Puyol's playing career
Puyol's playing days
In 1996, Puyol was promoted to the Barcelona B team by La Masia (Barcelona's youth system) at the age of 18. Originally, Barcelona had planned to accept Málaga's offer to sell Puyol, however, after seeing his close friend Xavi from his youth days begin to get first team opportunities, he was determined to continue to fight for the chance to play for the Barcelona first team and did not want to leave the team. He joined the Barcelona first team in 1999 under the guidance of then manager Louis van Gaal. He made his debut in the La Liga on October 2, 1999, when Barcelona beat Valladolid 2:0 on the road, playing as the team's right back. After that, Puyol's position in the team slowly changed to center back. In the 2003-2004 La Liga season he was chosen as Barcelona's third captain, and in the following seasons he became the official captain, becoming the team's spiritual leader until his retirement, and was the team's flagship.
On May 17, 2006, Puyol became the first Catalan captain to win the European Champions Cup when he won the final with his team against Arsenal 2-1 in the final.
In terms of individual honors, he was awarded the "Best Right Back in Europe" by UEFA in 2002. He was also selected as the best defensive player in the 2005-06 UEFA Champions League.
Puyol made his international debut for Spain on November 15, 2000 against the Netherlands. Prior to that he was selected for the Spain Under-21 youth team and finished third in the European U-21 Championships. He has also played in all of Spain's major international tournaments since then, including the 2002 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2004, 2006 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2008, and 2010 FIFA World Cup, and is a stalwart of Spain's defense.
In the 2010 World Cup, Puyol started all the matches, and in the semi-final, Puyol opened the scoring for Spain with a header in the 73rd minute, and eventually Spain beat Germany 1-0 and entered the final. In the final, Puyol played 120 minutes and won the match.
On May 15, 2014, Puyol announced that he would hang up his boots after the season due to a knee injury.On May 31, the club announced that Puyol would join Barcelona's management team as an assistant to sporting director Suvisarreta from September.
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Pujol's career
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