11.05.2009 14:35
Puyol: “You can do it if you believe”
Jesús Carrillo
Carles Puyol says that the players will go into the Mestalla final fired up and thinks that the team’s will to win will be able to overcome all the setbacks of recent hours.
One of those setbacks is Iniesta’s injury. Puyol said that “you’re bound to have
injuries in football” and that Iniesta is one of those players who never hides.
“It’s bad news for us,” he said.
Move on
Puyol says the side have to forget the Villarreal game (
3-3
). “We’ve got draw a line and move on,” he said. “We’ve got
another point and so the League title is closer. But it’s true we did want to win in front of
our fans and celebrate the title at Camp Nou. But football’s like that; sometimes the last
minute can be great for you and other times it’s a real letdown.”
The Cup
Puyol thinks that the big points difference in the League
between Barça and Bilbao has no bearing on the final. “Ever since the end of
yesterday’s game we’ve only been thinking about the final,” he added. “All
the games we have left are massive and of course the final at Mestalla is one of the biggest of the
year.”
Good memories
Puyol has good memories of the last two finals that Barça won even though he wasn’t
playing for the team at that stage. “I remember the two we won back-to-back against Betis and
Mallorca with Bobby Robson and Van Gaal as managers,” he said. “All of us want to win
the Cup and no-one wants to do it more than us.”
Bilbao will go for broke
Puyol reckons Barça’s cup final opponents will go for broke in the game.
“They’ll come out strong and we have to be good to beat them,” he argued.
“Us being higher up the table doesn’t make us favourites. Anything can happen and
especially in a Cup final against Bilbao.”
Makes no difference when you win the title
Asked about the possibility of Barça becoming League champions on Saturday night without playing,
Puyol said that “if we become champions because Madrid slip-up, so much the better. And if
they don’t, we’ll go to Mallorca to win the game as we have done all season. Physically
we’re in good nick and you can see that in how we always get to the end of the game with
something left in the tank”.