Barcelona’s Gerard Piqué (on the grass) hit a career-high score of 140.90 points in the FTBL system after picking up 7.7 points in the Catalans’ 1:0 home win over No. 14 Espanyol yesterday in La Liga. Piqué has captured the lead in the FTBL world ranking of defenders, something he achieved for the first time last September.

Another Barcelona defender, Carles Puyol (135.21 points), was in position to claim the same spot going into this weekend’s matches. Brazil international Dani Alves (136.69 points), who was the leader before yesterday’s game, has now been pushed down by his teammate. Piqué was helped by the fact that he went into the game with a much lower plank to beat.

The top three spots in the world ranking of defenders are now held by the Catalans, but Gerard Piqué will have a hard time remaining at the top as he goes into the next game with a daunting plank of 23.3o rating points to beat. To do that, he will have to score at least a goal.