How GOOD Was Carles Puyol Really?

In recent years, Barcelona have seemingly been crumbling apart from the outside in. Scandals off the pitch have led a media fiasco that seems to have a new chapter each and every week.

The list of problems they have been facing is far too long to talk about in one article alone. However, on the pitch, central defence ranks pretty high up there.

At the time of writing this article, Barcelona’s centre back roster consists of Samuel Umtiti- a man who declined a knee surgery to play in the 2018 world cup and essentially stunted his career in the long term. Clement Lenglet, who is a decent player, but seems to frequently lose concentration and is prone to making mistakes that lead to goals. Ronald Aurajo, who is only 22.

And then on the opposite side of the spectrum, Gerrard Pique. Who is 34 years old.

Don’t get me wrong. This man was undeniably world class at his peak. But, if we’re being honest; he is probably standing on his last legs.

However, Barcelona did not always have this issue in the heart of their defence. In fact, back when Pique was still a youngster for Blaugrana, he was partnered up with not only one of the best centre backs in the history of Spanish football, but also one of the best captains in football history outright.

Carles Puyol. Barcelona’s very own Brick Wall.

The man was a tank as I’m sure very many of you know already know. But what made him so special? What did he achieve? Where did he come from, and most importantly, how good was Carles Puyol Really?

Table of Contents

Early beginnings

“I’ve lived the dream of so many young kids, doing what I most enjoy in life, playing football and training”- Carles Puyol.

Born in Catalonia in 1978, Puyol’s story started off like many. He was of course, a natural born athlete. In terms of football, in his youth days, he tried his hand at several positions. However, his route to the central defensive position that we all him for is a bit confusing, if I am honest.

The man went from being a goalkeeper, to being a striker, to being a centre mid, to being a right back to being a centre back.

At 17 years of age, he made what turned out to be the first and only transfer of his career, joining La Masia in 1995.

This is where things get interesting.

While his physical attributes were impressive, it was probably his incredible mental ferocity that stood out to many people. Despite his talent, no one can ever say that he did not put in the work to reach the heights that he did.

Strength, pace, tackling, passing, leadership, focus, positional awareness, aggression, hair. The man had it all. But that was not by chance. He cultivated these attributes over time. We have all heard the cliché of the player that stayed behind after training to improve themselves further. Puyol was indeed that guy. Not a cliché, but a reality. According to Puyol himself in an interview, he once said:

“I don’t have Romário’s technique, Overmars’ pace or Kluivert’s strength. But I work harder than the others. I’m like the student who is not as clever but revises for his exams and does OK in the end.”

I don’t know about you guys, but I rate he was being a little modest. I think it’s safe to say that this guy did a tiny bit better than ok.

Barcelona in transition

Despite this, early in his Barca career, he was actually quite close to joining another club. In 1998, under Louis van Gaal at the time, Barca had Frank de Boer and Michael Reiziger as their first-choice centre backs. As a result of this, Barcelona accepted an offer from Malaga that would see Puyol be shipped off.

And even though Malaga was offering him more money than he was earning at Barca at the time, Puyol was not so keen. He was determined to make a name for himself at Barca. And after seeing his mate Xavi Hernandez break into the first team, he was as motivated as ever.

Quick side note on the topic of Louis van Gaal: this next point has little to do with Puyol’s playing ability, but I thought it was quite funny. Apparently when he was promoted to train with Barcelona’s first team, Louis van Gaal was left bemused by the length of our man’s hair. Van Gaal even once asked him point blank if he could not afford a haircut. Puyol did not even offer up a response.

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Having said that, it was Louis van Gaal that gave Puyol his Barca debut in 1999 and set him on a 15-year journey at Camp Nou. Puyol was only 21 years of age at the time.

Now, just to give you an idea of what was going on at Barca at the time, the first five seasons of his Barca career were not as trophy laden as you may think. You see, Barca were going through a bit of a shift in identity at that point in time.

Johan Cruyff’s Dream Team had terrorized La Liga throughout the 90s. They experienced further success after he left in 1996, but by 1999, the dominance they had once enjoyed was under jeopardy. Main figures such as Pep Guardiola, Rivaldo, Luis Figo and Luis Enrique were on their way out and it was up to the new crop of players to fill in and pick up where they left off.

Puyol was one of those chosen to spearhead this new generation.

And the man really did step up, making 196 appearances in all competitions in his first 5 season with the senior team. During this time, he was almost exclusively operating in the right back position.

If you needed further convincing of this man’s commitment, just take a look at this incredible save in a Champions League group stage match against Lokomotiv Moscow in 2002. After Victor Valdes had been caught out, Puyol went back to his goalkeeping roots and saved a guaranteed goal with his chest. Rather poetically, this save was made with not only the Barca Badge, but also his heart.

Performances like these earned him several nicknames, with one of the most popular being “El Tiburon”. The shark.

His aggression on the pitch and physicality when going into challenges made it so no attacker was safe when put up against him.

Having said all of this, for the sake of accuracy, I don’t want to go on as if Puyol was blindly loyal to Barca throughout this trophy drought. Like fans and players alike, he was frustrated. The thought of leaving was one that cropped up on a few occasions for him. He even once said,

“There was a moment when I thought about going, why deny it? I wanted to win things and there was a time when we didn’t just fail to win, we didn’t even compete.”

However, he stuck it though, as he ultimately did want to achieve great things with Barca.

Captaincy and Runaway success

By 2004, after only improving as a both a player and a leader, Puyol was awarded the Barcelona captaincy following the departure of Luis Enrique. However, at 26 years of age and after having spent 5 seasons at the club, he was yet to win even a single trophy. Knowing what we know now, that’s a pretty wild thought. I say that because the next ten years was a stark contrast to this.

6 La Liga Titles, 2 Copa Del Rey’s, 3 Champions Leagues and 2 Club World Cups. If Barcelona were feeling a little left out during their dry spell, they more than made up for it in this time period. And, as you can only imagine, Puyol was regularly featured in team of the years, and even picked up the 2006 UEFA best defender award.

And before you ask about Ballon d’or nominations, he did receive a few, but he never got anywhere close to the podium. Remember, he is a defender and this is the Ballon d’or we’re talking about.

How Good were Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique?

Now of course, all of these achievements were a result of a collective effort. Contrary to popular believe, football is in fact a team sport. Having said that, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention probably Puyol’s most prominent partner in crime: Gerard Pique.

So, how good were these two, really? Well, pretty good.

No no. In all seriousness, really good.

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Their relationship was pretty much the standard stopper and ball playing centre back partnership. Puyol, the physically and mentally strong behemoth alongside Pique, the strong, but technical operator was a great combination. Having said that, something funny about this partnership was that Pique, standing at 6ft4 was not the aggressor of the two. Despite his 5ft10 frame Puyol was just another kind of beast.

In the early days of Pique’s career, he was often lamented for lacking the concentration necessary to see big games through. Puyol was not having any of it.

He mentored Pique to a large degree, helping him grow into the world class defender we all saw in the early 2010s.

These two complimented each other so well that it really is no surprise that their partnership coincided with the Spanish national team’s absolute dominance of international football between 2008 and 2012. Of course, there was more to it than just these two, the team was absolutely stacked.

But long story short, between 2008 and 2012, Spain won the 2010 World Cup, the 2008 Euros and 2012 Euros.

Although, Puyol did not actually feature in the 2012 Euros due to injury. However, with the exception of that tournament, he played in just about every competitive Spanish game in this time period. He even scored a crucial late goal in the 2010 World Cup semi-final against Germany, to send Spain to the finals as 1-0 winners.

Late Career and retirement

Post 2012, Puyol’s career was slowly but surely coming to a close. A combination of repeated knee injuries, a dislocated elbow and the standard effects of age preceded a timely end to his career. And so, on the 15^th of May 2014, he retired from the game altogether.

“I would never have thought then that I would have this great career. I’ve won lots of titles, but the most important thing is the human warmth and feeling I take from this club. I came here as a boy and I’m leaving with a family who I’m really proud of.”- Carles Puyol.

Puyol was a type of player that we don’t really see all that much in today’s game. A player that combined insane natural talent, hard work and a touching human element to his gameday demeanour. A consummate, loyal professional who touched the hearts of so many.

Seeing as La Liga does not keep detailed stats of players, I could not compile many of the meaningful stats that I feel would best illustrate his importance to Barca over his career. Things such as tackle success rate, passes completed, 50/50s won were rather hard to come across from before 2009. i.e when WhoScored began tracking detailed player stats.

However, with the information available I was able to pull up some La Liga stats I feel do a good job at doing just that.

In his Barcelona career, Puyol played 392 games in the league, keeping 162 clean sheets, scoring 12 and assisting 12. For those last two stats, remember that the man was a defender his entire career.

Over his 15-year career, when he was in the squad, Barcelona had a 65% win rate. However, for games where he was out of the squad, that rate dropped down to 58%. Over a 15-year period, that stat is quite significant.

Closing thoughts

In closing, Barcelona could really do with a Carles Puyol right about now. The man unequivocally played for the badge and will always be remembered as Carles Puyol: The Shark of Catalonia.