Pedri to make 50th Barça appearance vs. Atletico in brilliant breakout season

Pedri to make 50th Barça appearance vs. Atletico in brilliant breakout season

pedri / | sport

The midfielder has been one of the huge positives for the Catalans this term

Pedri Gonzalez will make his 50th appearance for FC Barcelona on Saturday when they host Atletico Madrid at Camp Nou.

Few would have expected that to be the case last summer when it was speculated that the young midfielder could even go out on loan.

He's since claimed his place in Ronald Koeman's side and the Spanish national team, with his emergence one of the big positives of recent seasons at Barça.

Under Koeman, Pedri's played 49 of a possible 50 games this season. That's to say, around 98 percent of games. He only missed the Champions League game against Ferencvaros. And that was when progress to the next round had already been assured.

No other Barça player has made as many appearances as the 18-year-old this season, which demonstrates his importance to the side and his consistency.

Including games with the various national teams, Pedri's played 56 games this season: 49 with Barça, four with Spain U21s and three with the Spain senior side under Luis Enrique. He will be at the Euros with Spain this summer in all probability and will end the campaign, save any major surprises, having played more than 60 games.

In terms of minutes, he's played 3,332 with Barça, more than the 2,861 with Las Palmas last season, when he was Pepe Mel's most used outfield player. In terms of minutes, he's seventh at Barça behind: De Jong (4.238), Messi (3.922), Jordi Alba (3.882), Ter Stegen (3.630), Griezmann (3.572) and Lenglet (3.435).

NEW FC BARCELONA PODCAST IN ENGLISH

Topics with the letter