Carles Puyol is and will always be remembered for being the eternal captain of Barça, due to the indelible mark he left on the club while wearing the armband. The one who was one of the most important footballers in the club’s history was the star of Barça’s training session this Wednesday.
Puyol has traveled from Andorra, where he lives, for some personal reasons, and has taken the opportunity to visit the sports city of Sant Joan Despí. There he met his teammate Xavi Hernández, with whom he lived a thousand battles, and with the players who have not been called up to go with their respective teams, such as Oriol Romeu, Balde or Pedri.
Taking advantage of his status as eternal captain, Puyol has tried to encourage everyone to overcome this complicated stretch that Xavi’s team is going through. Especially in view of the upcoming matches that are coming up, against Rayo Vallecano, Porto, Atlético de Madrid and Girona.
Still with the bad feelings of the last games, the one from La Pobla de Segur is sure that Xavi will know how to manage this bad moment and will know how to transmit confidence to the players: “It is always good to meet friends. With Xavi we have experienced many things and I am very happy to be here. I see him well, I think he knows perfectly well where he is, a club like Barça that is very demanding. Now we are in a difficult moment, but I am sure that he is going to manage it and will know how to transmit confidence to the players, who are the ones who have to pull the wagon and turn the situation around.
Knowing the harsh culé environment, Puyol has asked that the conclusions be drawn at the end of the season and not in November: “We already know the house, when two games are lost or there are two games in which the game is not played at all well, there are many criticisms. The demand is maximum in the team and in Xavi. We have had difficult moments with injuries and that always makes the team’s play difficult but I have a lot of confidence and in the end the evaluations must be made at the end of the season.”
Upon his retirement, Puyol was moved by the tribute that Barça paid him. “I have lived the dream of millions of children, I have been privileged, because for 19 years I have gotten up and gone doing what I liked most.” In 2024 it will be ten seasons since the center-back retired from football, but no one at FC Barcelona, ??in the Spanish team or in the world of football has forgotten what it meant.
