, speaking during the presentation in Madrid of a collaboration between Uber Eats\u2014the food delivery platform he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":498911,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-498910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=498910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/498911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=498910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=498910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=498910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}