The choice was more difficult this month. There were only five games played and it is hard to forget how badly the team played against Villarreal. However, the October award goes to Carles Puyol, mainly for his fine performances in the Champions League at Stuttgart where he scored and at Rangers where he filled in superbly at right back. Victor Valdés gets second place after keeping four clean sheets out of five games, he may not have had a lot of work to do but he made no mistakes and could do little in the goals that Villarreal scored. Deco would probably have been in contention if he hadn’t got injured.

The FCBnews top five for October is:

1. Carles Puyol
2. Victor Valdés
3. Leo Messi
4. Andres Iniesta
5. Deco