Sergio Busquets

Sergio Busquets Burgos (Catalan: [busˈkɛts], Spanish: [ˈseɾxjo βusˈkets]; born 16 July 1988) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Major League Soccer club Inter Miami. A deep-lying playmaker capable of directing gameplay through short and calm passes and his singular reading of the game, Busquets is widely regarded as one of the best defensive midfielders of his generation.

Busquets arrived in Barcelona's first team in July 2008 and went on to receive the La Liga's Breakthrough Player in 2009. From the 2009–10 season, he was a first team regular and was a key playing contributor to the club for 14 years, until his departure at the end of the 2022–23 season. Busquets made over 700 total appearances for the club, winning 32 trophies, including nine La Liga titles, seven Copa del Rey titles and three UEFA Champions Leagues. With the initial management guidance by Pep Guardiola and using the tiki-taka football philosophy, Busquets was part of a widely lauded midfield combination trio with Andrés Iniesta and Xavi; from 2008 to 2015 the trio together were instrumental in FC Barcelona's exceptional on-field successes in 7 seasons, winning five La Liga titles, three Copa del Rey titles, three Champions League titles and the continental treble (all three titles simultaneously) twice, in 2008–09 and 2014–15. Busquets announced his retirement from football at the end of the 2025 MLS Season.

Busquets made his senior international debut for Spain in April 2009, making 143 appearances for the national side, scoring twice. He helped his country win the 2010 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2012 tournaments, and he also featured at three other World Cups and two European Championships. He retired from international football following the 2022 World Cup.

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.

"Positionally, he seems like a veteran with or without the ball. With the ball he makes what is difficult look easy: he disposes of the ball with one or two touches. Without the ball, he gives us a lesson: that of being in the right place to intercept and running just to recover the ball."

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 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 Cesare Maldini and Paolo Maldini (won it with A.C. Milan) and Manuel Sanchís and Manolo Sanchís (Real Madrid).