Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes reaches 400 appearances for the club – La Liga news
Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes has expressed delight after reaching a historic milestone; the player reached 400 first team appearances for the club in Barcelona’s 2-0 victory over Osasuna in a Spanish La Liga encounter.
Valdes has been a loyal servant to the club. A product of the Barcelona academy, La Masia, the player made his senior debut in 2002 and since then he has been able to cement his place as Barcelona’s first choice goalkeeper.
Over the years Valdes has had enormous success, helping the club to four Spanish La Liga titles, two UEFA Champions League trophies and a Copa del Rey title. The player can certainly add to his winner’s medal collection as the Catalan club have their sights
on La Liga and Champions League silverware in the ongoing 2010/11 season.
At present, Barcelona have a commanding eight point advantage over second placed Real Madrid in the La Liga standings, and they face the same club in a two legged semi-final in the Champions League.
The player has dedicated his success to the club and its fans, adding that the 400 mark would not have been possible without their support.
He said on Barcelona TV, "It's an honour for me. I don't pay much attention to these things, but it's a pretty good figure and I would like to thank all those who have been there for me. Without them I wouldn't be enjoying this moment".
Reaching the milestone means that the Spaniard has joined the likes of Andoni Zubizarreta in the 400 appearances club. Zubizarreta has legendary status at Barcelona with 410 appearances to his name and now is involved in a coaching role with the club.
Valdes added, "It's an honour [to join Zubizarreta on 400 appearances]. Firstly because Zubizarreta has been an example for me since I got into the first team. As the seasons have gone by, he's been very influential in my game, my way of thinking. I've always
said that what he did was fantastic".
Furthermore, Valdes claims he would like to surpass Zubizarreta in appearances for the club and the 29-year-old will certainly get a chance to increase his tally as Barcelona travel to Santiago Bernabeu for the first leg of the Champions League semi-final
on April 26, 2011.
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