Is http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Carles-Puyol-c8331 irreplaceable? (Part 1)
The Catalan centre back and the Barcelona captain, Carles Puyol is finally on the road to recovery. The Spanish Champions missed their skipper for half of the season. However, he did have his moments whenever it actually mattered.
The thirty three year old defender has done wonders for Barcelona throughout his career. However, his injured left knee did not let him perform to his maximum during the last season.
Just because of Carles Puyol, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Captain-c8314. Abidal did a fine job in the
centre back role while the two Brazilian full backs, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Adriano-c3773, took the left back positions.
It was for the first time under Josep Guardiola that another left back was chosen over Eric Abidal. The Frenchman was the best option for the Catalan Giants. The reason why Abidal was the “perfect fit” was because of the Brazilian right back http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Daniel-c9879 Alves.
While Alves was making a move forward to help the Catalans in attack, Eric Abidal covered up for http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Gerard-c14664 Pique who took control of the right back position.
With Carles Puyol gone, Abidal played in the centre back position and partnered up with the Spanish defender Gerard Pique. Both the centre backs got along really well while Adriano made his position solid in the left back role.
Barcelona suffered a lot defensively throughout the season. Even though they were the side who conceded the least goals in the Spanish La Liga and had the most clean-sheets, there is no doubt that with Carles Puyol gone, they were being exploited defensively.
Eric Abidal was diagnosed with liver tumour and then the centre back position was to be taken by three players. Either http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Javier-Mascherano-c18071, the Argentinean captain
who was still trying to make it to the Barcelona first team; and Andreu Fontas, the young Barcelona B centre back who still has less first team experience.
The http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Job-c18684 was first given to Sergio Busquets who couldn’t really prove himself against tougher opposition. Josep Guardiola then decided to play Javier Mascherano in the centre back role. The Argentinean proved to be a firm option for the Catalans. Even though
it took him time to adapt to the Barcelona ways of defending, he managed to impress Guardiola just enough to make it to the first team against Manchester United in the UEFA Champions League final at Wembley.
Despite the fact that Barcelona had three trophies to cherish after the season, there is no doubt that Carles Puyol played a vital role for the Spaniards. Despite making only twenty eight appearances this season, he recovered just enough to play the most
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Vitalô-c40903 games of the season.
The Spaniard featured in all but one of the five El Clasico’s this season. The result of the only El Clasico in which Puyol didn’t feature, favoured http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Cristiano-Ronaldo-c9629 scored the only goal of the game and that too in extra
time of the Copa Del Rey final.
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