Busquets reveals year he enjoyed most at Barcelona – ‘Like playing with friends’

Departing Barcelona captain Sergio Busquets is on his way out of the club after 15 seasons at the top level and 18 at the club in total – joining the club from local side Jabac Terrassa. Throughout his career, he crossed paths with a number of the greatest footballers ever to grace the game, won every honour available to him, and played in what for many was the greatest side of all time. Yet the season he enjoyed the most at the Blaugrana will surprise many.

Speaking to Sid Lowe in The Guardian, Busquets explained that his favourite year was not even in the top divison.

“Playing in tercera was the year I enjoyed the most,” he begins

“It was like you’re playing with friends, without pressure, without the spotlight, with a coach who was the best in the world but at that time no one knew it.”

“Pep [Guardiola] is special, the best coach I’ve had. What he has achieved is very difficult. Go to Germany, win. Go to England, win. With very good teams, yes, but he makes every team better, playing his way that he wants. He evolves too, tries new things: John Stones going into the middle or the full- backs’ role. He’s always thinking: what can I improve?”

In Tercera, six divisions below La Liga and a regionalised league, Busquets explained that in that league, he was able to learn freely under Pep Guardiola almost without pressure.

“It was like I did a Masters with Pep that year: everything I learned, the things he taught me, everything he got across to you in training sessions. You played just one game a week, trained well. Going up to the first team was a radical change. Except that it was the same as the year with the B team, only bigger: more fans, more noise, more spotlight, more media attention …”

Busquets went on to admit, perhaps less surprisingly, that the noise and fame that went with the senior side at the Blaugrana.

“Not much. Bit by bit, I assimilated where I was, what it meant, what it means for kids especially, and I accepted it. But it was very hard for me at first. There’s a big difference between what’s on the pitch and what’s off it.”

“On it, opponents had a higher level but I also found that I had much more space. I went from playing on small pitches, artificial ones.”

As it was, Busquets quite clearly coped very well with both the pressure and the noise, even if he did not enjoy it. The now 34-year-old leaves the game not only as one of the best ever to do it at his position, but also as one of a kind – a player that never lost his personality no matter how much things changed around him.