Puyol (1): "Guardiola is a perfectionist"

In an interview with Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo, Barcelona central defender and captain Carles Puyol (30) talks about the team and the club.








First we should congratulate you with the renewed captaincy.
Thank you.

Why all those innovations, now the team has four captains plus a support commission with four more players?
We came up with this because a lot of players wanted to get involved and that's very good. The four captains are there for the daily stuff but if a more important issue arises, we'll meet with all eight so everyone is represented. And if an individual player wants to make whatever comment, he'll be listened to. All players can express their own opinion here.

It seems remarkable that Messi and Eto'o have been included. Messi because of his youth and Eto'o because of his complex character.
You shouldn't read too much between the lines. Besides, in reality, if you look at it, the eight players involved are the ones that are around for the longest time. It's fairly easy.

How do you explain the small attendances at the Camp Nou so far this season?
It's complicated. The last two seasons were hard for everyone but that's behind us and we should live in the present. It's our job now to make even the most disappointed fans return to the stadium.

Let's talk about Guardiola. Is he such a perfectionist like is being said?
Yes, that's correct. He wants to control every possible aspect. It's his first year and he wants to make all his ideas clear to us and that's why he puts so much time in it. It's logical.

What's the reason behind some weak moments in the games? On Wednesday, after an excellent first half, one goal of Betis made the team doubt too much? It's a confidence crisis that you take with you from the previous seasons?
It's no weakness. But what we should try to do is to keep the same level of intensity and react if we receive a goal. In fact, I think the team was very good against Betis. They scored the equalizer but the reaction of the team was very good. They didn't collapse at all and went for the victory. The fact that they showed that they are able to react gives confidence for the future.

This was the first part of this interview. The three other parts will follow in the coming days with Puyol talking, amongst other things, about the game against Espanyol and the qualities and character of Piqué.