On October 2nd, 1999, the captain and best defender of the Catalan team from Barcelona, young Carles Puyol (21 years old) made his official debut in the senior team under Louis Van Gaal. Coming to the Estadio Jose Zorilla, the headquarters of the Real Valladolid team, Van Gaal decided to bring his best squad in the continuation of the sixth week of the 1999-2000 Spanish La Liga season. And Puyol’s name is also included in it.
Even though he was away, at that time Puyol was not part of the eleven names that played since the start of the match against Real Valladolid. He had to patiently wait on the bench with anxious hopes so that when he made his debut, he would not play awkwardly in front of his seniors.
Finally, the opportunity came to Puyol in the 56th minute or exactly eleven minutes of the new second half rolling. Louis van Gaal, who is known as a coach who likes to develop young players, decided to give the widest possible opportunity for Carles Puyol to show off as a right-back for Barca at that time. Puyol came on for Simao Sabrossa.
Luckily Puyol is still trusted to debut by Van Gaal because he has good abilities. If only Louis van Gaal was reluctant to give debuts to young players due to disciplinary problems, Puyol may never debut on 2 October. Once upon a time, the defender complained about Puyol’s spiky hair, which is his trademark. After training with other seniors, young Puyol was approached by Van Gaal and asked what is your problem? Don’t you have enough money to shave your long hair?
Puyol, at that time, was just stunned and unable to answer the coach’s reprimand. However, he insists on maintaining his hair style to this day. Long after his debut game, the Carles Puyol we know is a formidable and uncompromising central defender. But did you know that at the beginning of his football career, he played both a goalkeeper and a striker? However, when he entered the La Masia academy, Puyol was positioned as a defensive midfielder. So do not be surprised if Puyol is known as a ball playing defender who is quite capable. But as time went on, Puyol was placed on the right side of the Barca defense and eventually became the centre-back as we know him in recent years.
Asking about his role at right-back, I will continue to remember Puyol’s actions during the 2009 Champions League final at the Olimpico, Rome. At that time, Puyol, who had played more often as a central defender than right-back, finally agreed to play in his old role. Puyol’s decision was caused by the void left by Dani Alves due to card accumulation.
The quartet of Puyol, Yaya Toure, Gerard Pique and Sylvinho were able to reduce the aggressiveness of Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney throughout the match. In fact, CR7, who at that time was famous for his tricks, was repeatedly suppressed by Carles Puyol, who played at right-back.
However, did you know that a year before Puyol made his debut on October 2, 1999, the Barcelona team received a transfer offer from Malaga to bring Puyol? However, Puyol flatly refused the offer because he believed he could penetrate the Blaugrana’s first team. His trust was strengthened after seeing his friend, Xavi Hernandez, able to make his debut under Van Gaal’s coaching on August 18, 1998.
Xavi Hernandez has indeed become a true friend of Carles Puyol both on and off the field. The best moment of both was clearly seen when Xavi’s free kick was successfully snatched by Puyol’s header against Casillas in the El Clasico match. As a reminder, Barcelona won the match with a final score of 2-6. Similarly, when Spain managed to beat Germany in the 2010 World Cup semifinal thanks to Xavi’s corner kick.
Now, Xavi and Puyol have chosen their own paths after establishing themselves as the holders of the most caps in the Blaugrana camp with a total of 767 caps belonging to Xavi and 593 belonging to Puyol. Regarding the title, for Puyol no one doubts it anymore. Even he himself admits and is proud of being able to lead Barca which has succeeded in changing the club’s history which will certainly be remembered for all time.
ASL
