Víctor Vázquez Solsona

Barcelona

Born in Barcelona, Catalonia, Vázquez joined the youth system of FC Barcelona at the age of 11. At La Masia, he was part of the iconic class of 1987 team, playing alongside future first team players Cesc Fàbregas, Lionel Messi and Gerard Piqué, and being considered at one point to be the best player of the group, ahead of Messi. He progressed through the youth ranks, making his debut for the first team on 12 April 2008 after coming on as a substitute for Santiago Ezquerro in the final 15 minutes in a 2–2 La Liga away draw against Recreativo de Huelva. Pep Guardiola called him for the team's pre-season in the following campaign, where he appeared in three official games, but none in the domestic league. Vázquez started and finished the 3–2 home loss to FC Shakhtar Donetsk on 9 December 2008, in the last UEFA Champions League group stage match, but was again mainly registered with the reserves. On 8 February of the following year he suffered a serious knee injury in a game with the latter, going on to miss the remainder of the season in Segunda División B. Due to the lengthy calendar in 2009–10, many first-team players were given breaks towards the end of the year. Thus, on 29 December 2009, four Barça B players were called by Guardiola: Thiago Alcântara, Gai Assulin, Jonathan dos Santos and Vázquez; all returned to where they had come from the following month. On 7 December 2010, after coming from the bench for fellow youth graduate Jeffrén Suárez, who…

A skilful and creative playmaker, Vázquez was noted for his vision, technique, passing and his composure in possession, which enabled him to link-up with other players, distribute the ball quickly and create goalscoring opportunities for his teammates. A team player, he also drew praise for his intelligence, work-rate, stamina, awareness, selflessness, movement off the ball and positional sense on the pitch, as well as for being a key dressing room personality. Although he was primarily known for his ability to create goals, he was capable of scoring them himself, and was also an accurate free kick and penalty taker. An experienced and versatile midfielder, he usually played as an attacking midfielder behind the strikers, but was also capable of playing in the centre in a 3–5–2 formation, or on the left wing in a 4–4–2 formation. Vázquez was also occasionally used in a more advanced position, operating in a free, creative role, playing behind or off of another forward as a second striker.

Vázquez is married to Andrea. Their son Leo (born 2013) was named in honour of his childhood friend and former Barcelona teammate Messi. Vázquez had the words "solo el mas fuerte sobrevive" (only the strongest survives) tattooed on his arm as he recovered from his second knee surgery. He also had several other tattoos which reference his wife, son, grandmother and sister, including the text "Life is meaningless without you, forever yours" on his back, dedicated to his wife.

Barcelona

UEFA Champions League: 2008–09, 2010–11 Club Brugge

Belgian Cup: 2014–15 Toronto FC

MLS Cup: 2017 Canadian Championship: 2017, 2018 Supporters' Shield: 2017 Trillium Cup: 2017 Eastern Conference Championship (Playoffs): 2017 Individual

Belgian Footballer of the Year: 2014–15 MLS Best XI: 2017 Red Patch Boys Player of the Year: 2017