Happy birthday, Carles!

FC Barcelona’s captain Carles Puyol celebrates his 34th birthday this Friday .

FC Barcelona’s captain Carles Puyol was born 34 years ago today. The captain has a lot to celebrate as he completes another year with Barça’s first team. For Guardiola, Puyol is the centerpiece of the team’s defence, in the last 7 matches he’s figured in the starting line-up 6 times; of the last 30, he’s led the team 24 times.

It’s worth noting that Puyol has played the second most matches in Club history (552), the only player to have played more official matches for FC Barcelona is his teammate Xavi Hernández (621). In fact, Puyol reached this mark recently. It was when he played in the Champions League quarterfinal against Milan (3-1).

Despite his age, this has been a fantastic season for the Catalan captain. While proving to be dependable on defence, the player has also shown to be dangerous on offence as well. In fact, Puyol has set a new personal record this year: he’s scored four goals this season - two in the Liga and two in the Cup - besting the his personal tally set in the 2001/02 and 2006/07 seasons, where he scored two goals. Happy birthday, Puyol! (via FCBarceloona.com)