Speaking at the award ceremony for Madrid based sports paper Marca, FC Barcelona president insisted that the League is a long journey. The ceremony also included the presentation of the Zamora and Di Stéfano trophies to Víctor Valdés and Lionel Messi respectively, who did not attend the ceremony by the decision of the Club.

President Sandro Rosell has spoken about FC Barcelona’s position at the top of the League. Rosell was present this Monday afternoon in Madrid at the awards ceremony held by sports paper Marca to honour the most outstanding players of the 2010/11 season in the First and Second Divisions. Rosell commented that “the leadership is circumstantial because we have just begun,” and that “we must go little by little and without haste” as the team has done in recent years. At the same time, he praised the level of the competition that “is not a League of two, it’s a League of 20.”

The president of FC Barcelona affirmed that “football unites more than [it] divides” and he praised “the step forward” that Marca has made lately “to normalize relations with Barcelona … When someone extends their hand we will take it,” stated Rosell. However, Valdés and Messi have not appeared at the awards ceremony, by the decision of the Club, in the hope that relations with be re-established in future.

For the third year in a row and his fourth time overall, Víctor Valdés has won the Zamora Trophy for the goalkeeper with the least goals conceded in the League in 2010/11, having allowed only 16 goals in 32 games.

Lionel Messi, also for the third year in a row, has been awarded the Alfredo Di Stéfano award as the best player in La Liga after a vote by internet and the final selection of a jury. Pere Gratacós, FC Barcelona director of the Area of Sporting Relations, collected both the awards for Valdés and Messi.

Jonathan Soriano was the other blaugrana player honoured on Monday afternoon, receiving two awards. The player of Barça B, who is still recovering from a knee injury picked up with the first team in pre-season, won the Pichichi for the Second Division after scoring 32 goals last year. And by extension, he also was awarded the Zarra trophy for the highest Spanish goalscorer in the Second Division for the 2010/11 season. During the ceremony, Soriano explained that he hopes to be playing again “in two or three weeks.”

Source: fcbarcelona.cat; Images: Marca