25 year old Sergio Busquets is the kind of player whose contributions to the team are often left in the shadows of others that play more glamorous roles, but he has now amassed 150 league appearances for FCB after last night’s win over Sevilla at the Camp Nou.
First team regular
It was in the 2008/09 season that Pep Guardiola promoted the Catalan to the first team, and Sergio has been a regular starter ever since. That season he also won a place in the Spanish national side, where he is also a first choice in the midfield. In his debut season, he played 24 league matches and scored one goal.
The season after, Sergio featured even more prominently, with 33 league appearances. In 2010/11, he turned out 28 times and scored another goal, against Bilbao at San Mamés. He played 31 matches in both the following seasons. Then in 2011/12, the last under Guardiola, he scored on the final day against Betis. He also scored in the only season under Tito Vilanova, 2012/13, against Atletico Madrid at the Camp Nou.
Tata Martino’s confidence
Nothing seems to have changed for Sergio Busquets under the new manager. He has played three of the first four Liga matches, having been rested against Malaga with the Spanish Supercup in mind.
Speaking to ‘El Marcador’ on Barça TV last night, the player commented that things have been the same for him under all three of the FB managers he has served. “The philosophy is the same and all that’s different are some of the exercises we do in training” he said. “Some of the things are improvements on what we used to do but it does make it a bit more difficult”.
Learning from mistakes
Busquets also spoke about the last gasp win over Sevilla. “I’m happy with the win but we have to improve things to avoid going into the final minutes in such situations” he said. “We sometimes attack too much and forget that we are in control of the game”. Therefore, what happened at the Camp Nou on Saturday night “was a warning call for us to make sure that doesn’t happen again”.
