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

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

It is believed to be the first time the couple have celebrated the Catalan beauty’s birthday together following Pique’s split from Shakira and their decision to go public with their romance last year. 

Spanish media are reporting the former Barcelona defender, 36, and his girlfriend, 24, will return to their home city this weekend before he jets to Miami to see his two sons with Shakira following their relocation to the States.

Little detail has so far been revealed about the couple’s Middle East jaunt, except that they were spotted leaving Barcelona on Tuesday a day ahead of Clara Chia’s birthday and are believed to be staying in a luxury hotel.

The trip has coincided with the first meeting of the two lawyers who represented Shakira and Pique throughout their drawn-out child custody negotiations to ‘dot the i’s and cross the t’s’ on the former footballer’s first visit to Miami since the departure of Milan, ten, and Sasha, eight, from Barcelona with their mum.

Sunshine break: Gerard Pique has whisked new love Clara Chia to Abu Dhabi for a romantic break to celebrate her 24th birthday

Split: It comes after Shakira's split from Pique was confirmed last May after a relationship lasting 11 years

Split: It comes after Shakira’s split from Pique was confirmed last May after a relationship lasting 11 years

Shakira’s split from Pique was confirmed last May after a relationship lasting 11 years.

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

Her brief statement read: ‘We regret to confirm that we are parting ways. For the well-being of our children, who are our highest priority, we ask that you respect their privacy. Thank you for your understanding.’ 

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

According to sources, the retired footballer was living a ‘party lifestyle’ after the split, living in a bachelor pad 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 understood to have met Gerard after working at his company Kosmos, in the Public Relations office.

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

She said: ‘Oh, this is really hard to talk about personally, especially as this is the first time I’ve ever addressed this situation in an interview.

‘I’ve remained quiet and just tried to process it all. Um, and yeah, it’s hard to talk about it, especially because I’m still going through it, and because I’m in the public eye and because our separation is not like a regular separation. 

‘And so it’s been tough not only for me, but also for my kids. Incredibly difficult.’ 

Shakira also appeared to pen lyrics about her split, releasing 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 in pieces / I was warned, but I didn’t take 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 it’s apparent connection to her marital issues.

She said: ‘I can only say that either consciously or subconsciously, everything I feel, everything I go through is reflected in the lyrics I write, in the videos I make. 

‘When the glove fits, it fits. Like I said before, my music is that channel.’

Green light: After a tricky 12-hour meeting with lawyers in November, the former couple agreed a custody agreement over their children- and Gerard gave Shakira's Miami move his blessing

Green light: After a tricky 12-hour meeting with lawyers in November, the former couple agreed a custody agreement over their children- and Gerard gave Shakira’s Miami move his blessing

Message: As the bitter split continued, Shakira took an apparent swipe at her ex as she shared an Instagram post about healing after betrayal on New Year's Day

Message: As the bitter split continued, Shakira took an apparent swipe at her ex as she shared an Instagram post about healing after betrayal on New Year’s Day

Nice ride: The footballer later hit back at his ex's diss track which targets his new romance , by turning up to work in a Renault Twingo car

Nice ride: The footballer later hit back at his ex’s diss track which targets his new romance , by turning up to work in a Renault Twingo car

Symbolic? Shakira later set up a terrifying lifesize witch doll on the balcony of her Spanish home, looking over her former mother in law's pad

Symbolic? Shakira later set up a terrifying lifesize witch doll on the balcony of her Spanish home, looking over her former mother in law’s pad

After a tricky 12-hour meeting with lawyers in November, the former couple agreed a custody agreement over their children- and Gerard gave Shakira’s Miami move his blessing.

Spanish press also reported that Gerard would be able to spend ten days a month with his children as part of his custody agreement as well as holiday time.

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

Starting the New Year off on a positive note, she wrote: ‘Even if our are still open in this new year, time has surgeon’s hands. Even if someone has betrayed us, we must continue to trust others.

‘When faced with contempt, continue to know your worth. Because there are more good people than indecent ones. More people with empathy than indifference. 

‘The ones who leave are fewer than the many who stay by our side. Our tears are not in vain, they water the soil our future will spring from and make us more human, so that even while suffering heartache we can continue to love. Shak’.

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

The footballer later hit back at his ex’s diss track which targets his new romance, by turning up to work in a Renault Twingo car.

The £8000 car was a deliberate choice, following Shakira’s declaration in her newly released song that the former footballer had ‘traded a Ferrari for a Twingo,’ when he started his dating his new partner Clara Chia Marti. 

Smiling for the camera, Gerard happily parked his budget car among the more flashy motors as he arrived for work at his new seven-a-side project King’s League in Barcelona. 

Shakira later set up a terrifying life-size witch doll on the balcony of her Spanish home, looking over her former mother in law’s pad.

Residents in the area also reported hearing Shakira ‘blasting her collaboration with Bizarrap at full volume’ from her home. 

Twitter was flooded with reports over the song and the scary-looking witch, which has been placed on her balcony, with many hailing her a ‘petty queen’.

The jibes between the pair did not stop there and earlier this month, Gerard was slammed by Shakira fans for being xenophobic.

The Spanish footballer didn’t hold back as he opened up about trolling he had received from Colombian star Shakira’s fanbase since the split.

Speaking on his Kings League Infojobs Twitch stream, he said: ‘The issues that I have been through since last year, with my ex-partner being Latin American… I mean, you don’t know what I’ve come to receive on social media from people who are her fans, but damn, I don’t care about any of it, really. 

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

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

Shakira then took to Twitter to fire off an apparent retort to her ex’s remarks, 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.

New life: 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.

New life: 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.

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.’

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