FCBARCELONA.CAT

29.09.2008 20:57

Puyol: “The players have always been against violence”

Roger Bogunyà

Carles Puyol has made it clear that Barcelona’s players have always been against violence. He added that they celebrated their goals as they always do, and hadn’t been thinking about the people who had been throwing flares.

“If anyone has always shown that they are against violence, that’s the players,” said Carles Puyol. He thus backed up what Joan Laporta said on Sunday evening in response to comments that called into question the attitude of Barça’s players. He also made it clear that at the end of the match the players were not waving to those who had thrown flares but rather to Barça fans, and that they had not dedicated their goals to the flare throwers.

Too many goals against

Having cleared up doubts about Saturday’s derby fixture, Carles Puyol also spoke about Wednesday’s game with Shakhtar Donetsk: “We’re really enthusiastic about the match and if we can get three points that’ll be a big step towards qualifying.” He also thinks the defence needs to improve as the team concedes a lot of goals compared with opposition chances created. “We have to try to ensure they don’t even create a half chance,” he said, “even though we can still get back into the game, as happened at Montjuïc.”

Right approach

Another feature of Barça at the start of this season is the number of chances they create, although not all end up as goals. Puyol thinks that’ll change sooner or later. “We’ve got the right approach and we would like to win with better score lines, but if you play well and create chances you end up winning,” he pointed out. “What’s important is the way we’re playing, our enthusiasm and the effort we’re putting into it.”