Bartra becomes tenth current player to make 100th FC Barcelona appearance

With ten minutes left of the game at Eibar on Sunday, Luis Enrique made three substitutions at once, and one of the players that came on was Marc Bartra, who thus made his 100th official appearance for FC Barcelona. That makes him the tenth player in the squad to make it into triple figures, a list that is currently topped by captain Andrés Iniesta.

It all goes to show what marvellous continuity there is this team. At this level and in the modern football world, it’s a rare thing for a club to have so many players that have worn the same shirt for so long.

A growing group

Andrés Iniesta is the player with the most appearances behind him, 580, the third highest figure ever for an FCB player. Only Xavi Hernández (767) and Carles Puyol (593) ever played more games, and Iniesta has already surpassed Migueli (549) and Valdés (535).

The next current player is Leo Messi, with 517 games, followed by the foreign signing with the most appearances for Barça (if we don’t count Messi, who grew up at La Masia), That’s Brazilian Dani Alves, with 379. Next up are Sergio Busquets (371) and Gerard Piqué (344), who were both promoted to the first team in the 2008/09 season.

Next comes Javier Mascherano, who arrived from Liverpool in 2010/11 and has racked up 269 games, Adriano with 188, Jordi Alba with 145 and Neymar with 127.

And finally we have Marc Bartra, who made his official debut on 14 February 2010 at the Vicente Calderón. And it shouldn’t be long before two more players complete their first ton of appearances. Ivan Rakitic is currently on 95 appearances and Sergi Roberto is on 94.