Carles Puyol Stalls Over New Barcelona Deal
First team football is foremost in the captain's mind...
The 31-year-old Blaugrana defender is said to be mulling over a two-year extension that would keep him at the club until he is 34-years-old but there is a suggestion now that the player may consider finishing his career overseas with Premier League big spenders Chelsea and Manchester City and Italian giants Milan identified as clubs keeping tabs on the progress of contract negotiations.
Puyol is said to have the backing of coach Pep Guardiola who said he wants to hold onto the captain because he can play any position in the back four.
The veteran defender, who played his 300th league game for Barca in Monday's 2-0 win over Sporting Gijon at Camp Nou, is reportedly unconvinced about his future role at the club.
Puyol, who has lifted three La Liga titles and two European Cups as captain, is said to be in no hurry to sign a deal and wants to see how this season develops with Rafael Marquez and new-signing Dmytro Chygrynskiy vying for the centre-back positions and Pep Guardiola's position at the club yet to be set in stone.
It is understood that a role on the substitutes bench would most likely diminish the likelihood of him signing an extension.
Paul Madden, Goal.com
Hosted by Stephen Crawford & Adam Scime
We've had two tremendous matches today, so lets hope the intensity keeps up in the next clashes!
Until next time, this is LIVE commentator Stephen Crawford signing off.
From everyone here at Goal.com, thanks for joining us!
Here's the thoughts of Benfica coach Jorge Jesus, who felt his side deserved a point from the game.
"They were the better team on the night and that's the story of the day.
"We have to keep fighting, pick ourselves up, get the confidence back and challenge in the other competitions and in the second leg of this tie too.
"They punished us on every occasion; they scored some quality goals and they deserved to win."
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“The score made it look like it was an easy game, but it certainly wasn't.
(Strange... it looked pretty easy from where I was sitting, but hey.)
“I do not think it's over yet. I remember a clash between Milan and Deportivo la Coruna when Milan was also ahead by four goals, and in the end Deportivo eliminated Milan.
“I went into the Arsenal dressing room after the match to speak to Robin van Persie. I had agreed with him to swap shirts – my sons are big fans of his and he brought two for them. They will be delighted.
Van Bommel went on to talk about a possible move to PSV in the future, but was quick to point out his terms for the move.
“I've spoken with PSV, but we don't have an agreement yet. The club has to decide what they want.
“If Louis van Gaal turns out to be the new coach, I won't go.”
"Tonight everything went in the right direction and we did a very good match. You don't start a match thinking to win 4-0, but at the end i think we deserved it coz we played very well."
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