5 - Carles Puyol

[FCBarca]

I'd say Puyol was as key to this match as any other player for Barça...He was immense...as if anyone could even doubt that eventuality

 

[Plip]

El tiburón Puyol. Great overall performance by our capi. It was great seeing him motivate the whole team after that early slip-up.

Such a big game player!

 

[LaMessiah]

agreed completely with the last two points. for me, he was the man of the match. organizing the team after the bonehead play from valdes, hounding ronaldo, breaking up play after play, even had some very nice passes to open up the pressure.

 

[Pedram123]

IMO he was MOM - Are you going to call me biased too?

Puyol made elementary mistakes in that first 30mins definitely. If you can't see past your bias to recognise that fact, then it's not my problem.

Puyol is a beast of a defender, I've never over or under rated him, because he has proven his world class ability and the fact in big games he is monster.

I've also said that in the last 30 mins he was a beast last night.

But imo in that first 60mins he wasn't at his top level and made some mistakes.

 

[Vegy]

Puyol made elementary mistakes in that first 30mins definitely. If you can't see past your bias to recognise that fact, then it's not my problem.

Puyol is a beast of a defender, I've never over or under rated him, because he has proven his world class ability and the fact in big games he is monster.

I've also said that in the last 30 mins he was a beast last night.

But imo in that first 60mins he wasn't at his top level and made some mistakes.

You must understand that he gave more than tackles last night. He controlled the defense, helped to mark Ronaldo into submission and was constantly reassuring others, giving them confidence. In the first 30 minutes, the pressure Madrid put us under was immense and those mistakes looked almost inevitable. But I don't recall any misplaced passes or mistakes that led to goal-scoring chances. Thanks to him our defense actually showed up against Madrid. If I had to choose MOTM I'd choose him.

 

[nebeer]

He's an absolute legend. It's simply phenomenal to see how much ground he can cover, and how well he reads the game. Inspirational leader.

 

[Juan03]

performance aside, which was truly great, his spirit as a captain is out of this world. I almost had tears on my eyes when he cheered up our team after the conceded goal.

incredible player and captain

 

[DucdeOrléans]

The only mistake I can think of was the opportunity he gave to Benzema 15 minutes before the end of the game.

Otherwise he won all the direct duels with everyone.

He is the definition of a big game player something which Pep has said on countless occasions.

 

[Catalonian Devil]

at almost 90% of the forum saying he was finished and Mascherano has to start ahead of him etc...

WHAT AN ABSOLUTE MONSTER!!!!!!!!!

The ball never passed him, just rewatch the game and you'll see! He didn't get the ball one time and that was because he slipped.
This guy is a wall!

I still think Mascherano should've started ahead of Pique, who in my opinion had his mind somewhere else during the game.

His positional awareness was all over the place, and if Real were more clinical our shaky defense could've cost us, its easy to overlook these kind of things when you win.

Go back and watch the chance when Benzema cut back and fired just wide in the 2nd half, Pique had plenty of time to close him down but for some reason Pique gave him all the space in the world, it shoud've been a goal... That's just one of many incidents...

Pique is important because he is very comfortable gliding forward, spreads the play well, and his accurate long passing is a very useful weapon, but he really needs to pick up his defense IMO...

 

[FCBarca]

Forgot to say much about Geri's performance but he was quite poor...Was he ill?...Or simply not quite match fit yet?...Strange to see him have such a poor performance in a big match, very un-Pique like...Not one backheel either

 

[zanela]

He grew, grew and GREW in to the game. Another Clásico, Another body-on-the-line performance. Such commitment, passion and devotion are things money can't buy. My Motm.

 

[Metaphysical]

I still think Mascherano should've started ahead of Pique, who in my opinion had his mind somewhere else during the game.

no chance.

he wasn't at his sharpest, for sure, but I wouldn't have wanted to face Real with Busi or Bilal marking Ramos on corners. Piqué gave us solidity on set-pieces, and without that it could have gone very wrong coz Real got plenty of free-kicks and corners.

 

[AnfieldEd]

no chance.

he wasn't at his sharpest, for sure, but I wouldn't have wanted to face Real with Busi or Bilal marking Ramos on corners. Piqué gave us solidity on set-pieces, and without that it could have gone very wrong coz Real got plenty of free-kicks and corners.

You could have had me in defence and Cronaldo would still bottle those chances.

 

[Catalonian Devil]

no chance.

he wasn't at his sharpest, for sure, but I wouldn't have wanted to face Real with Busi or Bilal marking Ramos on corners. Piqué gave us solidity on set-pieces, and without that it could have gone very wrong coz Real got plenty of free-kicks and corners.

Its very easy to say that since Real didn't capitalize on the chances they were given which they had due of the amount of the space our defense was giving them.
Had they taken advantage of his dodgy performance you would be singing a different tune...

I'm also not sure he was that solid on set-pieces, Madrid's greatest chance came from one...

btw Real only had 3 corners all game...

 

[SwiftGuyver]

Legend.