“Having played against him, you just stop pressing because you can’t get near him. You can’t get the ball off him.”
Sergio Busquets has often gone under the radar with many football fans watching at home, and more famous with some for his play-acting on the pitch. But the Barcelona midfielder is rated very highly by footballers who have played with and against him, including Rio Ferdinand, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard
Busquets rarely puts a foot wrong, providing the base for the Catalan club’s every attack, an intelligent footballer, with excellent close control and great vision, he seems to start every attack, playing the pass before the pass that leads to a goal.
The midfielder was impressive against Chelsea on Tuesday night in the Champions League tie at Stamford Bridge, recording an incredible 152 touches in the match. Busquets only misplaced 11 of his 139 passes in the 1-1 draw.
139 – Sergio Busquets attempted 139 passes against Chelsea (128 successful passes), more than any other Barcelona player in a game this season in all competitions. Masterful. pic.twitter.com/lvLO8Ifosm
— OptaJose (@OptaJose) February 20, 2018
While the focus on BT Sport after the game was inevitably on the attacking players on show – Lionel Messi, Eden Hazard, Luis Suarez and Willian – the three pundits reserved special praise for Busquets. Gerrard spoke about just how difficult it is to play against the Catalan midfielder, suggesting that it is almost impossible to get the ball off him.
“Having played against him, in the end you just stop pressing him, it’s so frustrating because you can’t get near him,” Gerrard said.
“You can’t get near him, you can’t get the ball off him. Because if you come out of your position to press him he just pops it round you, and you can’t do it for 90 minutes, you’re just using energy up. He is an absolute nightmare to play against.”
The former Liverpool midfielder also said that Busquets best quality as a player is his calmness, while Ferdinand said he’s so relaxed on the pitch, he could play with velvet slippers on.
“When you watch him play, his head on the shoulder all the time, looking, getting pictures of what’s going on around him so that when the ball he can play one-touch, because he’s already seen it and the picture is so clear for him. Great player.”
You can watch them discuss Busquets here:
And if you’re still not convinced that he’s a top player, take a look at this clip:
https://twitter.com/finalthrd/status/961888670222516224
