At a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, Carlos Puyol revealed that he will depart Barcelona at the end of the season after 14 years with the Catalan outfit.
As it stands, he sits on 593 appearances for the club, but will hope to move close to the 600 mark before he officially steps down in June.
The Spanish international will forever be regarded as one of the most decorated players in the club's long history and has been tipped to return in a coaching capacity when he eventually retires from the sport altogether.
It has been difficult, but here, Sports Mole has picked out his top five moments in what has been a truly remarkable career with the only club that he ever loved.
October 2, 1999 – Debut
When a footballer eventually departs his first club, their finest memory is almost always their debut. That particular moment arrived for a young and inexperienced Puyol on October 2, 1999 when he was introduced as a second-half substitute by head coach Louis van Gaal in a 2-0 win away at Real Valladolid. That season, the centre-back went on to make 37 appearances in all competitions.
Having joined the Catalan outfit in 1995, Puyol made the step from the C team into the B team in 1997, where he made close to 100 appearances. He was never regarded as one of the most technically gifted individuals during his rise, but instead used every ounce of his desire and willpower to make the grade at the Camp Nou.
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November 11, 2001 – First goal
It would be fair to state that Puyol has not particularly been known as a goal-scoring centre-back throughout his career, with just 18 strikes in close to 600 matches a demonstration of that. However, his most famous strike happened to be his first. Was it scrappy? No, it was spectacular.
Deployed at right-back against Valladolid, the Spaniard raced down the wing before combining with Javier Saviola and eventually finishing into the bottom corner for Barca's second in what was a 4-0 win. Despite making his name in the youth team on the right side of the defence, Puyol's leadership and positional ability eventually saw him switch to centre-back.
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May 14, 2005 – First major title
Trophies have been no stranger to Barcelona in recent seasons, but incredibly, Puyol failed to win a major title for the Spanish giants between 2000 and 2005. So often the bridesmaid and not the bride, Barca had to watch Real Madrid and Valencia both lift La Liga at the start of the millennium.
That changed on May 14, 2005 when a 1-1 draw at Levante ensured that Barcelona picked up their first La Liga title since 1999. It was Puyol's first season as captain at the Camp Nou and sparked a revival for the Catalan outfit in Spain's leading division. As often said, the first is always the best.
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May 28, 2011 – Puyol 'the man'
Puyol will forever be remembered for his ability on the football field, but he gave an indication of the type of person that he is when Barcelona lifted the 2011 Champions League trophy at Wembley. Puyol entered as a late substitute in the 3-1 win over Premier League outfit Manchester United and as club captain, had been due to lift the trophy during the official presentation.
However, the Spaniard instead stepped aside and gave that great honour to fellow defender Eric Abidal, who had suffered a liver tumour months before the showpiece event. It made what was already a special moment for the Spanish outfit even more memorable.
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October 13, 2013 – This season's return
Puyol might be saying goodbye to the Camp Nou this summer, but it had been feared that he would not feature at all this season due to a long-standing knee injury. After seven months and exactly 220 days on the sidelines, however, the centre-back made his return to action in a La Liga clash against Osasuna on October 19, 2013.
Since then, he has been used sparingly after failing to entirely recover from his injury problems, which prompted him to admit defeat at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon. As it stands, the defender has won 21 trophies with Barca, but that could rise as high as 24 with his club currently second in La Liga, into the final of the Copa del Rey and indeed on the verge of the Champions League quarter-finals.
There is an old joke which is prominent on the terraces at the Camp Nou, which suggests that "when Puyol finally dies, he'll be out for three weeks", due to his incredible ability to bounce back from injury. He will step down from his La Liga duties at the end of the season, but will do so as arguably the finest defender to ever grace the Spanish game.
Gerard Pique summed it up perfectly when the Spaniard said of his teammate during his own tribute: "You are unique; a one-off. I find it amusing when they talk about signing 'the new Puyol'. They can look all they want, but they'll never find it."
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Matt Law
