Gerard Pique admits Spain are not good enough after sorry Euro 2016 exit against Italy
Spaniards won back-to-back Euros with World Cup in between but Barcelona ace laments end of an era after defeat in last-16
Gerard Pique wrote the sad epitaph to the end of Spain’s global reign and said: We’re not good enough any more.
The Spain ace admitted that the team that enthralled the world for six years winning back to back Euros and the World Cup have lost their edge over their rivals.
Antonio Conte’s Italy brought Spain’s reign to an abrupt end.
And Pique admitted: “We have to be realistic, we don’t have the level that we had a couple of years ago when we were champions of Europe and champions of the world. We have young players coming through who are very promising, veterans who [we] have to keep on bringing our experience and talent to the team.
“But the level isn’t the same. We have to accept that, be self-critical, we have to face up to these next two years and do all we can to prepare for Russia in better conditions, with a higher level of play.
“We have to continue. We knew that we weren’t favourites to win the competition.
“We said that before we started. We wanted to keep on going through rounds and get as far as we could. "But the way it fell, we ended up in the hardest side of the draw, the most difficult path, and I think that we created a mountain [in our minds], with everything that we had to overcome.”
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Pique went further and said Spain’s tiki taka style no longer gives them an advantage as their opponents have worked it out.
The Barcelona ace added: “I think it’s lots of things, not just the level of the players. I think the style of football, even though we’re doing the same thing, we’re not as effective as we were in how we thought we had to play.
“It’s a bit of everything. I think we have to undertake a big reflection, both in terms of style and level, and face up to the next two years.
“Obviously, the first thing is that we have to qualify, but we have to raise our level if we want to have a chance of winning big competitions.”
Lastly Pique conceded that the Italy defeat has knocked Spain back down to size and was a cruel reality check for this once unrivalled set of players.
He said: “When you get knocked out in the last sixteen, I don’t think there are many positives you can take from it.
“There are players for whom this was their first Euros and the have got some international experience now for the future. That might help them for Russia.
“And maybe the other thing is that this put us in our place. It makes us think that we’re not favourites for the coming competitions.
“We have a level to be able to compete in games but we have to improve a lot for Russia.
“This is not the best moment in our careers the older players, far from it. Now we have to reflect, think, see what’s best for the national team and that’s it.
“It’s been a very, very hard season with lots of games, ever more, and so now we rest and see what happens next season.”