In this interview FC Barcelona’s captain Carles Puyol looks back on Barça’s trophy successes in 2009, a year that has gone down in history at the club.

How does it feel to have lifted the only trophy that was missing from the collection?
“I am very happy, not just because of the trophy, although it is very important, but also because of what went before, five trophies, in a row no less. I think it has been the perfect year. On personal level I am very proud to form part of this team and now we have done what we have done, what we want to is to continue in that vein”.

Are you aware in the dressing room of what you have achieved?
“We know we have done something important, difficult to repeat and I think in time we will appreciate it a bit more. All the players are aware of how difficult it will be. We have done it through hard work, things like this don’t just happen. We have great team spirit and every last one of us pulls in the same direction and you can see that on the field. When I say team spirit I don’t mean just the players and coaching staff but also everybody involved behind the scenes, and it is thanks to them that we have been able to achieve all this”.

Morever, it has been done with more than half the team comprised of home grown players.
“For the home grown lads it is a source of pride to be involved, that so many of or important players have come through the youth set up and are fixtures in the first team, and that furthermore, they are winning prizes on an individual level also. That is something to be proud of and if we continue to invest in youth then I am sure there are plenty more where we came from”.

It appears that you are creating a whole new model, a new style and philosophy.
“Barça have always looked after the youth set up. Sometimes it is not possible for so many players from the youth teams to come up at the same time, but a lot of importance is always placed on it and now we are reaping the rewards. Yet, we have to be patient and we need a coach who gives them the chance, that is the most important thing”.

Let’s take a look at the six competitions one by one. What do you remember about the Copa del Rey?
“I remember the Final, it was a spectacular match due to the atmosphere and who we were playing against. Of all the finals we have played in, the one I have enjoyed best was the final of the Copa del Rey. Luis Enrique used to say to me that lots of people don’t take the Cup seriously but then the Final can turn out to be one of the most enjoyable games that there is, and I think he is right”.

The League?
“The league is about consistency, the day to day, week to week and it is not easy to win it. But I think if you are going well in the league then you can win other trophies. This year we sealed it at the Bernabéu, even though there are more games. Madrid made life difficult for us with their excellent league record, but the game in the Bernabéu sealed it for us, the manner of our victory finished off their challenge. It was still just three points, but both team were in with a shout for the title; they are our biggest rivals and repeating a result like that will be almost impossible. As well, the season before we have to give them a guard of honour as Champions in a game we lost so winning 6-2 turned the tables and helped us to forget about the season before”.

What comes to mind when you look back at the Champions’ League?
“Two things; winning in Rome and Andrés goal against Chelsea. One moment change everything. We were out of the competition but thanks to Andrés we were able to make it to the final and win it”.

This season, 2009/10, started off with another trophy, the Spanish Supercup, perhaps the least important of the titles.
“No, every trophy is important for us, we always want to win and this season we are proving that we play to win right from the kick off. If it is a final then it is important. We came into the Supercup following a tough season with a lot of games, so the coaching staff allowed us plenty of time to rest, switch off and recover. We had not trained as much as our rivals, but fortunately we were still able to win”.

The European Supercup was more difficult….
“Shakthar were very tough opponents, but luckily Pedro was able to get the winning goal. A lot of people thought it would be easy but the players knew it would be tough. Some of us had been involved in the defeat against Sevilla in 2006 and we did not want that to happen again. It was tough but fortunately in the end we won the trophy”.

And finally, the World Club Cup….
“There were moments when it got difficult and plenty of us turned our minds back to 2006 thinking that it would slip through our fingers again. We tried to attack from the first minute but then we fell behind. We kept on battling and in the second half they tired after working so hard but they still held on until the final minutes. In extra time we knew we would win because our opponents were so tired”.

Bojan thinks the game will be “different” to the Cup Final and that Bilbao will make things hard for Barça. Nonetheless he still sees the Catalan outfit as favourites.

No pressure

Bojan says that being in the starting line-up on Sunday would not put any more pressure on him. “There’s no added pressure because I’ve always been a regular striker,” he argued. “Sunday’s game is like any other where we’ll be going for the win.”

He also says he’s quite happy playing anywhere in the forward line and not just as a central striker. “They’re all attacking positions and I’m happy in any of them,” he pointed out. “I just have to show the boss I can do a job there.”

Pedro-Jeffren-Bojan link up

Bojan spoke about the possibility of teaming up with Pedro and Jeffren. “All three of us have shown we can play and are good enough to be in Barça’s attack,” he argued. “You have to keep faith with the academy players because they have the quality and the rest will come from there.”

Bojan says he knows Jeffren better as Pedro was in the Barça C side when Bojan played for Barça Atlètic.

He thinks that the less pressure is put on the players the better. “It’s a two-leg fixture,” he noted. “Pedro and Jeffren are young players, but any player would like to play in this game at San Mamés with its special atmosphere.”

“You never stop learning”

As he begins his third season with the first team, Bojan says the only thing he wants to do is to continue improving. “I always say that a footballer never stops learning,” he argued. “I’m almost 19 and I’m at the start of the learning curve, and even with the things I’m good at I try to do them better.”

Fans’ favourite

Samuel Eto’o was especially effusive in his praise for the Barca fans , explaining: “ they were always right behind me . I know some people have said that they weren’t always on my side, but that’s just not true, the Barca fans have always shown me a lot of support and I felt I was always a favourite with them”

“Like another family”

As to his ex-team mates, it’s clear that Eto’o has made some firm friendships: “when I joined the club they were my team mates, now they are friends – I feel they are like another family to me”.

Messi first noticed the problem during training in Russia on Tuesday, the day before the game between Argentina and Russia.

Henry with the squad

Barça’s French striker didn’t travel with his national side to the Faroe Islands as he has been carrying Achilles heel problems in both legs for some days now. He’s been doing recovery work all week and this Thursday was back training with his teammates.

Getting ready for the Super Cup

All the players are focused on the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup to be played against Bilbao this coming Sunday at San Mamés with kick-off set for 10 pm. The only drawback is that the players away on international duty this week have yet to return to training.

Three under-18s

On Wednesday the under-18s player Sergi Ricardo trained with the first team, while today Thursday it has been the turn of his teammates Martí Riverola and Albert Dalmau. The former played in Wednesday’s game between Barça Atlètic and Reus, while the latter was called up for the first team’s London training camp last month.

Iniesta has double session

Andrés Iniesta is continuing to work towards full fitness, and this Thursday morning and evening the midfielder has been doing recovery work.

Hand games

After an inspection by Doctor Ricard Pruna on Tuesday afternoon, Ibrahimovic was given the green light to return to training as the injury to his hand has healed enough for him to be able to work properly. Just to eb sure that nothing untoward happened however, the striker did have to have a protective bar put in to the strapping on his wrist to stop his hand from being knocked.

Youth teamers

With a host of players away on international in midweek, Pep Guardiola called up four youth team players who had already trained with the squad on the trip to the United States. Jeffren, Jonathan Dos Santos, Marc Muniesa and Andreu Fontàs worked alongside 13 first-team players.

Iniesta and Henry

Thierry Henry and Andrés Iniesta continued with their recovery work from the respective injuries that they have in the gymnasium at the training complex.

Four players with Spain 

The game that will have the most Barça players involved will be the friendly between Macedonia and Spain in Skopje as Carles Puyol, Gerard Piqué, Xavi Hernández and Sergi Busquets are all in Vicente del Bosque’s squad. All four were also chosen for the Confederations Cup tournament in South Africa at the end of last season.

Dani Alves has travelled to the Estonian capital Tallinn where he should play for Brazil in the country’s first friendly since they won the aforementioned Confederations Cup. Eidur Gudjohnsen will also captain his country when Iceland take on Slovakia in Rekjavik.

Barça’s two African players, Touré Yaya and Seydou Keita will also play for the nations with the former playing in the Ivory Coast’s game against Tunisia and the second travelling to Paris to play for Mali against Burkina Faso.

Messi and Márquez travelled

Lionel Messi will not play for Argentina in their friendly against Russia in Moscow after suffering a muscle strain, but he will stay with the squad and return, as scheduled, to Barcelona on Thursday.

Rafael Márquez was named by Mexico for their match against the United States and has travelled to be with the squad, despite the fact that he is injured, while Zlatan Ibrahimovic was left out of the Sweden squad for their match against Finland while he continues to recover from his hand injury.

‘Ibra’ will then be presented for his first appearance before the fans at the Nou Camp once the new turf has been laid.

Kicking off the 2009/10 campaign, the Blaugrana produced a positive display in a game that saw them use 22 players as the team that began was completely replaced at half-time. No less than 15 of those players came from the club’s youth system, while Víctor Valdés, Rafa Márquez, Maxwell, Aliaksandr Hleb, Lionel Messi and Thierry Henry watched from the sides as they were not in the squad.
Despite the number of youngsters, Barça showed some great touches and enjoyed their fair share of possession against a Tottenham side that were playing in their fourth first-team friendly of the summer.

Barça style

While the first match of pre-season is usually a casual affair, Barça had little time to settle down as the Wembley Cup ensured that the team faced a stern test and they stood up well. Guardiola’s side maintained their style and system as they played the ball around well in midfield against a side that ensured that their defence was well-manned. Early on there were few chances, but the best came in the 20th minute when Bojan saw his effort tipped wide by Carlo Cudicini in the Tottenham goal.

Bojan opens the scoring

The Catalan striker did not allow the keeper to have any chance soon after as the ball fell to him six yards from goal and he stroked home the opening goal. Touré Yaya set up the effort with a super driving run that saw him skip past several Tottenham players before a tackle from Tom Huddlestone took the ball into Bojan’s path. It was the first goal of the pre-season for the Blaugrana and the second could have come soon after but Pedro was offside before beating Cudicini.

Towards the end of the first half, Tottenham raised their game and enjoyed two chances as Luka Modric struck the crossbar and soon after Benoit Assou-Ekotto saw his drive tipped over by Albert Jorquera.

Livermore equalises

At the break Guardiola changed his entire team and part of the eleven that started the second period was Henrique, who made his debut alongside Marc Muniesa at the back for Barcelona. While the Blaugrana maintained their form, Tottenham’s changes ensured that they too altered their game and they were able to raise their game in the closing minutes. That pressure led to an equaliser as Assou-Ekotto’s centre from a short corner was met by Jake Livermore, who beat José Manuel Pinto to head home.

Chances to win

The equaliser meant that a winner had to be found and both teams looked confident of being able to find an opening to take all three points in the tournament. Jeffren Suárez impressed on the right wing, while Rochina headed over from close range.