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Gerard Pique plays Bojan Krkic, the Stoke City striker, helps Catalonia to defeat Venezuela, winner of Lionel Messi, in a friendly match
- Gerard Pique from Barcelona retired international in 2018 with Spain
- But he is still eligible to play for Catalonia who faced Venezuela on Monday
- Pique got his tenth pick while Stoke City striker, Bojan, found the net
- Javi Puado's 88th-minute winner secured a 2-1 victory in a friendly
- Catalonia can play friendly matches but can not force clubs to release players
By Ap Reporter and Peter Rutzler for Mailonline
published: 8:27 pm EDT, March 25, 2019 | Update: 4:15 am EDT, March 26, 2019
Venezuela continued its superb win over Lionel Messi 's Argentina by bowing 2-1 against Gerard Pique' s Catalonia in a friendly on Monday.
Javi Puado scored in the 88th minute to give the hosts the victory at the Montilivi stadium in Girona.
Stoke City forward Bojan Krkic opened the scoring in the 53rd minute, while Venezuela tied Roberto Rosales six minutes later.
Bojan Krkic of Stoke City opened the scoring in the 53rd minute for Catalonia in Girona
Gerard Pique of Barcelona made his tenth appearance in the Catalan national team
Barcelona defender Gerard Pique, who retired from the national team of Spain after the football World Cup, took the helm of Catalonia.
Despite this retreat, he still accepts orders from the autonomous region and receives his tenth win over Solomon Rondon's Venezuela.
The 32-year-old nearly scored on a curling free-kick that hit the crossbar in the first half.
Venezuela won a convincing 3-1 win over Argentina in Madrid on Friday, but after the match, Venezuela coach Rafael Dudamel submitted his resignation as he was not happy with the politicization of a pre-game visit in the team.
Catalonia can play friendly matches but clubs are not obliged to release their players
Dudamel, who was on the bench on Monday, said his future would depend on talks with officials of the Venezuelan Football Federation.
He did not show up at the post-match press conference and an badistant said that a decision would only be made after the team returned to Venezuela. .
Catalonia, a region recently embroiled in an armed conflict over independence with Spain, missed players as some teams refused to release them to avoid the risk of injury before the last period of the Spanish championship.
The former Barcelona midfielder, Xavi, was among the people who were denied permission to play, after his club, Al-Sadd, refused Catalan 12 selections.
Catalonia may form teams that will play friendly matches against other nations, but clubs are not required to release players in the region.
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