Sergio Busquets: the unique talent who changed Barcelona and the game

10-May-2023 16:37:28 | The Guardian

The midfielder, the key figure as the pivot of the team despite his work often going unnoticed, is leaving Barcelona at the end of the season

Timing was always Sergio Busquets’ greatest gift, and now he has decided it is time to go. “It wasn’t an easy decision but the moment has come,” the Barcelona captain said. In two months he turns 35; in four days he leads his team into the derby against Espanyol, knowing that a win would make them champions again. The ninth La Liga title of his career will also be his last. At the end of this, his 15th, season he will leave the Camp Nou and “the club of my life”, an era closing with him.

Xavi Hernández, once Busquets’ teammate and now his coach, had wanted him to stay, just as Luis Enrique had wanted him to continue with the national team. But Busquets retired from international football after Qatar and he is departing Barcelona too, destination as yet unknown, after negotiations over a new contract failed to end in agreement. There is no one left in the Spain team who won the World Cup, no one left in Catalonia from the team that won it all, the generation that changed everything, including the game itself.