FCBARCELONA.CAT

30.05.2009 23:40

Botía: “to play with these players is a joy”

www.fcbarcelona.cat

Barça Atlètic central defender Alberto Botía made his first team debut at Riazor, coming on just past the hour mark to replace Gerard Piqué. After the game Botia admitted: “I wasn’t expecting it- to play with these players is a joy”.

Botía had featured in previous squads – he was on the bench against Osasuna and traveled as party of the Champions League Final squad to Rome, but this was his first opportunity to feature in an official game. Botia made it clear that the other squad members treat him as one of themselves: “the way they’ve behaved toward me has been fantastic”, he added.

Botia, who shared his debut with another reserve team member, Abraham, explained how it felt to be part of the Barca team: “I got goose pimples when I knew I was going on and I’d like to thank especially Abidal for helping me settle”. Abidal himself has compared the youngster’s style of play to Laurent Blanc who was at the club in the 86-97 season.

Samuel Eto’o

“The most important thing was to enjoy this short time we have left together before we all went off to represent our countries and to have our holidays. We finished the season as we began it, with a smile on our faces. A draw and the point is okay tonight but that wasn’t the main thing for us really”.

“Tomorrow I join up with Cameroon and I’ve got a tough three weeks ahead of me, but I’ll be giving everything I’ve got left for my country”.

Eidur Gudjohnsen

“I think we showed a lot of pride. We spoke at half time and all agreed we didn’t want to lose - we wanted to finish off the season with pride, that’s what you have to do when you where this shirt”.

“The best thing has been that we were able to be together and relax after all our hard work. We’ve enjoyed an incredible season – there’s nothing more to sat, we’ve said it all on and off the pitch”.

“You never know in football, but I guess a lot of people see me leaving. I’ve not given it any thought, but I’ll be talking to the boss in the summer andd we’ll see what happens”.