At the end of the season, the FC Barcelona captain is leaving the club after 14 years
He has played a total of 593 games and has scored 18 goals
Carles Puyol has announced that he is leaving the club after 14 years in the first team, in which time he has made 593 appearances and scored 18 goals.
Here we pick out ten highlights of the career of one of the finest defenders ever to play for the club:
- 2 October 1999. Louis van Gaal hands him his first team debut in a game at Valladolid, where the Catalan came on as a second half substitute for Simao. He’d go on to play 37 games that season.
- 21 October 2000. Aged just 22 years, Llorenç Serra Ferrer ordered him to man-mark Luis Figo on the infamous day of his return to the Camp Nou as a Real Madrid player. Puyol was outstanding and Barça won 2-0.
- 11 November 2001. His first goal, like his first match, was against Valladolid. Puyol, who originally played at right back, ran up the wing and finished off a one-two with Saviola to score the second goal in a 4-0 win.
- 23 October 2002. The Puyol legend was consecrated by this action, when he used the club crest on his shirt to turn away a Lokomotiv Moscow strike and help his team to a 1-0 Champions League win.
- 14 May 2005. Puyol spent five years at Barça without winning a major title, but that changed in 2004/05, his first year as captain. On May 14 at Levante, Barça drew 1-1 to ensure the Liga title under Frank Rijkaard.
- 17 May 2006. Like Alexanko 14 years earlier, Carles Puyol got to lift the Champions league trophy. The epic 2-1 defeat of Arsenal on a rainy night in Paris helped ensure the legendary status of Carles Puyol.
- 2 May 2009. Puyol probably never played a better game than he did the night of the 6-2 win at the Santiago Bernabéu. Barça came from behind to lead 2-1 with a Puyol header, which he celebrated by removing his armband and kissing it for the crowd.
- 19 December 2009. The best Barça team of all time ended an unforgettable 2009 by winning its first Clubs World Cup, and Puyol was the man who got to lift the trophy in Abu Dhabi.
- 28 May 2011. After another speedy recovery from injury, Puyol came on at the end of the Champions league final at Wembley. It was the third time he won it, but rather than collect the trophy, he gave the honour to Éric Abidal, who had suffered a liver tumour just months before.
- 19 October 2013. After 220 days (seven months) side-lined with a knee injury, Carles Puyol once again donned the captain’s armband as he returned to action in a 0-0 draw at Osasuna (0-0).
