Sergio Busquets Burgos is a Spanish professional footballer who plays for FC Barcelona and
the Spain national team as a defensive midfielder.
He was a relatively obscure player when he arrived in Barcelona's first team in July
2008, but eventually made a name for himself in a relatively short period of time, reaching
the Spanish national team in less than one year after making his professional club debut.
Busquets helped Spain win the 2010 World Cup and the Euro 2012 tournaments.
He also represented the nation at the 2014 World Cup.
Club career Born in Sabadell, Barcelona, Catalonia, Busquets
joined local FC Barcelona's youth ranks in 2005, scoring seven goals in 26 games for
the Juvenil A team in his second season.
Two years later, he was promoted to the B-team under Pep Guardiola, and helped it achieve
promotion to the third division.
In that same season he would make his first-team debut, coming on as a substitute in a Catalonia
Cup match.
On 13 September 2008 Busquets played his first La Liga match, featuring 90 minutes in a 1–1
home draw against Racing de Santander.
During Barcelona's UEFA Champions League match against FC Basel at St. Jakob-Park on 22 October
2008, he scored the second goal in the 15th minute in a 5–0 group stage win; in early
December, in another start, he scored his second with Barça in the competition, netting
in the 83rd minute of a 2–3 home loss against FC Shakhtar Donetsk.
On 22 December 2008 Busquets signed a contract extension until 2013, with a buy-out clause
of €80 million.
On 7 March of the following year he scored his first league goal, in a 2–0 home win
over Athletic Bilbao.
On 27 May, having been regularly played as he competed for the spot with internationals
Seydou Keita and Yaya Touré, he also featured in Barcelona's starting eleven in the Champions
League final, a 2–0 win over Manchester United; with that victory, Carles and Sergio
Busquets became only the third father-and-son combo to both have won Europe's top club competition
playing for the same team, joining Manuel Sanchís Martínez and Manuel Sanchís Hontiyuelo
and Cesare Maldini and Paolo Maldini.
Busquets' fine form continued in the 2009–10 season, with Guardiola preferring him to Touré
as Barcelona's central holding midfielder, developing a fine playing relationship with
Xavi Hernández and Andrés Iniesta, which would see Barcelona go on to win La Liga for
the 20th time in their history.
In the Champions League semi-final against Inter Milan at Camp Nou on 28 April 2010,
he went down to the ground after Thiago Motta had raised his arm and appeared to push Busquets'
in the face.
As a result of this action, Motta was shown a red card and dismissed for violent conduct.
Busquets was subsequently criticised by Motta and the media for apparently feigning injury.
Busquets was again ever-present for Barcelona in the 2010–11 campaign, even playing as
a central defender on occasion.
On 27 January 2011 he signed a contract extension that would keep him at the club until 2015 –
the buyout clause was increased to €150 million.
On 8 March, playing at centre back, he scored an own goal from a corner kick against Arsenal,
in the season's Champions League round-of-16, levelling the score at 1–1; Barcelona eventually
won the game 3–1.
On 24 April 2012 Busquets scored a rare goal – only his sixth official one in four seasons
– netting from an easy tap-in after an Isaac Cuenca cross to make it 1–0 for the hosts
in the season's Champions League semifinals' second leg against Chelsea, but Barça could
only draw 2–2 against ten men, losing 2–3 on aggregate.
On 16 July 2013, the day he celebrated his 25th birthday, Busquets agreed to a contract
extension until 2018, with the buyout clause remaining unaltered.
On 1 August 2014, after the retirement of Carles Puyol, and at Puyol's personal request,
Busquets was given the number 5 shirt for the 2014-15 La Liga season.
International career
On 11 October 2008 Busquets earned his first cap for Spain's under-21, in their 2009 UEFA
European Under-21 Football Championship qualification play-offs first leg match against Switzerland:
he scored in the 17th minute but the national side lost 1–2 away, eventually emerging
victorious 4–3 on aggregate.
On 11 February 2009 Busquets was called up to the senior squad for the friendly against
England.
He finally made his debut for La Furia Roja on 1 April 2009, in a 2010 FIFA World Cup
qualifier against Turkey, playing 16 minutes in a 2–1 win in Istanbul after replacing
David Silva; four days earlier he had been named as a substitute when the same sides
met in Madrid, with Spain winning 1–0 through a goal from teammate Gerard Piqué.
Busquets was selected by manager Vicente del Bosque for the finals in South Africa, assuming
the holding midfielder role naturalized Brazilian Marcos Senna had previously had in the conquest
of UEFA Euro 2008: he played all the games and minutes for the eventual World champions,
save for the last 30 minutes of the 0–1 group stage loss against Switzerland.
On 8 September 2014, Busquets scored his first international goal in a 5–1 win over Macedonia,
match valid for Euro 2016 qualifying.
Honours
Club La Liga: 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11,
2012–13 Copa del Rey: 2008–09, 2011–12; Runner-up:
2010–11, 2013–14 Supercopa de España: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013;
Runner-up: 2012 UEFA Champions League: 2008–09, 2010–11
UEFA Super Cup: 2009, 2011 FIFA Club World Cup: 2009, 2011
Country FIFA World Cup: 2010
UEFA European Championship: 2012 FIFA Confederations Cup: Runner-up 2013; Third
Place 2009 Individual
La Liga's Breakthrough Player: 2009 Bravo Award: 2009
UEFA Euro Team of the Tournament: 2012 Decorations
Prince of Asturias Awards: 2010 Gold Medal of the Royal Order of Sporting
Merit: 2011 Career statistics
Club As of match played 25 September 2014.
International As of match played 4 September 2014.
International goals Scores and results list Czech Republic's goal
tally first.
Personal life Busquets' father, Carles, was also a footballer,
having played as goalkeeper for Barcelona for several years during the 1990s, although
almost exclusively as a backup.
References
External links FC Barcelona profile
BDFutbol profile National team data
Sergio Busquets at National-Football-Teams.com Sergio Busquets – FIFA competition record
2010 FIFA World Cup profile Sergio Busquets – UEFA competition record