Gerard Piqué overtakes Carles Puyol on 594 appearances
Gerard Piqué has made history. The centre back played his 594th competitive match for FC Barcelona on Sunday February 13 against Espanyol to move past with the legendary Carles Puyol in the Top 5 appearances for the Club. Only Leo Messi (778), Xavi Hernández (767), Andrés Iniesta (674) and Sergio Busquets (660) have played more, with Sergio still playing.
Barça's central defender is in his 14th season with the first team and will draw level with this teammate from 2008 to 2014. These six seasons together saw Piqué and Puyol form a classic partnership, winning 16 trophies: four LaLiga titles, two Champions Leagues, two Copa del Rey, two World Club Championships, two European Super Cup, and four Spanish Super Cups.
A good amount of their games with Barça were spent alongside each other. In fact, they played more than 200 games together, over a hundred of which they started together. Let's not forget that they also made history with the Spanish national team, winning the 2010 World Cup.
Migueli and Valdés also in the 500 club
Only two other players in Barça's history can claim to have played over 500 games. Apart from Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Sergio, Puyol and Piqué, only ‘Tarzán’ Migueli (549) and Víctor Valdés (535) have played over 500 competitive games for FC Barcelona. Carles Rexach (449), Guillermo Amor (421) and Andoni Zubizarreta (410) are next on the list.
Piqué in the top 5 for titles too
Gerard Piqué has been one of Barça's most important players over the past decade, not just because of the number of games played, but also for titles won. Piqué has won 30 titles, a figure that again places him high up the rankings in FC Barcelona's history. Only Leo Messi (35) and Andrés Iniesta (32) have won more than Barça's central defender, who has won the same amount as his teammate, Sergio Busquets.