{"id":428226,"date":"2011-05-22T20:03:00","date_gmt":"2011-05-22T20:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/05\/22\/barcelona-star-gerard-pique-manchester-united-made-a-man-of-me\/"},"modified":"2011-05-22T20:03:00","modified_gmt":"2011-05-22T20:03:00","slug":"barcelona-star-gerard-pique-manchester-united-made-a-man-of-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/22\/barcelona-star-gerard-pique-manchester-united-made-a-man-of-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Barcelona star Gerard Pique: Manchester United made a man of me"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n<h3>By Laurie Bonne<\/h3>\n<h4>22 May 2011 21:03:00<\/h4>\n<\/p>\n<div readability=\"66.5008615738\">\n<div readability=\"14.3798882682\">\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Gerard Pique, Barcelona (Getty Images)\" src=\"http:\/\/u.goal.com\/88500\/88554_news.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Gerard Pique, Barcelona (Getty Images)<\/p>\n<h4>Related Links<\/h4>\n<h4>Teams<\/h4>\n<h4>Players<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<p><span readability=\"31.7547169811\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.goal.com\/en-gb\/teams\/spain\/125\/barcelona\">Barcelona<\/a> defender <a href=\"http:\/\/www.goal.com\/en-gb\/people\/spain\/9749\/gerard-piqu%C3%A9\">Gerard Pique<\/a> admits that while he had a hard time adjusting to life in England, he will use what he picked up with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.goal.com\/en-gb\/teams\/england\/97\/man-utd\">Manchester United<\/a> against them on in the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.goal.com\/en-gb\/news\/2914\/champions-league\">Champions League<\/a> final on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>The Spaniard had a four-year spell at Old Trafford where he had to come to terms with the more physical style of game, but he was not Sir Alex Ferguson\u2019s first choice when it came to United\u2019s regular defensive line.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When I arrived in Manchester, the club put me with a family,&#8221; he told <em>News of the World<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;After a few days I had an idea of what was in store for me: cakes or fish and chips.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Once they served up this warm lemon cake &#8211; disgusting. Still, I never regretted my choice because my time in England made a man of me.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It was another way of playing, more direct and physical. I learned how to use my body to defend with because players often came through you from behind.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I then worked out like never before and put on nine kilos in muscle.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The 24-year-old was snubbed for the Red Devils\u2019 Champions League final in Moscow against<br \/>Chelsea but he lifted the same trophy a year later after returning with the Catalans by defeating Manchester United 2-0 in Rome.<\/p>\n<p>Ahead of the clash at Wembley, Pique compared current boss Pep Guardiola\u2019s coaching style to Ferguson\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>He said: &#8220;They both have the ability to motivate sides, although Guardiola speaks more calmly while Ferguson will try to harangue his troops.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Read the rest here:<br \/>\n<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.goal.com\/en-gb\/news\/2896\/premier-league\/2011\/05\/22\/2498521\/barcelona-star-gerard-pique-manchester-united-made-a-man-of\" title=\"Barcelona star Gerard Pique: Manchester United made a man of me\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Barcelona star Gerard Pique: Manchester United made a man of me<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> By Laurie Bonne 22 May 2011 21:03:00 Gerard Pique, Barcelona (Getty Images) Related Links Teams Players Barcelona defender Gerard Pique admits that while he had a hard time adjusting to life in England, he will use what he picked up with Manchester United against them on in the Champions League final on Saturday. The Spaniard had a four-year spell at Old Trafford where he had to come to terms with the more physical style of game, but he was not Sir Alex Ferguson\u2019s first choice when it came to United\u2019s regular defensive line. &#8220;When I arrived in Manchester, the club put me with a family,&#8221; he told News of the World &#8220;After a few days I had an idea of what was in store for me: cakes or fish and chips<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-428226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Barcelona star Gerard Pique: Manchester United made a man of me - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/22\/barcelona-star-gerard-pique-manchester-united-made-a-man-of-me\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Barcelona star Gerard Pique: Manchester United made a man of me - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"By Laurie Bonne 22 May 2011 21:03:00 Gerard Pique, Barcelona (Getty Images) Related Links Teams Players Barcelona defender Gerard Pique admits that while he had a hard time adjusting to life in England, he will use what he picked up with Manchester United against them on in the Champions League final on Saturday. The Spaniard had a four-year spell at Old Trafford where he had to come to terms with the more physical style of game, but he was not Sir Alex Ferguson\u2019s first choice when it came to United\u2019s regular defensive line. &quot;When I arrived in Manchester, the club put me with a family,&quot; he told News of the World &quot;After a few days I had an idea of what was in store for me: cakes or fish and chips\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"http:\/\/u.goal.com\/88500\/88554_news.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/22\/barcelona-star-gerard-pique-manchester-united-made-a-man-of-me\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/22\/barcelona-star-gerard-pique-manchester-united-made-a-man-of-me\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Barcelona star Gerard Pique: Manchester United made a man of me\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-05-22T20:03:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/22\/barcelona-star-gerard-pique-manchester-united-made-a-man-of-me\/\"},\"wordCount\":300,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/22\/barcelona-star-gerard-pique-manchester-united-made-a-man-of-me\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/u.goal.com\/88500\/88554_news.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/22\/barcelona-star-gerard-pique-manchester-united-made-a-man-of-me\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/22\/barcelona-star-gerard-pique-manchester-united-made-a-man-of-me\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/22\/barcelona-star-gerard-pique-manchester-united-made-a-man-of-me\/\",\"name\":\"Barcelona star Gerard Pique: Manchester United made a man of me - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/22\/barcelona-star-gerard-pique-manchester-united-made-a-man-of-me\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/22\/barcelona-star-gerard-pique-manchester-united-made-a-man-of-me\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/u.goal.com\/88500\/88554_news.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-05-22T20:03:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/22\/barcelona-star-gerard-pique-manchester-united-made-a-man-of-me\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/22\/barcelona-star-gerard-pique-manchester-united-made-a-man-of-me\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/u.goal.com\/88500\/88554_news.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/u.goal.com\/88500\/88554_news.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Barcelona star Gerard Pique: Manchester United made a man of me - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/22\/barcelona-star-gerard-pique-manchester-united-made-a-man-of-me\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Barcelona star Gerard Pique: Manchester United made a man of me - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"By Laurie Bonne 22 May 2011 21:03:00 Gerard Pique, Barcelona (Getty Images) Related Links Teams Players Barcelona defender Gerard Pique admits that while he had a hard time adjusting to life in England, he will use what he picked up with Manchester United against them on in the Champions League final on Saturday. 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