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President of the Youth Academy of Barcelona Albert Puig Ortoneda despite his busy schedule found some time to come with the entire team to Moscow to participate in the International youth tournament, dedicated to FC Spartak Moscow 90th anniversary. The Spanish team spent only two days in Moscow and used the time to pull off big wins over Bosussia - 3:0 and Sporting 5:1. Just before his departure to Barcelona Mr. Ortoneda shared with us his opinion on the event, organized by our club.

—  I really liked this approach to facilitating a competition, in which each contestant meets all other contestants in turn. The entire event logistics was organized on the highest level: we were put up in a great hotel and we were located near the stadium. All this was important to give our team a chance to prove itself in a strong competition with other international schools.

— What would you say about the other teams participating in the event? 

— Portuguese Sporting is a good team, which falls short only of experience, because the most of players who came to the tournament were born in 1996. The players of Sochaux-Montbeliard stand out for their sophisticated technique. Italians usually play in (smiling) …"Italian" style — 1:0, 1:0. Comparing to the games I have seen only Germans played somewhat weaker. Talking about the host, Spartak, the guys make a very good impression. In my opinion they have elementarily suffered a misfortune in their game against Atlanta. Spartak showed a good performance and should actually have win the game. I wish your guys the best of luck for the future.

— What would you say about the infrastructure of the Spartak Academy?

— I liked everything I saw. I have developed effective and warm relationships with Mr. Velery Karpin, General director of your club. Our discussions helped me to get a better understanding of the structure of the club and the Academy. We have shared our thoughts about the methods of education of junior footballers. From my part I have invited the representatives of Spartak to come to Barcelona to see the training methods we apply.

— Based on your rich experience how would you characterize the peculiarity of this anniversary tournament if you compare it to other international games of such kind?

— This tournament lasted almost a week and each teams plays every day. In my view it is exactly that what makes it so special. During the other junior tournaments the teams play min two games a day. This is why I like the scheme applied in Moscow.

— All games were played on an artificial pitch, which is different from what you are accustomed to. What would you say about its quality?

— I think and my point of view is actually fully supported by the rest of the team this artificial pitch was one of the best we have ever played on.