Real Madrid vs Barcelona: 5 teammates of Luis Enrique who Barca could've used in the upcoming El Clasico

#3: Carles Puyol

To stop Ronaldo, Bale, et al you’d need a defender of Carles Puyol’s class

While attacking Real is all well and good, with a frontline including Ronaldo, Morata, Bale and Benzema, it’s equally important for Barcelona to stop them from scoring goals, which means Luis Enrique would probably kill to have his old teammate Carles Puyol around to call upon.

In his prime, Puyol – able to play both as a central defender and on either side of the defence – was widely recognised as one of the best defenders in the world. He honed his craft through Barca’s La Masia youth system and played three seasons with the C and B-teams before breaking into the first team under Louis van Gaal.

Named club captain at the end of 2003/04 – replacing Luis Enrique himself - Puyol played under various managers in a long fifteen-season career at the club, but it could be argued that his peak years coincided with the peak of Barca – the Pep Guardiola-led, Lionel Messi-inspired conquerors of the late 2000’s.

Puyol was a tremendous leader, had great arial prowess, always showed composure on the ball and was the foundation that perhaps the greatest Barcelona teams built their success upon. The likes of Messi, Iniesta and Xavi may have gained more plaudits but Puyol’s ability to prevent goals being conceded was equally important.

A winner of basically every possible competition, Enrique’s old teammate would definitely come in handy in this El Clasico.