The defender wasn’t ready to come when Konde got injured
With the approach of the seventieth minute of the Valencia-Barcelona match in Mestalla, Jules Conde fell to the ground while touching the back of his leg and asked to change due to muscle discomfort, so Xavi sent Gerard Pique to warm up, which caught his attention. An experienced defender caught by surprise.
Barcelona’s central defender was not ready to immediately step into the field of play, as the team needed at the time, and Sergio Busquets had to step in to help him with his shoelace while also searching for the pads of his foot.
In the match photos, Busquets and several of his Barcelona teammates were also seen trying to untie Pique’s shoelaces.
Pique was missing his shin guards and socks, was not in the warm-up state and was not scheduled to participate and this was an emergency
Currently – after injuries to Eric Garcia and Conde against Valencia as well as Christensen and Araujo – Pique is the only defender Xavi Hernandez can count on.
Another player who has been playing there and looks set to continue to serve as a central defender is Marcos Alonso, who was first picked by Xavi to replace Garcia in the 40th minute.
This is not the first “incident” of Pique – during the match against Villarreal supporters they had already criticized his slow warm-up.