Sergio Busquets first on the team sheet
Aleix Santacana
07/02/2012 11:40
Sergio Busquets finished his 2011/12 season on Sunday night having played 67 games in all for club and country. Only Messi, with 69, has played more
The Barça midfielder has played 83% of the possible fixtures this season, 52 with FC Barcelona and 15 with Spain
67 games, 5 titles
Sergio Busquets has played 31 league games, 10 in the Champions League, 8 in the Spanish Cup and 1 in the Spanish and European Super Cups and the World Club Cup.
On top of that, he’s played in 15 games for Spain, including all 6 at the Euro 2012 Finals in Poland and Ukraine.
Those 67 games have brought him 4 winners medals with Barça –World Club Cup, Spanish and European Super Cups and the Spanish Cup – as well as the European Championships with Spain on Sunday night.
Busquets is one of the first names on the team sheet for both Barça and Spain and despite not yet being 24 – his birthday is July 16th – he is virtually irreplaceable. He was given his debut by Pep Guardiola in the coach’s second game in charge, on September 13th 2008 and has made incredible progress since then. “He’s one of the best midfielders in the world, as competitive as Messi and just like him, he never plays badly in a final and what’s more, he’s a great lad”, according to Guardiola in the last number of the BARÇA magazine.
Sergio Busquets’ total of 67 games for the season, 52 with Barça and 15 with Spain was only bettered by Messi’s astonishing 69 matches with the Club and Argentina – a figure which is certainly not within the reach of many players.
83% of all the fixtures
Sergio has played 83% of this season’s fixtures – 52 of Barça’s 64 games and 15 of Spain’s 17 matches. Like the rest of Barça’s Spanish internationals, he could have actually played in every game in the calendar except one – the Champions League Final.
Speaking in number 57 of the BARÇA magazine, Guardiola has no doubts about Sergio Busquets, the successor to Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta and Valdés: “he is a player who is destined to continue with everything the squad has achieved. When he becomes captain – which sooner or later because of his qualities he will- he’ll be one of those guys who puts everyone in his place. The coach has to organise things, but there are other things which the players have to take control of. The captain has to have an important presence and Sergio will have that”.