Tuesday, December 21, 2021

Carles Puyol – a defender with a lion’s heart




Wazzup Pilipinas!?


It will be no exaggeration to call Puyol one of those players who stood at the root of Spanish Barcelona’s success, having survived its “dark’ times, constantly remaining an important part of the team. To a large extent, the improvement and growth of Barca’s football result were triggered by the confident actions of one of its key defenders. For his character and dedication on the football field, Carles was even got his Lionheart name, although another nickname could often be seen in the press – Tarzan. It was his famous disheveled hairstyle to blame, which caused quite specific associations among the audience.

It should be mentioned that despite his absolute loyalty to the club in which he spent his entire career, Carles was the lowest paid player of the main squad for a long time. Only in 2000 evaluation of the player’s work significantly changed, after he was invited to Spanish national team. This confirmed his status as a high-class defender, who was able not just to play football, but to show a really high result. Since then and almost until the end of his career, Puyol had a guaranteed place in the starting lineup of the country’s main team.
Regalia and awards

Puyol's performance in Barcelona and the Spanish national team included quite a lot of successful tournaments, which the team ended with a victory or a prize place. In particular, having played 392 La Liga matches, he won such trophies as:

The first place of the Spanish championship - 6 times.

Won the Spanish Cup - 2 times.
Won the Spanish Super Cup - 6 times.
Won the Champions League - 3 times.
Won the European Super Cup - 2 times.

At the same time, the defender successfully performed as a part of the national team. He won the European Championship (2008) once and triumphed at the World Championship (2010). At the same time, Spain could confidently get a place in the list of formidable rivals, who were always considered by opponents as contenders to the champions title. In particular, Spaniards confidently passing the qualifying stages for international tournaments and their group stages have become a tradition. The main fight began in the playoff stage only.

On the other hand, Puyol consistently fulfilled his defense mission, performing as confidently as if this was another La Liga tour and playing all matches as efficient as possible. He also managed to score over 30 goals wearing Barcelona’s uniform.

No comments:

Post a Comment