Special match for Pinto as Barca return to Balaidos
Sunday, March 31, 2013 @ 12:30 AM
Mar 29, 2013 @ 16:47
It promises to be a special occasion for FC Barcelona’s Jose Manuel Pinto on Saturday as the Andalusian goalkeeper returns to face his former club Celta de Vigo.
The 37-year-old made a total of 181 appearances between the posts for Os Celestes during a ten-year tenure which stretched from 1998-2008 before moving to Camp Nou.
Pinto was part of the Celta sides which progressed to the last 16 of the Champions League in the 2003-04 season and won the Intertoto Cup in 2000.
The Cadiz-born shot-stopper also claimed the Ricardo Zamora Trophy in a Celta shirt for having the lowest goals-to-games ratio in La Liga during the 2005-06 campaign.
Victor Valdes, surrounded in speculation regarding a move away from Catalonia, is suspended for Saturday’s clash, handing Pinto a starting place.
It is also Barca’s first visit to Vigo for a league encounter since 2006, Pinto was the Celta keeper as Barcelona won 3-2, a late Eidur Gudjohnsen strike handing Frank Rijkaard’s team all three points, and Celta were relegated at the end of that season.