Philippe Christanval came to Barça as a 23 year old who had excelled at Monaco in Ligue 1. In his first season at the Club in 2001/02 he played alongside the likes of Michael Reizinger, Carlos Puyol and Frank de Boer.

In total in his debut campaign he made 29 appearances for Barça in all competitions. 

The following season with Louis van Gaal and Radomir Antic as coaches the French defender fell out of favour and made just 8 appearances for the first team. In the summer of 2003 he left for Olympique Marseille where stayed for three seasons before ending his career with English club Fulham at the age of just 30. 

Christanval made 6 appearances for the French national side