Carles Puyol

Carles Puyol, December 2011

Carles Puyol i Saforcada [ kaɾləs pujol i səfuɾkaðə ] ( born April 13, 1978 in La Pobla de Segur ) is a Spanish football player and current team captain of FC Barcelona.

  • 2.1 club
  • 2.2 national team
  • 2.3 Awards

Career

Association

As a child Puyol played in his native La Pobla de Segur, first as a goalkeeper. Because of the many football pitches cement his doctor advised him to continue to play in a different position and so he was striker. Again and again, he also played other positions and in 1995, recorded the age of 17 in La Masia, the youth academy of FC Barcelona. In 1997 he was promoted to the B team of Barça and was taken two years later by then- coach Louis van Gaal as a defender into the first team.

His professional debut came on October 2, 1999 División against Real Valladolid in La Liga, as Barcelona won 2-0. Since this game, he was in every season except the 2000/01 season in at least half of all league games in the starting lineup. In 2001 he was awarded by the magazine Don Balón an award as best newcomer of Saison.Anfangs still used as a right-back, he later developed as a central defender a fixture in Barca and since 2004 has been captain of the team.

In the season 2008/ 09, in the Barcelona won the treble, Puyol was one of the top performers of his team. Apart from the Champions League final against Manchester United, in which Josep Guardiola set it up as a right -back due to the barrier of Daniel Alves, he played mostly together with Rafael Márquez and Gerard Pique in central defense. In the past 6-2 success Barcelona at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu against Real Madrid this season brought Puyol his team by his headed goal after a free kick by Xavi with a 2-1 lead. It was his first league goal for almost two years, since his goal on the final day of the 2006/07 season in a 5-1 against Gimnàstic de Tarragona.

At the beginning of the 2009/10 season was Puyol's future at Barça through the engagement of the young central defender Dmytro Tschyhrynskyj for € 25 million somewhat unclear, as his contract was only valid until 2010. Ultimately, Puyol was the extension of his contract for another three years in October 2009, a season in which he could have the most game minutes after goalkeeper Víctor Valdés, remove all doubt. He also won the FIFA Club World Cup with his club in the course of the season and was at the end of the season again Spanish masters.

The first two league games of the season 2010/11 Puyol missed due to injury. In the following games, he belonged to the 20th match day, mid-January, in almost every game the starting lineup. By the end of the season he played after only four other duty games since he was repeatedly plagued by an injury on his left knee. His team won this season, the Spanish Cup and the UEFA Champions League.

In January 2013, the contract was extended with Puyol until summer 2016. On March 4, 2014 Puyol announced to terminate his contract for health reasons end of the season.

National

Puyol played for the Spanish Olympic team that won the silver medal at the 2000 Olympic Games. He completed five of the six games of his team, one of them as a substitute. Even with the tight playoff defeat against Cameroon in a penalty shootout he was in the starting.

On 15 November 2000 Puyol won his first cap for the national team of Spain against the Netherlands. Since 2001 he was also four times for the football team of Catalonia.

In 2002, he took with Spain 's first major tournament, the 2002 World Cup, in part. He played in all encounters - except in their final group game - his team was eliminated in the quarterfinals, over the full season. In the second group match against Paraguay Puyol underwent an own goal, as Iker Casillas punched him the ball in a defensive action in the legs, from where the ball trickled back into the goal. Despite this early residue in the 10th minute his team transformed the deficit to a 3-1 victory, which was prematurely Spain qualified for the knockout stages. Puyol, who still aground as a right-back in this tournament, prepared in the second round against Ireland the opening goal by Fernando Morientes with an edge before. Spain finally won in a penalty shootout against Ireland. Despite a good performance Puyol in the quarter-final against the hosts South Korea Spain lost on penalties.

Two years later he was part of the Spain squad for the Euro 2004, and was in all the games of his team in the starting XI. After an expectant modern 1-0 win over Russia in the first group match, was served by a low cross from Puyol in the victory scorer Juan Carlos Valeron, followed by a sobering 1-1 draw against eventual champions Greece. Since the last group match against hosts Portugal lost 0-1, Spain already retired from the group stage.

2006 Puyol played his second World Cup with Spain. There he was, now playing on the center-back position in Spain's 4-0 opening win against Ukraine the passer of the last gate by Fernando Torres. In the following game against Tunisia have led to the loss of the ball ahead by Jawhar Mnari. Since the game could still be turned into a 3-1 win, the sure -qualified Spain spared some players, including Puyol in the final group game. Once again, the classified as tournament favorites Spain disappointed in the second round against France, in which Puyol had a bad day and the free kick that led to 1:2 caused. After the opening goal by David Villa in the 28th minute Spain lost with 1:3.

For the Spanish national team met all expectations at Euro 2008, in which Puyol as defense chief made ​​sure that Spain conceded just three goals in six games. In the match against Greece, he was not playing with and in the game against Sweden, he was replaced early because of a foot injury. In all other matches of the Spaniards, he played over the full season and thus helped his country for the first major title after winning in 1964. Afterwards was Puyol and his partner in central defense, Carlos Marchena, selected in the Team of the Tournament.

When Confederations Cup 2009 Puyol wore in the match against South Africa for the first time as captain in the Spanish national team, as with Iker Casillas did not cooperate the first captain. Puyol ended the tournament as his team as a third party and was subsequently elected to the All-Star team of the Confederations Cup.

The expectations for the Spanish national team at the 2010 World Cup were high after a flawless qualification. Puyol made ​​it together with his Barca teammate Gerard Piqué for all matches in central defense. After a botched start, a 0-1 defeat against Switzerland, Spain survived but still the group stage. In the following round against Portugal had Puyol lucky that his attempted clearance after a cross from Hugo Almeida at the registry of 0:0 did not land in his own goal. In the end, the game, as well as the quarter-finals against Paraguay, with a goal from David Villa won 1-0. In the semifinal against Germany, he scored with a powerful header from a corner kick from Xavi 's winner. Until this game Puyol had scored in 88 games, only two international goals, one in a 5-0 friendly match victory against Northern Ireland in April 2002 and the other in October 2008 in a 3-0 win against Estonia in qualifying for the 2010 World Cup. In the final against the Netherlands, he played the full 120 minutes, but saw early in the game yellow card and revealed against Arjen Robben speed deficits that would have resulted in almost 82 minutes to make it 1-0 for the opponent. Through the winning goal by Andrés Iniesta in the 116th minute Spain finally won a World Cup for the first time. After the tournament was initially unclear whether Puyol would continue his career in the national team because he wanted to withdraw from the national team after the World Cup. In August 2010, Puyol, however, decided still to play up to the 2012 European Championship for Spain. However, due to a knee surgery he had ultimately not to take part.

On February 6, 2013, made ​​after almost a year injury lay-off in the 3-1 of the current against the first world champion Uruguay his 100th game.

Achievements / Title

Association

  • Spanish Cup: 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013
  • Spanish Cup: 2009, 2012
  • Spanish Super Cup: 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013
  • UEFA Champions League: 2006, 2009, 2011
  • UEFA Super Cup: 2009, 2011
  • FIFA Club World Cup: 2009, 2011
  • Trofeo Ramón de Carranza: 2005

National

  • World Champion: 2010
  • European Championship: 2008
  • Silver medal at the Olympic football tournament: 2000
  • Third Place at the Confed Cup: 2009

Awards

  • UEFA Defender of the Year: 2006
  • UEFA Team of the Year: 2002, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010
  • FIFPro World XI: 2007, 2008, 2010
  • Elected to the All- Star team for EURO 2008
  • Elected to the All-Star team of the Confed - Cup 2009
  • Elected to the All- Star team of 2010 World Cup

Playing style and skills

Puyol is a tough, aggressive player with spectacular physical exertion (eg, diving headers ), making it the nickname " el tiburón " ( in German: " the shark " ) in Spain and " Superman" has received. He usually plays fair and does not need a challenge, which is also due to his good timing. He is flexible in defense and especially for his great ambition and his exemplary attitude known. In addition, he thus despite his height of only 178 cm is enormous tremendous jumper and very strong in the air, which is why he also repeatedly with moving up at set pieces of his team.

His former youth coach Oriol Tort said of him: " It may be that the boy has a lot less talent than others, but what he may have to, he'll learn but I have never experienced one, who had such ambition to learn.. "

Others

Puyol has with his partner Vanesa Lorenzo a daughter (* 2014). He is committed to animal welfare. He is an honorary member of the Fundación Altarriba, who cares for stray animals.

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