Sergio Busquets would walk into any team

Many people would suggest that if Sergio Busquets was playing in a lesser team, surrounded by lesser players, he would not be rated so highly. The implication is that he is mollycoddled by Barcelona’s unique system, and if you took him out of that system nobody would notice him. In fact, the complete opposite is true. If he was playing in another side, which didn’t possess the very best footballing talent in the world, he would be seen for what he is truly is - an absolute force. When your teammates are Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, and Xavi Hernandez, it’s very easy to be overlooked. He doesn’t often run with the ball, he doesn’t score goals or provide assists. He is an enabler.

His composure and decision making is unrivalled even perhaps at Barcelona. Put him in a lesser side and you may see a player capable of dominating the midfield entirely. If he was playing at another club, he could be so much more. But he isn’t, and therefore he doesn’t need to be.

Many people questioned Guardiola’s decision to let go of Yaya Toure so easily, according to the Ivorian, his coach was simply not interested in keeping him and blanked him for a year. It was clear that Guardiola saw Busquets as the long term answer, and Toure’s last season at the club was Busquets’ first with the full squad. His decision has been vindicated, as Busquets has become an integral part of both Barcelona and the Spanish national team. For me, he was Spain’s best player during their World Cup victory in South Africa, and is far more important to Barcelona than Yaya Toure ever was.

Tactically, you will not find many players around the world as aware. He is the ultimate support player, fully appreciative of everybody around him, knowing when to release the ball and when to keep it, when to drop in to cover a teammate, and when to provide support higher up the pitch. He isn’t as talented as many of his teammates, that much is obvious, but he still possesses tremendous technical ability. Xavi called him the best one touch player in the world, and said that “without Busquets we could never had achieved what we have achieved, he is an extraordinary player who is never wrong”. Busquets is the heartbeat of Pep’s Barça, whether 4-3-3 or 3-4-3, he is always the fulcrum and without such a player in the squad they may not have been quite as dominant over the last 3 years.

He has a reputation of being a cheat, which is entirely justified. Diving and feigning injury are second nature, and he has a sly aggression in his play. He makes it very hard to like him, but at the age of 23 he is already the best defensive midfielder in world football, and any team would be lucky to have him.

Not even the Special One can take credit for Pepe

Another Clásico, another scintillating football match that descended into something entirely different. From the day Mourinho took charge he has focused on the relationship between the two clubs, creating more tension and more of a divide than there has been for a while. The famous siege mentality, an admission that the only way to win is to fight dirty, rather than taking them on at their own game. But aside from a solitary Copa Del Rey, there has been no winning. So what is the point? The only thing he has succeeded in is making the most glamorous fixture in football a showcase for the dark arts. Incessant fouls are often followed by amateur acting, and nobody comes out looking great.

Jose has brought out the worst in some of the more level-headed Madrid players like Xabi Alonso and Iker Casillas. Without the Portuguese coach and his psychological warfare, they might go back to being decent human beings. But I’m not sure Mourinho can take credit for everything, Pepe probably behaves like this in the supermarket. The old cliche that “he’s not that kind of player” literally couldn’t apply less. Whether in midfield or defence, his instructions have been the same. Whether these instructions have come from his coach or the voices inside his head though is up for debate.

Wayne Rooney called out Pepe on twitter for his behaviour during the match, and Madrid legend Guti called out Rooney for his hypocrisy. Guti said that “making mistakes is human”, and Pepe has since apologised saying that the stamp was “unintentional” and “the thought of hurting a colleague has never entered my mind”. I assume that when he was banned for 10 games in 2009 after a seemingly unprovoked assault on Getafe’s Casquero, he was ‘unintentionally’ booting him whilst he lay on the floor. His sly stamp on Messi’s hand was despicable and certainly not out of character. He is a pyschopath. His ‘apology’ is shameful. He is probably looking at yet another hefty ban, and rightly so. There is no place for an animal like Pepe in football.