Sergio Busquets

Barcelona

Born in Sabadell, Barcelona, Catalonia, Busquets began playing football with local team Badia del Vallès, followed by spells with Barberà Andalucía, Lleida and Jàbac Terrassa, before joining Barcelona's youth ranks in 2005. He scored seven goals in 26 games for the Juvenil A team in his second season and, two years later, Busquets was promoted to the B team under Pep Guardiola, and helped them achieve promotion to the third division. In that same season, he would make his first-team debut, coming on as a substitute in the Copa Catalunya.

Busquets played his first La Liga match on 13 September 2008, featuring 90 minutes in a 1–1 home draw to Racing Santander. During Barcelona's 2008–09 UEFA Champions League clash against 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 Shakhtar Donetsk. On 22 December 2008, Busquets signed a contract extension until 2013 with a buy-out clause of €80 million. On 7 March 2009, he scored his first league goal, in a 2–0 home win over Athletic Bilbao. On 27 May 2009, 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 in Rome; with that victory, Carles Busquets…

On 11 October 2008, Busquets earned his first cap for Spain's under-21 in their 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification play-offs first-leg away match against Switzerland. He scored in the 17th minute of a 1–2 loss, though they eventually emerged victorious 4–3 on aggregate. On 28 December, he played his first game for the Catalan representative side, starting in a 2–1 win over Colombia at the Camp Nou. On 11 February 2009, Busquets was called up to the senior squad for a friendly against England. He was named as a substitute for a 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Turkey on 28 March 2009, making his debut in the return match on 1 April, playing 16 minutes in a 2–1 win in Istanbul after replacing David Silva. In the summer, he went to his first senior tournament, helping Spain come third at the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa.

Busquets was selected by manager Vicente del Bosque for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in the same country, assuming the holding midfielder role naturalized Brazilian Marcos Senna had previously occupied in the conquest of UEFA Euro 2008. He played all of the tournament's games and minutes for the eventual world champions, save the last 30 minutes of the 0–1 group-stage loss against Switzerland in Durban. He finished the tournament with the third–highest pass success rate, alongside his teammate Puyol, completing 88% of his passes. At UEFA Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine, Busquets played every minute as Spain won the title,…

Considered by several pundits to be one of the best midfielders of his generation, and one of the greatest holding midfielders of all time, Busquets was usually deployed as either a central or defensive midfielder, although he was also capable of playing as a central defender. Busquets was known for redefining the deep-lying midfield position by focusing on football intelligence, precision passing, and a ‘genius’ ability to read the game rather than overwhelming strength or physicality. A hard-working player, he excelled at intercepting loose balls and breaking down opposition plays due to his positional sense, defensive attributes, tackling, tactical intelligence, and ability to read the game, despite his lack of pace. Due to his vision, ball control, physical prowess, technical skills, calm composure on the ball, and accurate passing ability, he rarely relinquished possession, and alongside his former Barcelona midfield teammates, such as Iniesta, Xavi and Ivan Rakitić, he also played an important creative role in setting his team's tempo in midfield as a deep-lying playmaker through his short passing game. His role was also likened to that of a metodista ("centre-half", in Italian football jargon), due to his ability to dictate play in midfield as well as assist his team defensively. His position and playing style led him to be compared to his former manager, as well as fellow former Spain and Barcelona player, Pep Guardiola. Manager Vicente del Bosque praised Busquets,…

Busquets' father, Carles, was also a footballer. He played as a goalkeeper for Barcelona for several years during the 1990s, although almost exclusively as a backup. In 2014, Busquets started a relationship with Elena Galera. They have three sons, Enzo, Levi and Romeo. He has an Arabic tattoo on his left forearm translating to "A thing for you, the life in my country", dedicated to his maternal grandfather to whom he was very close.