Is Carles Puyol irreplaceable? (Part 2)
The Spanish Champions won the first El Clasico which was played at the Nou Camp. Carles Puyol wore the http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Captain-c8314’s armband and helped Barcelona win the match 5-0. The second El Clasico took place at Santiago Bernabeu and the Spanish Champions only managed
to draw against their arch nemesis. The match ended 1-1 – thanks to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo who scored from the spot.
The third El Clasico was the Copa Del Rey final. Puyol couldn’t feature in that game because of he was still recovering from the injury he picked up in the second El Clasico. The Spanish centre back did not have enough time to recover from the left knee
tendonitis.
The Catalan star then featured in the next El Clasico which was to be played at Santiago Bernabeu yet again. This time the result really mattered as both the teams were competing for a spot in the UEFA Champions League final. Barcelona were the favourites
but with Jose Mourinho sitting on the bench for the Los Blancos, the result could be unexpected.
There was a lot of controversy throughout the fixture. The Barcelona players were handed with a “diving” tag. The way Barcelona played was quite ridiculous as all they were trying to do was to pressurize the referee to give the http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Real-c30728 Madrid players a red
card.
The Catalan side succeed later on when the Portuguese centre back http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Daniel-c9879 Alves. Alves dived and rolled on the floor as Pepe was shown a red card by the referee.
Puyol played a left back and did not let http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Cristiano-Ronaldo-c9629 change the cause of the game. Angel Di Maria often came up against Puyol and the Catalan captain lived up to his expectations of being a “wall.”
Barcelona had a man’s advantage and the Argentinean striker Lionel Messi scored an easy tap-in after an inch-perfect cross from the January signing http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lionel-Messi-c22296 was pure master class. The Argentinean maestro dribbled
through the whole Real Madrid http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Iker-Casillas-c16815 to make the score line unreachable for the Los Blancos.
The last El Clasico was to be played at the Nou Camp. Carles Puyol featured in the last encounter between the two rival Spanish sides and helped Barcelona draw the game 1-1 in order to qualify for the final which was to be played against Manchester United.
Even though http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Carles-Puyol-c8331 did not start the game against Manchester United at Wembley, he later replaced Daniel Alves in the right back position – his actual position when he started his first team career for the Catalan club. Puyol wore the captain’s armband
and as Barcelona were crowned Champions of Europe, he gave the armband to Eric Abidal who returned after fighting through liver tumour. It was a http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Sporting-89-c40576 gesture given by the Catalan defender to show that he really is the head of the family at the Nou Camp.
Carles Puyol, despite not being fully fit throughout the Champions League winning season, helped http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Barcelona-c38604 in the tough stages. If it wasn’t for the Catalan captain, things might have been different for the Spanish Champions. Puyol is definitely one of the
best options available for Barcelona and even though http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Javier-Mascherano-c18071 and Andreu Fontas can replace him in the team as a player in the centre back role, they cannot replace him as a sportsman, experienced defender and a leader.
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