Guardiola changed towards me because of Shakira: Pique

Barcelona captain, Gerard Pique has opened up on the pressure of playing under Pep Guardiola at the club and how he changed towards him when he started dating superstar singer, Shakira.

Pique and Guardiola enjoyed a successful time at the LaLiga giants between 2008 and 2012, winning three LaLiga titles, two Champions League trophies together at a time when Barcelona and Real Madrid were at the top of their games.

Barcelona dominated European football at the time, and Jose Mourinho's Real Madrid were the only team that could measure up to the Catalans. This period saw one of the most heated rivalries in world football's history.

Speaking about how strenuous working under Guardiola can be, he claimed the coach’s rivalry with then-Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho was tiring for the players – to the point that he started targeting him when he started dating pop star, Shakira, at the start of 2011.

Prior to their relationship, Shakira publicly identified with Barcelona's arch-rivals real Madrid, and had sometimes featured as the face of the capital club's social engagements.

Pique also claimed that Guardiola tried to ‘control everything’ and nearly forced him out of the Camp Nou.

The current Manchester City manager has often publicly endorsed the Catalonia separatist movement that has always not been welcomed at the Spanish capital.

The animosity Guardiola developed towards Pique at the time may not be unconnected to his disdain for any connections with the thirteen time UEFA Champions League winners.

In an interview recently, the former Spanish international defender told Marca: ‘We reached an important point of tension with him, and with the dressing room in general. The rivalry with José Mourinho was very exhausting.

‘Pep wanted absolute control of everything that happened. I started dating Shakira and the relationship with him changed – now the relationship is perfect.

‘I had a lot of pressure. I felt that in training I had to do everything perfect. If there was a moment in which I thought about leaving Barça, it was that season (the summer of 2011).’

Though at the time, none of the parties involved ever gave a public indication that there was any tension between them. Barcelona still went on to enjoy multiple success under Pep Guardiola, and Gerrard Pique was a mainstay in the all conquering Barcelona side.

This revelation has however come as a shock to many football lovers that witnessed one of the most successful eras of Barcelona football Club.

Pique and Shakira started dating at the start of 2011, after they first met in the spring of 2010 when the Colombian pop star was filming her music video for that year’s World Cup hit, ‘Waka Waka’.

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The footballer was part of the music video but both were not seen together as a couple until the following year when Shakira’s 11-year relationship with her former agent Antonio de la Rua had broken down.

The couple are still together and have two sons, Millan and Sasha. In 2020, Forbes named Pique and Shakira in their list of the ‘World’s Most Powerful Couples’