The Celta keeper returns to the scene of one of his best ever performances, where he made seven superb stops to keep Barça out in last season’s goalless draw with Seville
Guardiola praised him at the end of the game saying: “you’ve seen tonight that keepers also play!”
Varas: “with Celta, the team tries to keep more possession. We are a happy side with a lot of personality”
Just over a year ago, on 22 October 2011, Javi Varas put on an incredible performance at the Camp Nou, when Seville visited Barcelona and he made seven great stops – Barça had 21 shots in all – causing Pep Guardiola to praise him after the game, claiming: “you have to praise Javi for his performance – you’ve seen tonight that keepers also play!” Since that game, no other keeper has gone away from the Camp Nou without conceding a goal.
“It wasn’t my best night!”
He may have stopped the might of Barça and even saved a Messi penalty, but speaking to the Barça TV programme ‘ADN Barça’, the keeper reckoned: “it might have been the best night I had in terms of media coverage, but I think I have had better games”. In fact, his best memory of the Camp Nou is the Spanish Cup win against Atletico Madrid in 2010.
Positive attitude
This Saturday, Javi Varas is back at the Camp Nou with his latest team, Celta, and he believes they are determined to take something away from their trip: “we know that a point would be great”. It’s been a big change in style for Varas since his move from Seville and he explained: “at Celta we look to keep possession, we are a happy team with a lot of personality and that is the way we are going into Saturday’s game. With Seville, it was much more about counter attacking”.