Eric Garcia reaches 150 appearances
One of the Barça squad’s standout performers this season is, without a doubt, Eric Garcia. The Catalan defender has become indispensable for Hansi Flick, who has certainly managed to bring out the very best in the player during this campaign. To mark his excellent form, Eric has now reached 150 appearances in the blaugrana shirt. What’s more, he has featured in every single official match played so far this season, either as a starter or coming off the bench.
150 and counting
Reaching 150 matches in Barça colours is no coincidence. Eric returned home in the summer of 2021 from Manchester City. Since then, he has spent four seasons at Barça and one on loan at Girona, a spell in 2023–24 that helped restore his confidence. Today, he is one of Flick’s most trusted players, a footballer the German coach believes in completely and who is enjoying the best moment of his career.
Most used player
So far this season, Eric has played 35 matches in total. He has featured in every competition the team has taken part in (La Liga, the Champions League, the Copa del Rey and the Spanish Super Cup) making him the only player in the squad to do so. He is followed by Kounde with 34 appearances, Rashford with 33, and Gerard Martín with 32.
31 of those 35 matches have been starts, more than Kounde, Cubarsí and Lamine Yamal, who each have 27. A guaranteed presence in Flick’s line-up. In terms of minutes played, Eric has already clocked up 2,689 minutes across all competitions, ahead of Koundé (2,545) and Cubarsí (2,446).
Versatility
One of Eric’s greatest strengths, beyond his performances themselves, is his ability to adapt to different positions on the pitch. Naturally a centre-back, he can also operate as a defensive midfielder and as a right-back. This versatility goes a long way towards explaining his huge number of appearances this season. And in every role, he delivers at a high level.
If one day the team needed him in goal… who knows!