FCBARCELONA.CAT

09.04.2007 11:28

Thuram cementing strong partnership

Lilian Thuram has begun to cement a strong defensive partnership with captain Carles Puyol after four consecutive La Liga starts. Saturday’s appearance against Zaragoza marked 360 minutes in the last four games for the French international.

Thuram is the fourth most regular defender this season after Carles Puyol, Gianluca Zambrotta and Rafa Márquez with a total of 1633 minutes played so far in La Liga, starting 14 games, in two of which he was substituted and during which he’s picked up just two yellow cards – against Deportivo and Llevant.

Adaptation

Although Thuram is more used to the Italian defensive game, he’s come to adapt his game to the more offensive tactics at Barca, which demand a more advanced defensive line, after a few early teething troubles and has come to accept the responsibility given to him by Frank Rijkaard in either a 3-4-3 system or as a conventional centre half in a four-man defence.

Puyol partnership

Frank Rijkaard seems to have found the ideal centre half pairing with Puyol and Thuram providing the perfect blend of strength, positioning and experience - the two have played 11 games together and of those the team have only lost twice, at Santiago Bernabeu and on Saturday against Zaragoza.