Barcelona skipper http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Carles-Puyol-c8331 ready to face the challenge of Javier Hernandez UCL news
Barcelona defender, Carles Puyol, claims that he is ready to face the challenge of Manchester United striker, Javier Hernandez. The Catalans will face the Red Devils in the UEFA Champions League final at the Wembley Stadium on
May 28th 2011 and both teams are fancying their chances to become the 2010/11 European Crown holders.
Puyol has had a rough 2010/11 season and the Spaniard has made just 27 appearances so far largely because of injury problems. However, the Barcelona skipper claims that he has worked hard in training and is fully fit for the all
important clash against United.
He said, "I feel great. The last game I played, I prepared for this and I'm ready and I can play. I'm fully fit. It is true that, because of my injury, I haven't been playing a lot over the last few months. I've trained even more
now so I'm in a better position."
Over the years, Puyol has been able to keep many strikers at bay but United’s new-boy, Hernandez, is an unknown quantity to him as two players have not faced each other on the football pitch before.
The 22-year-old has been sensational for Sir http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Alex-c4752 Ferguson’s team in his debut season, scoring 20 goals in all competitions and certainly will be looking to add to his tally against Barcelona.
The Barcelona skipper admits that Hernandez has all the qualities to pose a threat to the Catalans and his teammates will have to be alert of his movement on and off the ball.
He added, "He's an important player, He's always on the verge of being offside and he's also a scorer, so he's definitely a player to take seriously."
Barcelona will be looking to repeat their heroics of 2009 when they lifted the Champions League trophy by beating United in the final at Rome, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lionel-Messi-c22296, scored twice on that occasion and the Argentinean
is in superb form this time around as well. In the ongoing campaign Messi has scored an astonishing 52 goals in 54 appearances.
If United are able to keep Messi quiet during 90 minutes of the match, it will increase their chances of success against the Catalans significantly.
Tags: