How Sergio Busquets manipulated time for years

In 2023, soccer icons are turning their backs on Europe. Cristiano Ronaldo has left for Saudi Arabia as the figurehead of a new transfer stream, while Lionel Messi has taken early retirement in Miami. He is accompanied by one of the best footballers of all time and a good friend: Sergio Busquets.

Just over two minutes have been played when Sergio Busquets wins the ball in the center circle. As a defender approaches him, he stops the ball with one foot and passes it to his teammate with the inside of the other. He immediately marched on towards the penalty area, where he passed the ball to his teammate with a heel, received it back immediately and shot it volleyed under the crossbar to make it 2:0. A murmur went through the crowd.

But don't worry, you haven't forgotten one of the most beautiful Barça goals of recent years. Because the scene described here does not take place on green grass. It describes a goal in an indoor football match in 2012, with only FC Barcelona players on the pitch and Pep Guardiola and his long-time assistant and then successor Tito Vilanova, who died in 2014, on the sidelines.

"You can't get close to him"

It is one of the very rare moments when Sergio Busquets does something for the gallery. When the crowd cheers when he is on the ball and his colleagues come to him to celebrate a goal with him. He has played almost 900 games for FC Barcelona and the Spanish national team, with a few more for Inter Miami since the summer of 2023. He was probably not the most noticeable player on the pitch in any of these games. He has scored 20 goals in his professional career. In comparison: Bayern legend Javi Martínez has just under 49 goals, while current Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso has 43. Both have fewer games.

Steven Gerrard says of Busquets: "At some point you stop pressing him because it's so frustrating. You can't get to him, you can't get to the ball." It sounds like a contradiction. Because his scoring output, which is extraordinarily poor even for a defensive midfielder, is matched by a physicality that hardly any footballer would wish for. Tall and scrawny, Busquets has stormed around Europe's soccer pitches for years, his body lacking any sign of robustness. Despite his size, he is also not a particularly good header of the ball. What is sprinting for Barcelona's number five falls under the category of "jogging" for most of the other players on the pitch.

"The best six-man in the world"

The fact that a player as powerful and dynamic as Steven Gerrard has the feeling that he cannot match Busquets is not so much down to the speed in his legs, but the speed in his head. Seemingly on the run, Busquets repeatedly finds himself in situations that most of his teammates and opponents are unaware are about to arise. As if he could control time, Barcelona's own Doctor Strange. The mental head start creates space for other considerations. Where should the ball go next? Do I need a short pass for my teammate to come towards me, or can I send him deep? How do I position myself most effectively afterwards? These are questions that Sergio Busquets already seems to have an answer to at the matchday breakfast buffet.

Skills that also inspire Guardiola, initially in Barcelona's second team. In 2009, as the Catalans' new head coach, he immediately draws him into the professional squad. It wasn't long before the skinny unknown had another prominent fan. "After two or three days of training with him, he came up to me and said: 'I like him'," Guardiola once explained. "He" is Lionel Messi. For Luka Modrić, Busquets is "one of the best midfielders I've ever played against". Modric's former team-mate Casemiro simply sees the Spaniard as the "best six-man in the world". There are many such quotes about Busquets.

"The player never gets tired"

The "TV Total" cult clip "The device never gets tired, the device never falls asleep" is not about him. But it could be. Because Busquets shows no signs of exhaustion, either physically or mentally. What's more, he has been virtually indestructible throughout his career. He never misses more than four(!) games. Always available and scarily constant, he is the favorite of his teammates. As long as he's on the pitch, he's playable. As long as he is playable, his team keeps the ball.

Catalonia's permanent representative is also becoming irreplaceable in the national team. The aforementioned Alonso and Martínez also have fewer games because Spain's anchor has refused to rust for over a decade. Instead, there is a whole lot of gold. World champion in 2010, European champion in 2012, countless club titles. He is consistently on the biggest stages, but the spotlight avoids him. Individual awards are in short supply in Busquets' trophy cabinet. In 2009, he won the "Trofeo Bravo", which an Italian trade magazine awards to the best young player. In 2021, he will be joined by the less prestigious trophy for the best player in the UEFA Nations League finals. In all likelihood, it will be his last.

Because even if he seems to manipulate time on the pitch at will, Busquets cannot stop it. In the summer of 2023, he and long-time companion Jordi Alba will move from sunny Barcelona to sunny Miami, where they will reunite with their former teammate Messi. What will happen after his career ends? His discoverer Guardiola already has an idea in 2018: "Sooner or later, he will become a coach. We'll see Busquets on the bench." We can only wish this for his future midfielders.

Read also:

Despite his retirement from soccer, Lionel Messi continues to make headlines in Major League Soccer with Inter Miami. Busquets, his good friend and former teammate at FC Barcelona, has joined him.

In the world of soccer, Lionel Messi and Sergio Busquets are often mentioned alongside FC Barcelona and Spain. Their contributions to the sport have earned them accolades, and their friendship has transcended teams and continents, as demonstrated by their move to Major League Soccer together.

Source: www.ntv.de