![]() ![]() When he contracted Covid at the start of the last Euros – his final international tournament – he was sent home with a GPS vest and a training schedule drawn up by Spain’s fitness coach Rafael Pol and he stuck to it so diligently that according to the data from the vest he could have come back for Spain’s second group game only for coach Luis Enrique err on the side of caution and save him for Spain’s final group match.īusquets first Spain manager Vicente del Bosque famously said if he could be reincarnated as any player it would be Busquets. ‘Busi’ is a special person, that’s why we all love him.’īusquets was once described as 'intelligent' and 'special' by former team-mate Andres Iniesta ![]() He sees his role as being at the service of the rest of the team. His assists became as important as his interceptions.Īsked to define Busquets, Iniesta once told Mail Sport: ‘Intelligent, necessary, indispensable for any team, special. He was the organizer, the metronome, Barcelona and Spain’s ‘Captain Sensible’ never losing his head.Īnd although when flanked by Iniesta and Xavi his role was largely defensive when they left he increasingly became the man to play the penetrative pass – a killer ball, usually to Messi. ‘Holding midfielder’ hardly does justice to the role he performed. And in the second season he really soared when Guardiola surprised many by allowing the club to sell Yaya Toure to Manchester City.īarça fans wondered why the club were selling such an asset to a European rival but there was method in Guardiola’s madness – he already knew that Busquets was going to be the club’s holding midfielder for the next decade. Within a year he had a Champions League medal after Barcelona beat Manchester United in Rome. He was the last man standing from Barcelona’s greatest ever midfield first brought together under Pep Guardiola in the 2008-09 season.īusquets was just 19 when he was called up to spend the first preseason under Guardiola training with the first team and he never looked back. His decision marks the end of an era at the club. Busquets' decision to quit has also been influenced by a desire to bow out on a high lifting the Spanish title at the Camp Nou. ![]()
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