FCBARCELONA.CAT

20.02.2010 12:06

Luís García – a footballing globe trotter

Miquel Agut /Jesús Carrillo

Ex-Barca man Luis Garcia will be back at the Nou Camp this evening, wearing a Racing shirt. Barca TV and fcbarcelona.cat spoke to him about the game and how he views this Barca team.

Local born Luis Garcia has played for Sant Gabriel, FC Barcelona, Valladolid, Toledo, Tenerife, Liverpool, Atlético de Madrid and now for Racing. 

With Rijkaard

Luís García just played one season for the first team – 2003/04, Frank Rijkaard’s first campaign - alongside Ronaldinho, Kluivert, Saviola and Rafa Márquez as well as “Xavi, Víctor Valdés and Puyol who I knew from when Barac B won promotion to segunda A at the Bernabeu. That’s one of my best memories, as everything was really in favour of Madrid that day”.

As to his season in the first team, Garcia commented: “it was great. We put in an extraordinary second half to the season and we finished second after a really bad start”.

Liverpool

The following year Garcia signed for Rafa Benitez’s Liverpool : “I’d have liked to have stayed longer at Barca, but I had to take my chance. I played a lot and we won the Champions League in Istanbul- that’s my bets memory as a professional”.

Racing

Garcia signed for Racing on the last day of the winter transfer window : “it was all very quick. We started badly, with a change in manager thrown in, then I got injured, but now I’m back. They make you very welcome in Santander and teghre’s a lot of support for the club in the town. I’m very happy to end up her and keep playing in the top flight”.

Barça

Luis Garcia reckons Racing : “will face a tough task “, at the Nou Camp, “you can’t afford to make a single mistake, if you do, you’ll pay the price”. Barca may be missing a few regulars, but Garcia reckons: “Barca are always Barca, just because they’ve lost a game doesn’t make them any less dangerous and the fact that players are out means we don’t know what to expect and the new players can complicate things for us. That Xavi isn’t playing is a great advantage for us as everything in the team goes through him”.