Sergio Busquets becomes King of the Clásico as he makes 46th appearance
He passes Messi and Ramos to make history in the fixture
Sergio Busquets, having confirmed his presence in FC Barcelona's starting line-up for Thursday's Copa del Rey clásico, becomes the player with the most appearances in the fixture between the two giants of Spanish football. The Barça youth product has a total of 46 clásico appearances and leaves behind Leo Messi (FC Barcelona) and Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), who accumulated a total of 45 appearances each.
The Barcelona captain, who made his debut with the first team on 13 September 2008 against Racing in LaLiga (1-1), played his first clásico in LaLiga in 2008-09 (13 December 2008), with Pep Guardiola on the bench. Barcelona beat Real Madrid 2-0. He entered the field (with the number 28) in the 63rd minute for Eidur Gudjohnsen.
His second clásico, the first one played at the Bernabéu, was a historic match for Barça. On that day, 2 May 2009, Pep's side smashed Madrid 6-2 and took a decisive step towards the title. Busquets was the last change, coming on in the 85th minute for Ivory Coast international Yaya Touré.
Since then, Busquets has played in all but two matches vs. Madrid: the Spanish Super Cup (first leg) in 2011-12 (he was left on the bench and his place was taken by Seydou Keyta) and the 2019-20 La Liga match at Camp Nou (he was left on the bench and Ivan Rakitic played as a pivot).
Real Madrid are by far the team Busquets has faced the most times, followed by Sevilla (40), Athletic and Atlético (38), Valencia (32) and Espanyol (31). The European opponents against whom he played most are PSG (10), Bayern Munich (9) and Milan (8)
All Busquets' clásicos:La Liga: 28 games (25 starts), 2,204 minutes, 15 wins, 4 draws and 9 defeats; 10 yellow cards and one sending off for a double yellow.
Champions League: 2 matches (both starts), 180 minutes, 1 win and 1 draw; 1 assist, no yellow cards.
Copa del Rey: 8 matches (all starts), 734 minutes, 2 wins, 3 draws and 3 defeats; 2 yellow cards.
Super Cup: 7 matches (all starts), 640 minutes, 3 wins and 4 defeats; 1 yellow card.
Summary: 45 matches (42 starts), 3,785 minutes, 21 wins, 8 draws and 16 defeats; 14 yellow cards and 1 red card; 1 assist, no goals.
