Carles Puyol spoke to the media this morning and explained that his aim was to keep playing till he was 40, though only if he feels physically up to it: “I want to continue playing, but I don’t want to be a passenger. The moment I don’t feel okay, I’ll stop, regardless of my contract”. Puyol also revealed that the negotiations about his contract extension were advancing, although they had been put on ice during his recent layoff with an arm injury: “I was concentrating on getting back to fitness. It was a difficult time, but you have to learn from these experiences and they make you stronger. I feel fine now. I enjoyed the game against Atletico and it’s been a while since I felt like that. The moment I stop enjoying it, I’ll stop playing”.
Cautious over lead
With a nine point lead over Atletico and 13 over Real Madrid, Puyol admitted the team were in a good position, but: “we have to remember, we’ve won nothing yet – it’s an important lead but we can’t be too overconfident, if we relax, the results will start to go against us. This is a team with a winning mentality and we know that the moment we take our eye off the ball, we could end up paying a heavy price”.
Puyol also refused to count Real Madrid out of the title race: “if there is one team who never give up, it’s Real Madrid and they’ve shown that in other seasons”.
“Busquets is the best midfielder in the world”
One of the best performances on Sunday came from Sergio Busquets and Puyol was full of praise for his fellow Catalan: “he’s the best midfielder in the world. He’s a vital part of our team – he might not always seem that way, but he really is very important. He’s very intelligent both in attack and in defence”.
