Barcelona star: Forget Man City… Man United are still the club for me

GERARD PIQUE has revealed he prefers former club Manchester United to Pep Guardiola’s side Manchester City.

By Joel Watson                    

ONCE A RED...: Pique still considers himself a Red Devil

The Barcelona centre-back spent four years at Old Trafford before securing a move to the Camp Nou after failing to become a first team regular under Sir Alex Ferguson.

But apparently the 29-year-old, who’s now made more than 300 appearances for the Catalan giants, still prefers Jose Mourinho’s team.

He told Spanish publication Marca: “Between Pep and United, I go for the latter.

“I had some really good years there and I’ve always considered it as a second home.

“I’ll always be more of a Red Devil, although I have to admit that I follow City fondly because there are people there I know, like Txiki [Begiristain, City director of football], who helped me come to Barcelona, and [national] team-mates like [Jesus] Navas and [David] Silva.”

Pique also sounded off on Guardiola’s signing of England defender John Stones from Everton.

"Stones is a great player, the best central defender England have,” he added.

“I like how he plays [because] it is a style like mine. It is difficult to do well because it is playing a different way.

“Pep is going to help him to take risks with the ball a lot. This is also like poker, in which there are times you have to take risks.

“But being a defender, you have to control that risk. I think he'll do well."