FCBARCELONA.CAT

05.04.2007 14:41

Puyol all set for season finale

The Barça captain feels that from here until the end of the season “every game is a final”. And everything Carles Puyol said today suggested that he and his team are confident they can win both tournaments they are still involved in.

This Saturday Barça will be meeting Real Zaragoza for the fourth time this season. Their last meeting was in the Cup quarter final, when Barça bounced back from defeat at the Camp Nou to make it through to the last four. But Carles Puyol does not feel that any comparisons need to be made with that match, and has said that Saturday’s game at La Romerda (Saturday, 20.00, Barça TV) is a very different matter entirely.

Total concentration

According to Puyol, concentration is likely to be one of the keys to determining which of the contenders is top of the pile at the end of the season. “This team is very enthusiastic, we need to take things a game at a time and treat each one like a final” he said. “Everything is very even and there is not a lot of difference between the teams”.

A tricky opponent

The Barça centre back describes Zaragoza as “a very good team that is fighting to qualify for Europe”. So there will no time to relax, and “although our philosophy is to go out and attack, we can’t afford to ignore their midfield and forwards”.

The two Zaragoza players that most worry Puyol are the Milito brothers. “They are two very good players that are both having a good season” he said. “Gabi is a very good defender, very complete, while Diego Milito is a very mobile striker and very difficult to stop”.

Ronaldinho happy

As well as discussing the upcoming visit to Zaragoza, the captain was pressed on a series of other subjects, and one of those, not surprisingly, is the continuing saga that the press has been concocting regarding Ronaldinho’s future at the club. Said Puyol “he has said so many times that he is very happy here and wants to stay”.

And how does Puyol feel this week, with the Champions league quarter finals being played, and his own side no longer involved? “We would love to be playing in the Champions League” he said. “But it wasn’t to be and we need turn the page and move on”.