Sergio Busquets

On 1 October 2017, Busquets opened the scoring in a 3–0 home win against Las Palmas which was played with closed doors at the Camp Nou due to the ongoing Catalan independence referendum. He made his 100th Champions League appearance on 11 December 2018, in a 1–1 group stage home draw to Tottenham Hotspur.

Busquets celebrated his 100th appearance for Spain on 9 October 2017, in a 1–0 away win against Israel for the 2018 World Cup qualifiers. Subsequently, he was named in Julen Lopetegui's squad for the finals in Russia.

On 6 June 2015, Busquets started in the final of the Champions League, as the team won their fifth accolade in the competition by beating Juventus at Berlin's Olympiastadion. This made Barcelona the first club in history to win the treble of domestic league, domestic cup and European Cup twice, and Dani Alves, Busquets, Andrés Iniesta, Lionel Messi, Pedro, Gerard Piqué and Xavi the only players to achieve the same feat.

On 8 September 2014, Busquets scored his first international goal in a 5–1 win over Macedonia during Euro 2016's qualifying phase. His second came during the same tournament on 15 November, in the 3–0 defeat of Belarus in Huelva.

Manager del Bosque praised Busquets, saying, "If you watch the whole game, you won't see Busquets—but watch Busquets, and you will see the whole game." The latter's height also allows him to be effective in the air, and enables him to advance into more offensive positions on occasion, providing an additional attacking outlet for his team. Busquets was largely accused of diving by the media on a number of occasions, due to opposition players being wrongly booked or even sent-off during the game because of his excessive play-acting and protests. However, in response to these criticisms, he defended diving in football as intelligent play.

In 2014, Busquets started a relationship with Elena Galera. In 2016, the couple welcomed their son Enzo. He sported 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.

On 16 July 2013, the day he celebrated his 25th birthday, Busquets agreed to a new deal until 2018, with the buyout clause remaining unaltered. On 1 August 2014, after the retirement of Carles Puyol and at the veteran's personal request, he was given the number 5 shirt for the upcoming campaign.

On 24 April 2012, Busquets scored a rare goal – only his sixth official one in four years – netting from an easy tap-in after an Isaac Cuenca cross to make it 1–0 for the hosts in the second leg of the Champions League semi-finals against Chelsea. Barcelona could only draw 2–2 against ten men, losing 2–3 on aggregate.

Busquets was again ever-present in 2010–11, even playing as a central defender on occasion. On 27 January 2011, he signed a contract extension that would keep him at the club until 2015 – the buyout clause was increased to €150 million. On 8 March, playing at centre back, he scored an own goal from a corner kick against Arsenal, in the season's Champions League round-of-16, levelling the score at 1–1; Barcelona eventually won the game 3–1 (and 4–3 on aggregate).

Busquets helped Spain win the 2010 World Cup and the Euro 2012 tournaments. He also represented the nation at two other World Cups and Euro 2016.

Busquets' fine form continued in the 2009–10 campaign, with Guardiola preferring him to Touré as Barcelona's central holding midfielder. In the Champions League semi-final against Inter Milan at Camp Nou on 28 April 2010, he went down to the ground after Thiago Motta had raised his arm and appeared to push Busquets directly in the face. As a result of this action, the former was shown a red card and dismissed for violent conduct, whilst the latter was subsequently criticised by both Motta and the media for apparently feigning injury.

Busquets was selected by manager Vicente del Bosque for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, 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. He finished the tournament with the third–highest pass success rate, alongside his teammate Puyol, completing 88% of his passes.

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.

A one-club man, he arrived in Barcelona's first team in July 2008, and eventually made a name for himself in a relatively short period of time. He reached the Spain national team less than one year after making his senior club debut.

On 13 September 2008, Busquets played his first La Liga match, featuring 90 minutes in a 1–1 home draw to Racing de Santander. During Barcelona's 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 Shaktar 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, 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; with that victory, Carles 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 Manuel Sanchís Martínez and Manuel Sanchís Hontiyuelo (won it with Real Madrid) and Cesare Maldini and Paolo Maldini (A.C. Milan).

On 11 October 2008, Busquets earned his first cap for Spain's under-21 in their 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Football 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.

Born in Sabadell, Barcelona, Catalonia, Busquets began playing football with local team CD Badia del Vallès, followed by spells with CEF Barberà Andalucía, UE Lleida and UFB 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 him 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' 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.

Sergio Busquets Burgos (Catalan: [busˈkɛts] , Spanish: [ˈseɾxjo βusˈkets] ; born 16 July 1988) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder and is the vice-captain of both Barcelona and the Spain national team. Busquets is widely regarded as one of the greatest defensive midfielders of his generation, and by some to be among the finest of the modern era.