Valdes equals Zubi´s Barcelona milestone

Victor Valdes was a proud man on Monday after equalling Andoni Zubizarreta’s record of 410 appearances as Barcelona goalkeeper.

Valdes, 29, reached the milestone in style at the Camp Nou, recording a clean sheet as his team defeated Villarreal 5-0 in their first match of the La Liga season.

Zubizarreta, who replaced Txiki Begiristain as the club’s sporting director in July 2010, was between the posts as Barca lifted their first European Cup in 1992.

Catalan-native Valdes made his first-team debut 10 years later.

He has already won the Champions League three times and looks set to outstrip his predecessor’s appearance record by some distance.

“I’m very proud to equal Zubi, it’s a very special day,” Valdes said.

“This figure was unthinkable when I made my debut.”

With several regulars sidelined, Barca coach Pep Guardiola opted to field just one recognised defender in Eric Abidal.

The Frenchman formed an unusual three-man backline alongside midfielders Javier Mascherano and Sergio Busquets.

After the victory, Guardiola could afford to joke about the makeshift line-up.

“As testimonial to Zubi, I decided to play with a three-man defence … our aim is that Victor helps us to move the ball, and he’s not the typical goalkeeper who just makes saves,” Guardiola said.

“We only had one real defender (Abidal) and the idea was that we would play the ball around with a lot of players in the centre of the pitch.”

“If we had all the players available then maybe I wouldn’t have changed the system.”

The match featured a goal for Cesc Fabregas in his league debut, with the assist provided by former youth-team colleague Lionel Messi.

“It’s a pleasure playing with him,” Fabregas said of the Argentine superstar.

“You know you can give him the ball at any moment and he’ll decide the match on his own. It’s awesome.”

“Time will tell if I carry on scoring. For the moment I have a lot of desire to do things well and I am very happy on the pitch.”

Fabregas played alongside Messi in the famed Barca academy, before the former left to join Arsenal in 2003.

“We have known each other since we were kids,” Messi said.

“Like Xavi and Andres (Iniesta), he knows what it means to play at Barcelona.”