Football Special Report: Replacing the Irreplaceable – FC Barcelona (Part 2)
The next year saw the end of the Ivorian. He was barely played by Josep Pep Guardiola in the first team. This is not because he lost the “touch” that he had in the previous year but because he found a better replacement for Yaya Toure. It is true that Guardiola
is criticized about this decision; replacing Toure with the Spanish “kid” Sergio Busquets. However, the decision was simply perfect. Sergio Busquets is a complete genius and he sacrifices stardom for his team.
Busquets is a very different defensive midfielder and he is not like a usual player who would play in a holding midfield position. His role was to hold ground right behind the midfielder and while Gerard Pique and Carles Puyol were busy moving forward, it
was Busquets who stayed behind to help in the defence. It is a simple theory that Guardiola applied to his team. With players like Gerard Pique in the team, ones who can move forward from the defensive lines, Sergio Busquets is required to fill gaps at the
back.
It was not only seen during the games that Barcelona played but also in the games that the Spanish national team played. No one knew why Sergio Busquets was played in the first team of the World Cup winning squad of Spain. Later it was simply clear that
there was no better option rather than playing Sergio Busquets.
For the World Champions Spain, Vicente Del Bosque used to play two defensive midfielders with a single central attacking midfielder along with three strikers; including two wingers and one centre forward. As Xabi Alonso was the one who used to make a move
forward just like Yaya Toure, assisting the strikers and the attacking midfielders, it was Sergio Busquets who used to fall back to cover up for him and the on-going Gerard Pique. Busquets also marked his man in the centre of the field because most of the
moves generate from the midfield.
Sergio Busquets was so effective throughout the system that there was not a single man in the squad who could replace a genius defensive midfielder like him and that was the basic reason why the world saw the “amazing” Cesc Fabregas on the bench. Fabregas
is definitely a great player but in the Spanish national side, he simply could not get replaced for anyone except the maestro, Xavi Hernandez.
Xavi Hernandez is a player that no player in the world can replace at the moment. However, if there is one player who can replace Xavi, it is the Arsenal captain Cesc Faberas. This is the basic reason why Fabregas was involved in a transfer move to Barcelona.
It is true that the Spaniard also wanted to make a move to the Catalan giants but no one can forget the FIFA World Cup 2010 and it was clearly seen that the only player who could replace Xavi Hernandez was Cesc Fabregas.
Xavi Hernandez started becoming famous after the inclusion of Pep Guardiola in the Spanish club’s managing squad. With Guardiola in the team, no one expected Xavi to shine so much. However, this was not because Xavi never had talent but because Guardiola
knew exactly how to utilize a player like him. The new manager told Xavi to hold the centre midfield position and he was the one who used to pass the ball around easily and helped the team with the short passes that he played. Obviously, this sounds very “easy”
for anyone and this is exactly what Xavi does; make the game look so very easy with all the short passes that he plays.
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