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Gerard Pique may have retired from Spain in 2018, but he was still in international action on Monday.
The Barcelona defender, winner of the World Cup and European Championship with Spain, played for Catalonia in a friendly match against Venezuela.
The governing bodies of football, FIFA and UEFA, do not recognize Catalonia. The match therefore has no official status but was played in front of a crowd of spectators almost in Girona.
This is the tenth pick of Spades for the region and the first since his retirement to Spain after the 2018 World Cup.
Catalonia won the match 2 to 1 with Stoke City striker Bojan scoring the first goal.
Venezuela, who beat Lionel Messi's Argentina last week, tied by Roberto Rosales, but Javi Puado of Espanyol scored the winning goal for the team in the 87th minute.
Brighton defensemen Martin Montoya, Southampton midfielder Oriol Romeu and Real Betis's Marc Bartra also played for Catalonia.
Some Spanish clubs prevented their players from joining the team but explained that decisions were made by injuries rather than political reasons.
The former midfielder Barcelona and Spain, Xavi, was called but could not play due to club commitments with his Al Qatari team. -Sadd.
Catalonia is a semi-autonomous region of northeastern Spain, which gives it important powers of government.
The Catalan government held a referendum on 1 October 2017 and declared Spain 's independence a few weeks later, but the Spanish authorities said the vote was illegal.
Spades, who won 103 caps for Spain, has already supported the independence of Catalonia and was often mocked by Spanish fans during the selection for the national team, partly because of his position on the issue.
A number of leaders of the failed independence attempt are currently tried in Spain and are facing charges of rebellion and sedition.
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