Puyol: "Things aren't won until you lift the cup"

Barcelona player Carles Puyol gave an interview to Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo.





Six months ago, the job of the players was to try to increase the morale of Barcelona fans and now it's to try to lower it. How you adapt to such a change in such short time?
Man, first of all I must say that the fans' morale can't be lowered because it must always be as high as possible. If I were a supporter I would try to live the moment and enjoy it as much as possible. The ones that must keep their feet on the ground are us players.

Try to explain how the same team that fell at the Bernabeu and crashed in the league last season, in this case with the same base, now can't be matched. Defend the phrase "Players are cheeky, they play when they want to".
First of all, I have to say that the loss at the Bernabeu was one of the saddest in my career, if not the worst. What happened to us was that we were going through a difficult phase, the dynamic was bad after everything that happened and it was difficult to win our matches. But we didn't doubt for a moment: we wanted to win, but we couldn't.

Why were you in such a negative dynamic?
I've often tried to explain what exactly happened but it's difficult. Football fluctuates often and there are many uncontrollable factors. It was like a collective depression in which we couldn't escape.

In contrast, the Barca of today is very strong and it may be easy to set aside everything that Rijkaard's team did....
I agree. It's not fair to compare a team at its best, like ours is right now, with the team of Rijkaard when his time was up. It's more fair to compare both when they played winning and spectacular football. The only difference is that this Barca team needs to win titles. The other project also worked and won titles, two leagues and a Champions league in five years, and that's that.

This surprising transformation is only explained by the arrival of Pep Guardiola?
Guardiola is certainly important in this project. He's most responsible and his decisions influence much. It's also important that in a new project it's easier for people to feel more important.

Is it because there are so many youth team products that the team has such a sense of unity?
The team is well and so is the ambiance, not because there are or aren't players from here, but because everyone, no matter where they're from, feel like they have a part in this.

Is there a danger that a team, so superior, ends up relaxing? Guardiola must pester you often with that...
Right now there's no lack of us hearing that. We all find it very clear. We haven't won anything and those who have been here the past years are very aware that things aren't won until you lift up the cup.

Translated by: AL


This was the first part of this interview. You can read the following parts here in the coming days.

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