Sergio Busquets
The calm heartbeat of the Blaugrana midfield who redefined defensive playmaking.
Sergio Busquets Burgos (born 16 July 1988) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder and spent most of his career at La Liga club Barcelona. He is currently the assistant manager of Segunda Federación club Barcelona Atlètic. A deep-lying playmaker known for his short and calm passing and singular reading of the game, Busquets is regarded as one of the best defensive midfielders of all time. Busquets arrived in Barcelona's first team in July 2008 and went on to receive La Liga's Breakthrough Player in 2009. From the 2009–10 season, he was a first team regular and was a key playing contributor to the club for 14 years, until his departure at the end of the 2022–23 season.
- Role
- Defensive Midfielder
- Academy Origin
- La Masia (Debutant in 2008)
- Club Status
- Retired / Club Legend
- Major Honours
- Multiple La Liga and UEFA Champions League titles
- Playing Style
- Positional intelligence, ball retention, tactical discipline
Verified Timeline
Lore & Background
Born in Sabadell, Barcelona, Catalonia, Busquets began playing football with local team Badia del Vallès, followed by spells with Barberà Andalucía, Lleida and Jàbac Terrassa, before joining Barcelona's youth ranks in 2005. He scored seven goals in 26 games for the Juvenil A team in his second season and, two years later, Busquets was promoted to the B team under Pep Guardiola, and helped them achieve promotion to the third division. In that same season, he would make his first-team debut, coming on as a substitute in the Copa Catalunya. Busquets played his first La Liga match on 13 September 2008, featuring 90 minutes in a 1–1 home draw to Racing Santander. During Barcelona's 2008–09 UEFA Champions League clash against Basel at St. Jakob-Park on 22 October 2008, he scored the second goal in the 15th minute in a 5–0 group stage win. On 22 December 2008, Busquets signed a contract extension until 2013 with a buy-out clause of €80 million. On 27 May 2009, having been regularly played as he competed for the spot with internationals Seydou Keita and Yaya Touré, he also featured in Barcelona's starting eleven in the Champions League final, a 2–0 win over Manchester United in Rome; with that victory, Carles Busquets and Sergio Busquets became only the third father-and-son combo to both have won Europe's top club competition playing for the same team, joining Cesare Maldini and Paolo Maldini (won it with A.C. Milan) and Manuel Sanchís and Manolo Sanchís (Real Madrid).
In Their Own Story
Busquets' fine form continued in the 2009–10 campaign, with Guardiola preferring him to Touré as Barcelona's central holding midfielder. In the second leg of the Champions League semi-final 1–0 victory (and an eventual 2–3 aggregate defeat) against Inter Milan at Camp Nou on 28 April 2010, he went down to the ground after Thiago Motta had raised his arm and appeared to push Busquets directly in the face. As a result of this action, the former was shown a red card and dismissed for violent conduct, whilst the latter was subsequently criticised by both Motta and the media for apparently feigning injury. Busquets was again ever-present in 2010–11, even playing as a centre back on occasions. On 27 January 2011, he signed a contract extension that would keep him at the club until 2015 – the buyout clause was increased to €150 million. On 28 May, Busquets played the full match during his side's 3–1 Champions league final victory against Manchester United at Wembley. Busquets started on 6 June in the 2015 Champions League final, as the team won their fifth accolade in the competition by beating Juventus 3–1 at Berlin's Olympiastadion. This made Barcelona the first club in history to win the treble of domestic league, domestic cup and European Cup twice, and Dani Alves, Busquets, Andrés Iniesta, Lionel Messi, Pedro, Gerard Piqué and Xavi the only players to achieve the same feat.
Reader's Guide
On 9 January 2021, Busquets made his 600th appearance for Barcelona in a 4–0 win against Granada at the Los Cármenes. Only his contemporaries Xavi, Iniesta and Messi had played more games in the history of the club. In August, he became club captain after Messi left for Paris Saint-Germain. On 12 January 2023, Busquets made his 700th appearance for Barcelona in his team's penalty shoot-out victory after a 2–2 draw against Real Betis at the King Fahd International Stadium in 2023 Supercopa de España semi-final. In the next match, three days later, Busquets participated in his team's 3–1 win against Real Madrid in the 2023 Supercopa de España final, becoming the player with the most matches in the history of El Clásico with 45 matches, jointly with Lionel Messi and Sergio Ramos. In addition he became the player with the most wins in El Clásico matches, with 21 matches, jointly with Paco Gento. On 2 March, in the next El Clásico match, Busquets broke both records as Barcelona won 0–1 in the first leg of the 2023 Copa del Rey semi-final. On 10 May 2023, Busquets announced he would leave Barcelona by the end of the season. Busquets made over 700 total appearances for the club, winning 33 trophies, including nine La Liga titles, seven Copa del Rey titles and three UEFA Champions Leagues.
Did You Know?
- Busquets made his senior international debut for Spain in April 2009, making 143 appearances for the national side, scoring twice.
- He helped Spain win the 2010 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2012 tournaments.
- Busquets and his father Carles Busquets became only the third father-and-son combo to both have won Europe's top club competition playing for the same team.
- He made his 700th appearance for Barcelona in a penalty shoot-out victory against Real Betis at the King Fahd International Stadium on 12 January 2023.
- Busquets became the player with the most matches in the history of El Clásico with 45 matches, jointly with Lionel Messi and Sergio Ramos.