FCBARCELONA.CAT

04.07.2008 17:12

New team with old friends

Marc Guillén

Three of Barça’s new signings will find themselves with ex teammates when they step into the changing room for the first time. Keita and Alves both played for Seville, while Piqué played with Milito at Zaragoza and with Messi in Barça’s youth squad.

One of the important points in the adjustment of a player with a new team is the relationship with his colleagues. Before the league begins you can never be sure if the players will get on with each other, but if they already know someone in the dressing room you can be sure it will be more positive. This is the case of Keita, Alves and Piqué.

Milito and Piqué, understanding on and off the pitch

Gerard Piqué played for Real Zaragoza in 2006/07 and had Gaby Milito as a teammate. “We became good friends at Zaragoza. We shared a room and got on really well. As a person he’s wonderful”, said Piqué of Milito.

As well as getting on well off the pitch, Piqué learned a lot as a defender from the Argentinean. That season Gerard was only 19 and explains that on more than one occasion playing next to Milito helped him grow as a player. Of the 22 games the Catalan played for Zaragoza, eighteen of them were alongside Milito.

Keita and Alves, a joint trip

The midfielder from Mali came to Spanish football last season after playing eight seasons in France. At Seville, Keita shared the dressing room with a “very funny and happy” Dani Alves, the player himself explained.

They were both regulars in the Seville line-up and gave the team a lot of character. Keita is a player who is characterised as hard working and with a constant effort, but, even then, he was amazed at Alves’s winning attitude: “I was impressed with Alves’s mentality, he’s a winner and does what it takes to win.