‘It's Important For His Confidence,’ Pique Hails Forward For Helping Barca Stay Alive In La Liga

Gerard Pique said “it was important” for Antoine Griezmann to rediscover his scoring touch after the Frenchman scored in Barcelona’s 4-1 win over Villarreal on Sunday.

Griezmann, whose future at Barcelona looks uncertain, has been in the news for various controversial reasons including his rift with his captain Lionel Messi. Griezmann is slowing falling in Barcelona’s pecking order and the fact that he has not started many games since La Liga’s return from the coronavirus break is the testimony to it.

The 29-year-old's family reacted on social media when Griezmann was given just four minutes of play in Barcelona’s previous La Liga match, which was against his former team Atletico Madrid. Some reports stated an angry Messi humiliated Griezmann in front of the whole dressing room after Barca ended up drawing 2-2 against Atletico.

The Sunday game against Villarreal was Griezmann’s only second start in the last seven fixtures and the French striker made no mistake this time. The French forward, who joined the Nou Camp side last summer, netted his 15th goal of the 2019-20 season with an excellent lob to make it 3-1 at half-time before teenage prodigy Ansu Fati sealed the game for the defending champions with a fourth goal. The other scorers for Barcelona were Luis Suarez, who scored at the 20th minute after Villarreal’s Pau Torre opened the scoring with an own goal at the third minute after the kick-off.

With three more points added to their account, Barcelona remain in second place in the La Liga table. They are four points behind Real Madrid, who only need eight more points to seal the league title, which they have not won since 2017.

Speaking in a post-match interview about Barcelona’s current situation in the league, Pique said, "The three points are important to continue fighting for La Liga. This game was very important for us. Now it’s up to us to continue like this until the end of the season."

"We don’t like being behind in the standings and we will fight to turn the situation around, even though it’s complicated,” said Pique before hailing Griezmann.

“It was important for Griezmann to score that goal, it’s important for his confidence,” the Spaniard said about Griezmann, who has scored just nine goals in 33 La Liga games so far in his debut season for Barcelona.