29.10.2008 12:55
Arnau impressed by Barça’s football
Edgar Fornós
With Francesc Arnau in goal, Málaga CF were promoted to the first division last season. This is the Catalan stopper’s eighth season with the Andalusian outfit, and he is looking forward to meeting his former club.
Málaga are next up for FC Barcelona, the two teams that have featured Francesc Arnau in goal. The
Catalan goalkeeper is one of the many stars to have grown up at La Masia, and after representing
Barça at several youth levels, he made his first team debut in the 1996/97 season.
It was not until 2000/01 that he won a regular place as the first team’s second
choice keeper, but before the year was out he had signed for Malaga, who were also a first division
club at the time.
Impressed with Barça
Under Pep Guardiola, Barça are looking great and the excellent form of the Catalan club has
not gone unnoticed in Malaga. Says Arnau “Barça is the team that is playing best and not only
that, they are getting good results. They are a very hard team to beat and it’ll be a
difficult game. I prefer playing at La Rosaleda because we have a better chance of winning
there.”
Playing against his old team is always “a very special game for me because of all I
experienced at FC Barcelona. I left a long time ago but I’ll never forget my time at
Barça”.
Valdés, “a great keeper”
Víctor Valdés has kept three clean sheets in a row, and Francesc Arnau
is a fervent admirer of the Barça goalkeeper. “Víctor is a great keeper, he takes criticism
well, whether it is good or bad. He has been first choice keeper for Barcelona for many years and
unless there is a twist in the tale, he’ll be as historic a figure for the club as Andoni
Zubizarreta was.”
Arnau also spoke about the way goalkeepers come in for so much criticism. “What keeper
hasn’t been criticised? We all have been at some point. We goalkeepers have to learn to live
with it. If an outfield player has a bad game you don’t notice it as much, but if a keeper
gets it wrong, the ball goes in. There is nobody behind to help you.”
Best wishes for Guardiola
Arnau played in the same side as the Barça manager and reckons “he was a magnificent
team-mate, and a great person too. I think he’s an intelligent sort, and he applies all of
his knowledge about football, I’m sure things will work out well for him. I wish him all the
luck in the world.”