FCBARCELONA.CAT

23.07.2008 10:03

Pre-season with three keepers

Marc Guillén

Juan Carlos Unzué has explained that he prefers to have three goalkeepers to work with in pre-season after the strong performance of José Manuel Pinto last season and to relieve the pressure on the club's younger custodians.

The Blaugrana are currently in St Andrews at their first pre-season training camp and it is the first time for three seasons that the squad has not relied on two first choice keepers and one youth team player who has been called up to cover. Unzué explained to Barça TV and www.fcbarcelona.cat what a difference that has made.

Christmas injury

After gaining the approval of Pep Guardiola, the club's goalkeeping coach now makes all the decisions regarding the number of players he can work with and admits that he enjoys working with three following the arrival of Pinto during the winter transfer window. The keeper was signed after Albert Jorquera picked up an injury during the Christmas break.

Pinto impresses

"The unexpected injury of Jorquera in Decemeber meant that Barça signed Pinto and he has won our confidence with his good form," Unzué said. "His level has been very high. Because of that his contract was renewed in May."

While praising Pinto, the coach wanted to ensure that he meant no disrespect to the club's youth team keepers. "We have a lot of confidence in them, but they are very young and we did not want to add additional pressure to them at that age."

Same philosophy

The change of coach has not meant any major changes to the way that the goalkeepers are trained and Unzué explained that the philosophy is the same as it has been for several seasons. "I have to work harder because instead of two keepers we now have three, but that is not a problem because I have the ideal people to work with," Unzué continued. "There are always things that need polishing or something that needs to be done, but basically our objectives are the same."