Barcelona Player Profiles

victor valdes profile
Victor Valdés 1

Victor Valdés is one of the best goalkeepers in the world. He has a great technique and can also use his feet, which is of great advantage to Barca’s style of football.

Victor Valdés came up through the ranks and was promoted to the first team squad in the 2002/3 season.

When Radomir Antic took over as coach, Valdés became his first choice keeper.

dani alves profile
Dani Alves 2

Dani Alves is one of the best right sided players in the world. He arrived at FC Barcelona in the summer of 2008, aged 25 years, after six seasons with Sevilla.

Dani Alves has also been a regular in the Brazilian national team since 2006/07 winning the Confederations Cup final against Spain in 2013.

gerard pique profile
Gerard Piqué 3

Gerard Piqué returned to FC Barcelona after three seasons with Manchester United and one with Real Zaragoza. He came back to the club where he started out in the youth team aged 10.

Since then Gerard has been a regular feature in both the Barca first team and the Spanish national side.

cesc fabregas profile
Cesc Fàbregas 4

Cesc Fabregas joined the Barca first team in the summer of 2011, from Arsenal FC, after a long and drawn out transfer and became the club’s second signing for the 2011/12 season.

Fàbregas came through the youth ranks of FC Barcelona, from 10 to 16 years of age, when he signed for Arsenal. At Arsenal, he became the youngest player to make his debut for the club, and the youngest goalscorer in the club’s history.

Cesc Fabregas is one of the best midfielders in the world and scored an incredible 57 goals for Arsenal along with countless goal assists.

carles puyol profile
Carles Puyol 5

Carles Puyol signed up for Barca’s youth academy during the 1995/96 season.He quickly progressed in the Barca B team and made his debut for the first team in October 1999. Puyol is an exceptional defender and enthuses his teammates with power and vigor.

He started out as right back but quickly found his place as central defender in the Barca side.

xavi hernandez profile
Xavi Hernández 6

Xavi Hernández joined Barca at the young age of 11 and has spent his entire footballing career at the club. He made rapid progress at the club and was promoted to the B team in the 1997/8 season. He made his debut for the first eleven in 1998 and it wasn’t long before he was called the new Pep Guardiola for his ability to organize the midfield.

andres iniesta profile
Andrés Iniesta 8

Andrés Iniesta joined the club as a twelve year old after Barca scouts spotted him playing for Albacete in the Brunette Tournament in 1996.

He came through the ranks and finally made his debut for the first team in the Champions League against Belgian club Bruges in October 2002. Louis Van Gaal’s Barca won that evening and young Iniesta made a good impression.

alexis sanchez profile
Alexis Sánchez 9

Alexis Sánchez joined the Catalan side on July 21st at the age of 22 after a great season at Italian club Udinese. Born in Chile, Alexis started out at the age of 15 for local side Cobreloa who sold him to Udinese in 2006. Udinese then loaned him out and finally added him to their first team in the 2008/2009 season at the age of 19.

He was sold to barca in July 2011 after being named player of the year in Italy. It didn’t take long for Alexis to fit in with Barca’s style of play scoring 15 goals in 41 games in his first season.

lionel messi profile
Lionel Messi 10

Lionel Messi has won four FIFA Ballon d’Or Awards and is considered the best player in the world. He started out his career in his native Argentina at Newell’s Old Boys and after five years at the club made the journey to Barcelona and joined the under 14’s.

Messi made incredible progress at the club and finally made his debut for the first team aged just 16 in a friendly against Porto in 2004.

Messi progressed as a first team regular and became the youngest player to score a league goal for the club at just 17 years 10 months and 10 days old. Ex Barca player Bojan, would eventually break that record.

Messi has gone from strength to strength and has broken many records. He ended 2012 with the record number of goals in a calendar year (91), beating the historic goal record established by Gerd Müller (85 for Bayern Munich and Germany in 1972).

neymar da silva junior profile
Neymar da Silva 11

Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior joined the Catalan club from Santos in July 2013 and was Barca’s first signing of the 2013/14 season.

Following the 2010 World cup in South Africa Neymar made his first full appearance for the Brazilian national side in a friendly match against USA and managed to score a goal – he was only 18 years of age.

Just before signing for Barca in the summer of 2013, Neymar won the Confederations Cup with Brazil, scoring a goal in the final against Spain. He was also named MVP of the Tournament.

jonathan dos santos profile
Jonathan Dos Santos 12

Mexican born Jonathan Dos Santos joined FC Barcelona in 2002 with his brother Giovani. He worked his way up through the ranks and was chosen to play in the B team by ex Barca star Luis Enrique.

Dos Santos made his first team debut in 2009 coming on for Seydou Keita in the Spanish Cup game against Cultural Lleonesa. The player also made his full international debut with Mexico in 2009 in a game against Columbia.

jose manuel pinto profile
José Manuel Pinto 13

José Manuel Pinto joined the Catalan team after playing ten seasons with Celta Vigo.

Pinto started his career in the south of Spain playing for Real Betis’ B team and moved up to the first eleven in the 1997/8 season.

A year later José Manuel pinto moved to Celta and then onto Barca in January 2008.

That year Pep Guardiola made Pinto his first choice keeper in the Spanish Cup where he played in every game of the 2008/9 season.

 javier mascherano profile
Javier Mascherano 14

Javier Mascherano made the switch from Premier League giants Liverpool to Barcelona on 30th August 2010.

He went to London club West Ham United along with fellow Argentine Carlos Tévez in a double transfer deal worth $35M. He then moved to Liverpool in 2007 where he impressed greatly only to leave for Barcelona in 2010 to reinforce the midfield.

The player has impressed at the club starting in midfield only to slip into a more defensive role when Puyol, Milito and Abidal all got sidelined. He has proved invaluable in his current position and won his first Champions League medal with Barca at Wembley against Manchester United.

Marc Bartra profile
Marc Barta 15

Marc Barta hails from Tarragona in the province of Catalonia. He started out in La Masia when he was 11 years old after joining RCD Espanyol for the 2001/2 season.

The tall centre half has gradually risen through the ranks finally reaching the Barca B team in the 2009/10 season.

In the same year Pep Guardiola called him up for his first team debut against Atletico Madrid in the league. Guardiola kept an eye on him and called on the player on various occasions until he officially joined the first team squad in July 2012.

sergio busquets profile
Sergio Busquets 16

Sergio Busquets joined the Catalan club’s youth system in 2005. By 2008 Busquets had progressed through the ranks to the Barca B side under Pep Guardiola. The coach picked him 23 times that season after not starting for the team until the twelfth match. He then made his league debut on September 13th 2008 against Racing Santander.

By the 2009/10 season Sergio Busquets had established himself as one of the most talented midfielders in the world and despite the competition he faced from Toure Yaya for his position, he still managed 33 League games, 10 Champions League matches and 4 in the Spanish Cup.

Sergio Busquets is the son of ex Barca keeper Carles Busquets, who played in goal for the Catalan side in the 1990s.

pedro rodriguez profile
Pedro Rodríguez 17

Pedro Rodríguez was born in Tenerife and joined Barca’s youth system in 2004. He spent 3 years in the youth teams and finally got to savour some first team action in the 2007/8 season.

Guardiola kept a close eye on the B team player and made good use of him the following season.

On August 20th 2009 Pedro signed a contract for the full team. His superb performances for the club lead him to be picked for international duty and became a crucial part in Spain’s 2010 World Cup victory.

jordi alba profile
Jordi Alba 18

Jordi Alba came to Barca from Valencia on July 5th 2012 after a great season with both club and country.

The player started life out at Barca and joined UE Cornellà in 2007 before moving to Valencia after just one season. Valencia loaned Alba to Gimnàstic de Tarragona and it wasn’t until September 13th 2009 that he made the Valencia first team and his debut in the league.

He became a very versatile player at Valencia and was used in many positions until he left for Barca in 2012.

martin montoya profile
Martín Montoya 19

Martín Montoya joined Barca’s famed youth academy when he was just 8 years old.

Montoya worked through the ranks and made his first team debut on 9th September 2008. He officially joined the first team squad in July 2012.

With Dani Alves out injured towards the end of the 2011/12 season, Martín Montoya played in the last four games of the season and in the Spanish Cup final win over Athletic Bilbao.

adriano correia profile
Adriano Correia 21

Adriano Correia played for six seasons before joining Barcelona on July 10th 2010 and was the club’s second signing of the summer following the transfer of David Villa from Valencia.

In his first season, Adriano was first choice on the left until injury kept him out of action. He became more of a regular in Barca’s setup the following season in 2011/12 scoring 3 goals in 40 games to help Barca win the Spanish Supercup, European Supercup, Clubs World Cup and la Copa del Rey.

isaac cuenca profile
Isaac Cuenca 23

Isaac Cuenca is a player that has worked hard to get where he is today. Although he had been at the club since he was 14, it wasn’t until he was in the reserves that Pep Guardiola started to take a real interest in him. Isaac Cuenca made his debut for the Barca first team on October 20th 2011.

He impressed Guardiola with his finesse and the following season the winger consolidated his first team place by finding the net 3 times in 30 outings.

Isaac Cuenca suffered a serious meniscus injury in his right knee at the end of the 20111/2012 season and took no further part in the campaign.

alex song profile
Alex Song 25

Alex Song arrived at the club in August 2012 from north London club Arsenal FC under the command of Tito Vilanova. Originally from Cameroon, Song started his career in France in 2004 where he caught the eye of Arsene Wenger.

Alex Song became a regular in Arsenal’s first team in the 2008/9 season and played in the Premier League for seven seasons before joining the Catalan club.

cristian tello profile
Cristian Tello 37

Cristian Tello joined FC Barcelona as an 11 year old and after making good progress in the youth academy, along with joining both Damn and Espanyol as a youth player, he found himself back at Barca in 2010.

It wasn’t til 2011 though that he got to make his first full team debut on 8th November in a Spanish Cup game against local side Hospitalet, where he scored twice.

Since then Cristian Tello has gone from strength to strength, renewing his contract on 17th December 2012 to become a full member of the Barca squad.

oier olazabal profile
Oier Olazábal

Oier Olazábal came to Barcelona after passing through Real Unión Irún.

After three seasons in with Barça B, under the watchful eyes of Luis Enrique and Eusebio Sacristán, Olazábal became a crucial part of the team. The young Basque keeper was promoted to the senior side in the summer of 2013.

sergio roberto profile
Sergio Roberto

Sergio Roberto arrived at La Masia when he was 14 years of age. He came from Nàstic Tarragona and went from strength to strength until he became a vital piece in Luis Enrique’s setup in the Barca B side.

Sergi Roberto was promoted to full Barca squad in the summer of 2013 under the watchful eye of new Barca coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino.

ibrahim affellay profile
Ibrahim Afellay 20

Ibrahim Afellay came from Dutch side PSV Eindhoven on December 24th 2010.

Although the Dutch international spent his first footballing years at USV Elinswijk, it was on 4th February 2004 that he made his first-team debut for PSV Eindhoven in a cup game against NAC.

In his first season at the Catalan club, Afellay found the net twice in 28 outings but the young Dutchman tore his cruciate ligaments in his left knee, which put an end to his season on September 20th 2011.

Afellay was finally declared fully fit on April 11th, 2012 and Pep Guardiola included him the side that thrashed Rayo Vallecano 7-0 on 29th April.

garardo tata martino profile
Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino

Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino took charge of the Barca senior side on 26th July 2013 after Tito Vilanova’s departure due to health reasons.

He managed the Paraguayan national side in the 2010 World Cup, where they were eliminated by Spain in the quarter finals. Gerardo Martino then led Paraguay to the final of the Copa América in 2011. After the international tournament, he took control of Leo Messi’s former club Newell’s Old Boys, a team that were struggling to avoid relegation.

The team avoided relegation and the following season, Martino led them to glory at the Torneo Final 2013.

Martino’s style of play fits in with Barca’s philosophy perfectly. He plays attacking football which is both creative and quick passing. Another trait is the suffocating pressure his teams exert on their opponents high up the pitch.