Barcelona: Barcelona’s talismanic captain Carles Puyol has said another injury-interrupted season like the one just finishing could force him to consider hanging up his boots.

“I doubt I could stand another season of injuries like the one I have just had,” the defender said on Friday.

“If the problems continue next season, I will have to quit. These things happen in football.”

The 35-year-old missed Spain’s triumph at Euro 2012 after having surgery on his right knee last May, and fractured his cheekbone in Barca’s second league game at Osasuna in August.

Twisted ligaments in his left knee sidelined him again in September, and Puyol dislocated his left elbow in October.

A nagging knee problem further restricted his appearances and, finally, he went under the knife again in March for surgery on the cartilage in his right knee, hoping he could return for the end of the campaign.

He has only made 13 appearances in La Liga and four in the Champions League this season.

Famous for making rapid recoveries from injuries, Puyol sounded a more cautious note as he looked ahead to next year.

“My objective is to arrive 100 per cent fit for the new season,” he said. “My idea is to complete the three years on my contract and I hope to play until I am 40 and retire here.”

Puyol won his 100th Spain cap in a 3-1 friendly win over Uruguay in Doha in February, but has been left out of Vicente del Bosque’s squad for next month’s Condeferations Cup in Brazil.

(Reuters)