Sergio Busquets is an FC Barcelona legend and one of the best pivots to have ever played the game. He remains a reference point for many young players aspiring to excel in the #6 position and has redefined the role during his time with the Catalan club.
The Spanish World Cup winner is still going strong with Inter Miami. His influence is so profound that even with star players like Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez, and Jordi Alba, the MLS side doesn’t look its best when Busquets isn’t on the field.
Busquets, of course, continues to follow Barcelona closely and had high praise for one of the breakout stars of this season, Marc Casadó. As highlighted by SPORT, the veteran pivot admitted that Casadó has truly surprised him and is now showing an outstanding level.
“He has surprised us a lot. We already knew he was very good because I knew him from training sessions and from my last year at Barça, but honestly, the level he’s showing now is outstanding. It’s spectacular.”
The Inter Miami midfield star admitted that he has been watching Hansi Flick’s Barcelona play and mentioned that he did not expect them to become so good so soon. He continued:
“Barça is doing very well. I didn’t expect everything to come together so quickly. It’s a different style, but very attractive, and the players have picked up on the coach’s ideas very quickly.”
Since Busquets’ departure, Barcelona have been searching for a natural replacement in the pivot role. However, up until the emergence of Marc Casadó and Marc Bernal, the Catalan club struggled to fill the crucial void left by him.
Xavi Hernández initially tried to go down the Oriol Romeu route last season, but that experiment had disastrous results. He then shifted to Andreas Christensen, who performed much better overall, but his limitations ultimately hindered the team in crucial moments.
Marc Casado has now emerged as one of the best defensive midfielders in the world so far this season. The major concern with him was his ability to remain positional and it is safe to say that the former Barça Atletic captain and grown leaps and bounds in this regard.
With Marc Casado and Marc Bernal, once he returns, Barcelona have the pivot position sorted for the foreseeable future. The Spanish duo looks set to rule the roost at the club for the next decade if not more and let’s wait and see how it plays out.