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Sergio Busquets: The managing heir to Pep Guardiola?

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Roar Guru
13th April, 2020
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Pep Guardiola and Sergio Busquets are known to many as two of the greatest defensive midfielders to ever grace the beautiful game.

While Pep Guardiola is now known as one of the best managers in the world, he first had an illustrious career, spending sixteen years at Barcelona, including ten years for the first team in which he played 263 times in La Liga and 36 times in the Champions League.

He won La Liga six times, while also winning the Spanish Super Cup four times and European Cup once, the equivalent of today’s Champions League, before achieving astonishing things as a manager.

Pep Guardiola

Pep Guardiola of Man City. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

Sergio Busquets has an equal, if not more impressive trophy hall, winning La Liga eight times, the Champions League three times, the Spanish Super Cup eight times and winning both the Euro’s and World Cup with Spain.

For many people, Busquets has become the ‘heir’ to Guardiola, although their careers at Barcelona were eight years apart. Busquets has indirectly replaced Guardiola, becoming the main defensive midfielder or ‘six’, which is so crucial in Barcelona’s classic 4-3-3 formation.

While Sergio Busquets’ playing career may almost be over, as at 31 he is limited on the number of games he has left in his legs, but could Sergio Busquets become the heir to Pep Guardiola as a coach?

Busquets is an extremely intelligent footballer and is one of the best in the world at reading the game.

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This season in La Liga, he has played twenty key passes from his deep-lying position. This is an average of exactly one per ninety minutes, which is an astonishing statistic for a player in a defensive midfielder position.

To put that into perspective, Casemiro, Real Madrid’s main defensive midfielder has played just seven key passes this season, and a total of 0.28 key passes per ninety minutes. He has made the most passes in La Liga this season, with 1871 passes in twenty-three games, and has a pass accuracy of 89.4 per cent.

But Busquets doesn’t just excel in reading forward runs, he also reads the defensive side of the game astonishingly. This season, Busquets has made 32 interceptions and won 35 tackles, showing his vision for intercepting and reading the play.

However, even statistics can’t measure his best quality. Busquets is one of the most composed players to ever grace the field. He never looks worried no matter how much he is pressed, and fans have even started to wonder why people even attempt to press Busquets.

He always knows what pass he is going to play before he gets there and makes up for his lack of speed by being extremely sharp mentally.

As well as being an important trait in playing, this is crucial when managing a team. You need to be composed and keep your emotions secured to help your team during the game.

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Busquets also reads football extremely well and has learnt under some of the best coaches in the world. He grew up playing Johan Cruyff’s ‘total football’, and moved into the first team under the eye of Pep Guardiola.

Busquets is currently vice-captain of both Barcelona and the Spanish national team, showcasing his leadership skills, and consistently helps his teammates by directing them.

Busquets and Guardiola were extremely similar players and have enjoyed extremely similar careers as players. It is possible that Busquets will move on to become a coach when he retires, but will he find success? And will he ever reach the same level as Guardiola?

Is Sergio Busquets the managing heir to Pep Guardiola?

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