From humble origins, the midfielder has risen quickly to become a key figure for Barcelona and Spain, one who generates the utmost respect from his team-mates
This article is part of the Guardian's Euro 2012 Experts' Network, a co-operation between 16 of the best media organisations from the countries who have qualified for the finals in Poland and Ukraine. guardian.co.uk is running previews from two countries each day in the runup to the tournament kicking off on 8 June.
As a team, Barcelona demand excellent touch and passing as fast as it is precise. So many players who reach their dressing room are dumbstruck within five minutes of their first training session, flummoxed because in the rondo (the piggy-in-the-middle training exercise, a legacy of the Johan Cruyff era) they realise that their feet are not as skilful as they had thought, that they are unable to pass the ball at lightning speed.
This is the point where Xavi, Iniesta, Messi and company have a little fun and turn the heat up on the new boy, as if to make clear that reputations and egos do not count in this team. History tells us, however, that some come through the test with flying colours.
A man of few words because it was not so long ago that he was battling on the fields of the third division – some of them just dirt pitches – and because he was arriving at a star-studded dressing room, Sergio Busquets, aged 23, accepted the challenge of playing in his first rondo with Messi, among others.
With the elegance that distinguishes him and his head up, he distributed the ball at the frenzied pace imposed by his team-mates, if not better than demanded. By the end of the exercise, the No10 went to the coach, Pep Guardiola, and whispered: "Mister, I want this one in with me in the rondo." The best possible compliment. Since then, no one has doubted Busi – as he is known in the dressing room – to the point that the national coach, Vicente Del Bosque, said "if I were a player, I would like to be like Busquets".
Busi has another virtue, however, which Messi in his time – more timid and shy – also appreciated, and that is that he is as comfortable with the ball at his feet as he is in a scrap.
Busquets was born and raised in Ciutat Badia, a development on the outskirts of Barcelona with a high percentage of social housing, a working-class area little given to luxury and prone to racial conflicts.
Guardiola was clear after a few games, so much so that to his closest confidantes he came to identify Busquets as the bodyguard for Messi and the rest of the team. So, if an opponent went in hard on the No10 or anyone else, Busquets would be on hand without a second thought to defend him and sort it out.
The story of this central midfielder is better understood if you look at his origins. A footballer from the cradle who once aspired to join Real Madrid, he always used to go to games with his grandfather Juan because his father, Carles, played as a goalkeeper for Barça at the time – but infrequently as he was in the shadow of Andoni Zubizarreta. He was a different sort of goalkeeper because he liked to dribble, played in tracksuit bottoms and was labelled by L'Equipe a goalkeeper without hands after the 1991 Cup Winners' Cup final which Barça lost to Manchester United (courtesy of two Mark Hughes goals).
Busi inherited his feet "and much more," says Tito Vilanova, the new Barça coach. "He's got good positional sense, covers a lot of ground, has good pass selection and doesn't overcomplicate."
Guardiola thought the same when he coached Sergio in the third division, in Barcelona's second team, when he decided to transform him from a centre-forward to the pivot with one piece of advice: "If you get fouled, it's your own fault. Play faster!"
It was a decision that gave Busquets wings and allowed him to reach the first team the following year, taking the place of Yaya Touré, now the motor of the Manchester City side. His call-up to the national team, soon after, seemed natural.
A fixture for Guardiola – even Javier Mascherano had to be relocated to central defence – and Del Bosque, coaches and team-mates appreciate his work more than anyone. "He sweeps up everything, just like a snowplough," says Gerard Piqué.
"I've never seen a player with so many tactical options during the game, who's got so much quality as well as physical presence – it's incredible," adds Xavi.
Busquets says: "My only obsession is not to lose the ball and to give my all, make sure I leave it all on the pitch. I am here to help. I have to be intense." Del Bosque agrees: "He is an example of generosity, always thinking of the needs of the team rather than himself."
And Guardiola completes the picture: "The legacy that Xavi, Puyol and other veterans of this team will leave, Sergio will carry on. He will be responsible for integrating new players and will not even need to talk. Just watching his behaviour, everyone will see how things are done in this club."
Viciously criticised during the first game of the last World Cup when they lost to Switzerland, the coach and his team-mates defended him, convinced that he is a key piece in the machine as he exerts pressure and closes down opponents. He stayed in the team and Spain, six games later, lifted their first World Cup. Busquets, with an ear-to-ear smile, celebrated the victory with a scarf of Badia, his hometown team, where it all began. A player with feet, head and a heart.
Jordi Quixano is a football writer at El País Read More
انسخ الكود التالى و ضعه فى موقعك او مدونتك.
