Carles Puyol: “we have to pick ourselves up – we have a very big game on Tuesday”

The Barça captain was disappointed with the defeat to Madrid, but appealed to the fans to get behind the team.

Puyol explained the players want to “get the Chelsea game started, so that we can put this defeat behind us and get on with things”.

Carles Puyol spoke on the Barça TV programme “El Marcador” following the defeat to Real Madrid and explained: “we are all a bit down, like all the Barça fans- it’s a big blow for us because we really thought we were in with a chance to take the league title. We’ll not let our heads drop though – we’ll keep fighting till the end and do our best for the fans, even though we know that it’s pretty much impossible now”.

Despite the result, Puyol insisted: “this has been a very good season and now we have two competitions left to win – the Cup and the Champions League”. Focus on Europe

Turning to Europe, Puyol believes: “we now have to focus on Tuesday – it’s a competition we are keen to win and we are close to another final.” Explaining the tactics the team need to employ against Chelsea, Puyol went on: “we have to be very aware of their counter attacks - I can see it being a similar game tactically to the Madrid match”. There’s still the chance that the two Spanish giants could meet in the Champions League final and for Puyol: “that would be a very attractive final, we’d have to see what would happen then, but for now we are centered on Tuesday”.

Finally, the Club captain sent the fans an upbeat message: “we have had some great seasons and we’ve all really enjoyed them. Sometimes you need to slip up in order to pick yourself up and I am sure that this team will be up there again. You have to judge all that we have achieved so far”. (via FCBarcelona.com)