FCBARCELONA.CAT

24.03.2009 17:50

Márquez, better than ever

Jesús Carrillo

Mexican Rafa Márquez is delighted with the way tings are going at Barça, both personally and for the team, and is hoping to renew his contract very soon.

The defender is particularly glad to have avoided any major injuries recently, for various muscle problems have seriously affected his previous seasons at the club.

Speaking to the press before training today, Rafa Márquez said that "I regularly do specific training work on my muscles and have a special diet, which I didn’t do last year … it is essential for me to keep up the rhythm of playing matches. And on a personal level I am happy and calm, because at the end of the day what I am concentrating on is my football”.

Good football no guarantee

Barça are playing excellent football again, but when asked to compare this to other teams, Rafa made it clear that “playing well is the most important thing in football. But all the same, playing well is no guarantee of points or titles. Unfortunately we know that’s so, two years ago we played better football than Real Madrid but it was them who won the league in the end".

Along similar lines, Rafa Márquez said "we have to win titles now and the titles go to the teams that get more points than other teams or who score more goals than other teams. So playing well, that’s no guarantee”.

Meeting with agent

As for the player’s future, Márquez is expecting Txiki Begiristain to have a meeting very soon with his agent. “I hope they come to an agreement and I can end my football career at Barça” he added. “My agent hasn’t told me anything yet about the way things are going. But as I’ve said many times, I am very happy here and am in no rush.”

Bayern Munich

Following last Friday’s draw in Nyon, Barça know it is Bayern Munich that they will be meeting in the Champions League quarter finals. Márquez knows that their opponents “are getting better and better … at the start of the season they were very irregular in their league, but things are different now. They are stronger, more consistent and their football is improving too, but the same is happening to us and we have every guarantee. We want to stay in the Champions League, we want to make history, but we need to take things slowly, match by match. That’s what we’ve been doing since the league started, and I’m sure that’s what we’ll continue to do”.