Gerard Piqué

[Faceless]

He's been attacking a lot in this match.. Contributed more in attack than in defense!

 

[NotInHere]

For me he was the most important player in our team today, or he made the most important impact of the match when he scored the goal that broke Malaga's pressure.

 

[ZenI]

Great stuff Pique! Really awesome today again.

 

[Galning]

Piquenbauer is back.

 

[Kerrybai]

Forget the goals he is actually defending well lately.

 

[CatalinR10]

great game once again

 

[Flavia]

@3gerardpique 7 min Seguimos líderes después de una gran victoria contra el Málaga! Happy to be on fire! http://instagram.com/p/jpmfy2NsIa/

Keep it up, Geri. He really found his best form again.

 

[Gohan]

What a defensive monster he is this season.

 

[DonAK]

Piquenbauer is back.

This. Monster.

 

[Stric]

Piquenbauer has been back the entire season.

Getting ready for his second World Cup. Yes, the trophy.

 

[KhaledBarca]

He's been playing great since September (since the away game vs Celtic).
Yet, his great performance this season wasn't mentioned until he started scoring goals!

nowadays, its all about goals which is very sad! even for a CB LOL

 

[beautifulgame]

its not true.

he has gotten noticeably better more recently. he was not nearly this sharp at the beginning of the season. it almost seems as if tata is dumping more responsbility on him.

 

[serghei]

its not true.

he has gotten noticeably better more recently. he was not nearly this sharp at the beginning of the season. it almost seems as if tata is dumping more responsbility on him.

He has 3 months of playing quality football. Since the clasico he has been the great old Pique.

 

[Antimadridista1]

We shouldn't exaggerate (MONSTER, PiquenBauer)... He's better mainly because of team's work (the overall pressing and defending) but I agree about the fact that he feels more confident this season. Still not world class.

 

[DonAndres]

We shouldn't exaggerate (MONSTER, PiquenBauer)... He's better mainly because of team's work (the overall pressing and defending) but I agree about the fact that he feels more confident this season. Still not world class.

You couldn't have expected him to perform last season when the team as a whole was so passive defensively. Our defensive problems were not down to the CB's (even if they didn't perform well) and they were spread way too thin which is why they seemed so poor. Now that he's being covered well he can do his duties and not always be caught in extremely tough situations.

If you had put any other "world class" CB in Pique's situation last year, they would've done badly as well (Kompany, Dante, even Silva would've had a tough time handling it). Pique, while not the fastest, isn't that slow and has gained a lot of fitness this year. He's winning a majority of his aerial duels and using his height extremely well, and he's gained a tough and physical steely factor to his game that compliments his positional intelligence. On current form, he's world class and looks like he'll continue to be a leader in our backline.