Sergio Busquets breaks Clásico appearance record
With his appearance against Real Madrid in the vital 1-0 win in the Santiago Bernabéu, Barça captain Sergio Busquets has set a record that will tough to equal. The blaugrana legend made his 46th Clásico appearance with no other player having played in as many as the man from El Badia del Vallès, near Barcelona.
Sergio Busquets moves past Leo Messi and Sergio Ramos
Busquets' appearance in the starting XI in the Copa del Rey semi final first leg against Real Madrid saw him overtake the record of 45 Clásicos held jointly by Leo Messi and Sergio Ramos, who curiously enough are now team mates at Paris Saint-Germain.
Sergio Busquets began his Clásico career back in December 2008 when under coach Pep Guardiola he made his debut in the fixture, a 2-0 win for the blaugranes over Real Madrid thanks to goals from Leo Messi and Samuel Eto'o.
Winning a penalty in his first Clásico
Coming on a substitute in his first game against Real Madrid, Busquets won a penalty after he had only been on the field for some five minutes. Unfortunately, Samuel Eto'o was unable to convert the spot kick with the game still at 0-0. The Cameroonian made amends scoring later in the contest to help his side to victory.
43 Clásicos in the starting XI
Of his 46 appearances over the last 15 years, Sergio Busquets has stared no less than 43 of those games. Two of his three Clásicos coming on as a substitute occurred in the season of his debut in the fixture, the 2008/09 campaign.
The midfielder legend has never scored in the fixture but he has been on the winning side more than the losing, notching up 22 wins, 8 draws and 16 defeats in his 46 matches against Real Madrid. That total of wins is also a record, the latest success against Real taking him past the previous record of 21 wins held by los blancos legend Paco Gento.
Two more chances to enhance his legend
Over the coming weeks Busquets has the chance to extend his record number of appearances in Clásicos with a league meeting at Spotify Camp Nou to come on 19 March and the second leg of the Copa del Rey semi final, also at home, to come on 5 April. An opportunity, therefore, to make his legendary status even greater in football's most popular fixture.