Barcelona centre-back Gerard Pique, in an interview with Movistar+ program ‘La Resistencia’, has mocked rivals Espanyol stating that he earns more than the club’s entire budget. 

The two Spanish rivals meet at the Camp Nou on Saturday and Pique has already stoked fire in what looks like a promising encounter between the two. 

Pique, on the show, also revealed how club-captain Lionel Messi, who is often mistaken to be shy, is one of the funniest guys in the dressing room. “Messi has very ironic humour, he’s one of the biggest trolls [I know]”, said Pique.

The veteran defender was in action for Catalonia earlier this week featuring in a friendly 2-1 win against Venezuela. The former Spain captain hung up his boots for his national side amidst heavy controversy after the World Cup last year. 

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Pique is known to be a supporter of Catalan independence, and hence suffered immense criticism from the Spanish fans and media. He then decided to quit the national team set-up altogether to focus on his club career with Barcelona.

The decorated centre-back has won 7 La Liga titles and 3 Champions League trophies since he joined the Spanish giants in 2008. Ernesto Valverde’s side are 10 points ahead of second-placed Atletico Madrid and, barring any major hiccups, are comfortably on course to win another league title.

Espanyol, on the other hand, have had a stop-start La Liga campaign, and currently sit 13th in the Premiera Division. The Periquitos have a 9-point buffer between them and the relegation zone, having only lost once in the league since the start of February.

Pique and Barcelona will look to build momentum towards another successful season with a win against their local rivals. The Spanish champions thumped Espanyol 4-0 in the reverse fixture at the RCDE Stadium. 

Barcelona then travel to Villareal and host Atletico Madrid in a top-two clash before facing Pique’s former club Manchester United in the UEFA Champions League quarter-final first leg at Old Trafford.