Gerard Pique retires from international football

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Barcelona defender Gerard Pique has confirmed that he will no longer play for the Spanish National team.

The 31-year old defender is an integral part of the most successful Spanish national team in history, he won the World Cup 2010 and the European championship in 2012.

A proud Catalan, Pique has been a subject of numerous abuse from some sections of La Roja's fanbase, despite this, Pique has 102 international caps for the national team.

His Partnership with club rival Sergio Ramos is underrated as the duo have played a very important part of the country's success.

Pique announced his retirement from international football on Saturday evening even as former Barca boss Luis Enrique was appointed as Spain's manager following their poor showing at the last World Cup.

🚨 Piqué: "Hablé con Luis Enrique y le dije que mi decisión de dejar la selección ya estaba tomada hace tiempo" https://t.co/cZn6ofO1K7 pic.twitter.com/4Wam6DHGmk

— MARCA (@marca) August 11, 2018

"I spoke to Luis Enrique a few days ago. He called me and I told him the decision was taken a long time ago and that I had thought about it carefully," Pique said on Saturday.

"It was a beautiful time with the national team in which I had the chance to win the World Cup and the European Championship. Now I want to focus on Barca," he added.

"I have a few years left here and I'm going to enjoy them a lot."