Carles Puyol (captain)

Carles Puyol i Saforcada is a Spanish footballer who plays with FC Barcelona and the Spanish national team.

Mainly a central defender, he can also appear on either flanks, especially as a right back. He also served as a longtime team captain, after taking over from Luis Enrique on August 2004.

In 1999, then coach Louis van Gaal promoted Puyol to the first team. He made his first division debut on October 2, 1999, at Real Valladolid, in a 2–0 win. After that, he successfully made another reconversion, now to central defender; he was awarded "Best European right back" award by UEFA in 2002 and "Best European centre back" in 2005, 2006 and 2008. Puyol also won the trophy "UEFA Club Best Defender" in 2006.

Puyol was first chosen as the captain of Barcelona at the end of the 2003–04 season, after the retirement of Luis Enrique. On September 16, 2008, he made his 400th appearance in all competitions for Barça's first team in a Champions League match against Sporting Clube de Portugal.
On October 30, 2009, Puyol signed a new three-year extension to his contract, running until 2013. This link also contained a release clause of €10 million euros. The next day, in the league against CA Osasuna, he became the third player with more official matches for the Catalans with 453, surpassing Carles Rexach, now only trailing teammate Xavi Hernández and record holder Migueli (548 appearances).

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