Gerard Pique whisks new love Clara Chia Marti to Abu Dhabi after bitter split from Shakira

Gerard Pique has taken new love Clara Chia Marti to Abu Dhabi for a romantic holiday to celebrate her 24th birthday.

It is believed to be the couple’s first time celebrating the Catalan beauty’s birthday together following Pique’s divorce from Shakira and their decision to take their romance public last year.

Spanish media reports that the former Barcelona defender, 36, and his girlfriend, 24, will return to their home city this weekend before flying to Miami to see his two sons with Shakira after moving to the United States.

Few details have been revealed about the couple’s jaunt to the Middle East so far, except that they left Barcelona a day before Clara Chia’s birthday on Tuesday and are believed to be staying at a luxury hotel.

The trip coincided with the first meeting of the two lawyers representing Shakira and Pique during their protracted custody negotiations to “put the finishing touches” on the former footballer’s first visit to Miami since leaving. from Milan, ten, and Sasha, eight, from Barcelona with their mother.

Shakira’s divorce from Pique was confirmed last May after an 11-year relationship.

Their breakup was not entirely unexpected as Spanish tabloids had already claimed that the pair were on the verge of splitting, with sources claiming that Gerard had cheated on the star.

Her terse statement read: “We are sorry to confirm that we are separating. For the well-being of our children, who are our top priority, we ask that you respect their privacy. Thank you for your understanding.’

Spanish outlet El Periodico reported that the couple lived separately for weeks after he was kicked out of the family home by the pop star.

According to sources, the retired footballer led a “party lifestyle” after the split, living in a bachelor flat and enjoying nights out with his teammates.

In August 2022, Gerard went public with his new girlfriend Clara, after he was pictured kissing her at the Summerfest Cerdanya festival in Catalonia.

Clara is said to have met Gerard after working at his company Kosmos, in the Public Relations office.

Three months later, Shakira spoke at length about her breakup for the first time – but she chose not to talk about Gerard’s new relationship with a much younger woman.

She said, “Oh, this is really hard to talk about in person, especially since this is the first time I’ve ever brought up this situation in an interview.”

“I kept quiet and tried to process it all. Um, and yes, it’s hard to talk about it, especially because I’m still going through it, and because I’m out in the open, and because our divorce isn’t a regular divorce.

“And so it was not only difficult for me, but also for my children. Incredibly difficult.’

Shakira also appeared to write lyrics about her split and released the single Te Felicito (I Congratulate You), a collaboration with Ozuna.

A key line in the song is translated as: “To make you whole / I broke myself to pieces / I was warned but I took no heed / Don’t tell me you’re sorry / I know you well and I know you’re lying.’

In her interview with ELLE, the hitmaker was asked about the line and its obvious connection to her marital problems.

She said, “I can only say that, consciously or unconsciously, everything I feel, everything I go through is reflected in the lyrics I write, in the videos I make.

“If the glove fits, it fits. As I said before, my music is that channel.’

After an awkward 12-hour meeting with lawyers in November, the former couple settled on a custody agreement over their children — and Gerard gave Shakira’s move to Miami his blessing.

The Spanish press also reported that Gerard could be with his children for ten days a month as part of his custody agreement and vacation time.

But as the acrimonious split continued, Shakira took an apparent swipe at her ex when she shared an Instagram post about healing after betrayal on New Year’s Day.

She started the new year on a positive note, writing, “Even though we are still open in this new year, time is in the hands of the surgeon. Even if someone has betrayed us, we must continue to trust others.

“When faced with contempt, keep knowing your worth. Because there are more good people than indecent ones. More people with empathy than indifference.

“Those who leave are less than the many who stay by our side. Our tears are not in vain, they moisten the soil from which our future will spring and make us more human, so that we can continue to love despite heartbreak. Shake’.

In January, after Shakira released diss lyrics about Gerard, he sent her a clear message.

The footballer later hit back at his ex’s diss job which focused on his new romance, by going to work in a Renault Twingo car.

The £8,000 car was a deliberate choice, following Shakira’s statement in her newly released song that the former footballer had ‘traded in a Ferrari for a Twingo’ when he started dating his new partner Clara Chia Marti.

Smiling for the camera, Gerard happily parked his cheap car amongst the flashier engines when he arrived for work at his new seven-a-side project King’s League in Barcelona.

Shakira later placed a terrifying life-sized witch doll on the balcony of her Spanish home, looking across the path of her former mother-in-law.

Residents in the area also reported hearing Shakira “popping her collaboration with Bizarrap at full blast” from her home.

Twitter was flooded with posts about the song and the creepy-looking witch posted on her balcony, with many calling her a “little queen.”

The jokes between the pair didn’t stop there and earlier this month Gerard was criticized by Shakira fans for being xenophobic.

The Spanish footballer didn’t hold back when he opened up about trolls he had received from Colombian star Shakira’s fan base since the split.

Speaking on his Kings League Infojobs Twitch stream, he said, “The issues I’ve been through since last year, with my ex-partner who’s Hispanic…I mean you don’t know what I’ve come to receive on social media media from people who are her fans, but damn, I don’t really care.

‘It’s zero, zero, because I don’t know them at all. These are people who don’t care about you, and they are there but have no life.

And what interest do they have? That’s zero. You will never meet them in your life, they are like robots. I’ll treat it like it is, you know.’

Shakira then took to Twitter to fire off an apparent reply to her ex’s comments, writing, “Orgullosa de ser Latinoamericana” [Proud to be Latin American.) 

Now Shakira has moved to the states with her children, the two youngsters have been enrolled at an exclusive private school just north of Miami.

The artist was pictured for the first time with her children earlier this week in Miami, watching a basketball game with them.

They are living in a 14 million mansion with their mother which she bought in 2001. 

She reportedly put it up for sale in 2018 before removing it from the market a few months ago.

But Shakira experts Lorena Vasquez and Laura Fa, who revealed her secret holiday location earlier this month, have also reported she is planning to move to the 300-acre Indian Creek in north-eastern Miami-Dade County so she and her kids can enjoy more privacy.

Shakira was pictured leaving Barcelona on April 2 with her children and it was subsequently reported she left the city after being served with an ‘eviction notice’ by Pique’s dad.

However, her plans to move to Miami had been an open secret and she had originally been expected to up sticks with her kids in January before her parents’ health delayed things.

Spanish media say the Colombian singer-songwriter received a letter telling her and her parents to abandon the ex-couple’s former family home after she performed her diss song with Argentinian DJ Bizarrap targeting Pique and his new girlfriend on the Jimmy Fallon late-night show last month.

In the song, one of two revenge songs she released after her split from Pique, she said without naming him or his new 24-year-old love that he had traded a Ferrari for a Twingo and a Rolex for a Casio as well as telling him to work his brain a bit more and spend less time in the gym.

She said in an emotional Instagram message: ‘I settled in Barcelona to give my sons stability, the same stability that we are now looking for in another corner of the world next to family, friends and the sea.

‘Today we begin a new chapter in the search for their happiness. Thanks to everyone who surfed so many waves with me there in Barcelona, the city where I learned friendship is undoubtedly longer than love.

‘Thanks to everyone there who encouraged me, dried my tears, inspired me and made me grow.

‘Thanks to my Spanish fans who have always protected me with their love and loyalty.’

She went on to share a photo of a wing of the plane she left the Catalan capital on with Barcelona below it and added: ‘But things are not always how we dreamed them.

‘At times we run but we don’t arrive. Never doubt that I’m going to be here.’