28.11.2008 11:39
Palop: “Barça will win the league”
www.fcbarcelona.cat
Andrés Palop believes that FC Barcelona are the favourites to win the league this season. The Sevilla goalkeeper also said that playing against his former team-mates, Dani Alves and Seydou Keita will be strange.
Speaking to Sevilla’s official television channel,
Palop stated that he sees the Blaugrana as the team most likely to win the championships because
their level of play is above everyone else’s. “I believe that Barça will win the league
because of the great football that they have been playing,” he explained. “Real Madrid
will probably finish in second place, while we will be third and Valencia will be fourth.”
Alves and Keita
Looking ahead to the visit of Pep Guardiola’s team to
the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán on Saturday, Palop admitted that facing Alves and Keita for the first
time since they left Sevilla will be an odd experience. “I am looking forward to facing
them,” he said. “I always like taking on the best players in the world, even though it
will be a bit strange to see them in a shirt that is not Sevilla’s. I hope that they do not
have a good day on Saturday, but I wish them all the best from Sunday onwards.”
Xavi is the best
Palop was keen to highlight the quality of Barça’s star
and picked out Xavi Hernández as one player to watch. “He is the alma mater of the
team,” the keeper stated. “He is the complete player as he dominates games from the
midfield. Of the great players that Barça have I think he is the best, without doubt.”
Zamora candidate
Palop is the keeper that has conceded the least goals in the Primera División having let in only
eight this season, one less than Víctor Valdés, and he is a contender to win the Zamora trophy as
the league’s best custodian already. “I have never won the Zamora and I would really
like to,” he said. “I have been close to winning it before with Sevila, but I have
always just missed out. While the Pichichi is important to the strikers, the Zamora is important
for keepers.”