Carles Puyol is one of the greatest Barcelona captains in history. The longest-serving captain from 2002 to 2014. He led Barcelona to so many victories during his era while holding the armband. Is Carlos Puyol the greatest captain in Barcelona? Yes, Carles was voted as the greatest Barcelona captain by AFers. When did Puyol become Barcelona’s captain? Looking at Barcelona’s history, this club has trained football stars from its academy called La Masia. Always the captain of the club is trusted by the coach and highly respected by his fellow players and fans.
Barcelona is the most successful club in the La Liga league in Spain, starting on November 29, 1899. Barcelona has won 31x Copa del Rey, 13x Supercopa de Espana, 2x Copa de La Liga, 5x Champions League, 4x UEFA Cup Winners, 26x La Liga titles, 5x UEFA Super cup, and 3x FIFA Club World Cup titles. All these titles make Barcelona a well-established team with so many trophies and victories in the history of La Liga and football.
Barcelona Captains List | Who is the greatest captain in Barcelona history?
| Rankings | Greatest Barcelona captains of all time | Years |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carles Puyol | 2004–2014 |
| 2 | Xavi | 2014–2015 |
| 3 | Andres Iniesta | 2015–2018 |
| 4 | Lionel Messi | 2018–2021 |
| 5 | Sergio Busquets | 2021–present |
1. Carles Puyol (2004–2014)
Carles Puyol is the greatest Barcelona captain of all time and successful defender in Barcelona history. Carles held the armband as Barcelona captain for a period of 12 years from 2002 to 2014. He is well known as the longest-serving captain in Barcelona’s history. Why Carles is the best Barcelona captain? Carles was born in La Pobla de Segur in Spain on April 13th, 1978, He joined FC Barcelona’s main team in 1999 playing the central defensive position. Carles was a native of Spain, played in one club, was a true warrior, and greatest Barcelona captain in history. After 5 years as a key player of Barcelona at the end of the 2003/04 season, Carles was appointed as the new captain of the team.
Puyol won his first La Liga title as Barcelona captain in the 2005/06 season with 52 appearances and scoring one goal. He also led Barcelona to the UEFA Champions League beating AC Milan in the semi-final and later on winning the 2006 UEFA Finals. After the total competitions, he was named UEFA Club Best Defender 2006. Carles won 16 club honors with FC Barcelona, although he had some disappointing seasons immediately after replacing Frank Rijkaard with Pep Guardiola. Carles led his team to another 2x Champion league during Guardiola’s regime where they played tiki-taka and 3x La Liga titles
In 2012/13 Guardiola departed and Carles took the lead as a captain thus winning another La Liga title that very season. Due to his determination and leadership, he inspired so many captains in the history of football. He won 17 major trophies in Barcelona with 600 appearances.
2. Xavi (2014–2015)
Xavi took as captain after Carles long-serving captain regime in 2014. He was nominated as Barcelona captain in 2014/2015 spending one season of captaincy. Xavi also played in the Barcelona youth team at the tender age of 11 years, also Iniesta, Messi, and Busquets are La Masia youth academy players. Xavi scored 85 goals in 700 appearances for his club in history winning 8x La Liga titles and 4x Champions leagues. After Iniesta, Xavi was the third most decorated Spanish player in the La Liga league. In the 2009 FIFA World cup, Xavi won the FIFA World cup Player award, the 2010 FIFA Ballon d’Or, and UEFA Best Player in Europe Runners in 2011.
Xavi won a total of 31 trophies both as a player and as the greatest Barcelona captain in history as a captain in general. He is one of the greatest Barcelona captains in the history of the Spain league. After leaving Barcelona in 2015, Xavi spent four years in Al Sadd then retired as a professional footballer. Right now he came back to Barcelona as a club manager and coach in 2021 with a three years contract as a coach.
3. Andres Iniesta (2015–2018)
Andres Iniesta is the greatest Barcelona captain in history and a legendary midfielder in football. He is also one of the greatest footballers of all time, the most successful player with so many trophies won at Nou Camp for Barcelona. When did he become Barcelona’s Captain in history? He took the armband in 2015 after Xavi and won all trophies in his career in football at 31 years of age. Iniesta was Barcelona’s captain for 3 seasons where he won 2x La Liga titles and 3x Copa Del Rey wins as a captain. In the season of 2017/18, Barcelona won the La Liga League title with 14 points ahead in the table.
In his first El Clasico as captain in 2015/16, Iniesta played very well and he was recognized by Madrid fans at Bernabeu winning Real Madrid 4-0 defeat. He scored one goal during that El Clasico becoming the third Barcelona player to show the quality of his skills. In 2018 Iniesta left Barcelona making 674 appearances with so many club victories.
Before he left Barcelona, Iniesta won 32 trophies namely; 4x UEFA Champions League, 7x Spanish Super Cup, 9 La Liga titles, 3x UEFA Super Cup, 6x Spanish Cups, and 3x FIFA Club World Cup. He scored 57 goals for his club Barcelona with 141 assists.
4. Lionel Messi (2018–2021)
Lionel Messi was the fourth greatest Barcelona captain in history from 2018 to 2021. He is also the greatest Barcelona captain in history who rescued his team during the darkest time in football. However, Barcelona will always have a special place for Messi playing also all his career football in a single team. He spent 20 years in Barcelona and broke so many records and won several awards with his club team, Messi left a legacy of 672 goals in 778 all-competition appearances. He won 10x La Liga titles, 7x Copa del Rey, 3x FIFIA Club World cups, 4x Champions League and so many individual wards as a captain of Barcelona.
Messi took the armband after Iniesta in 2018, he won a La Liga and Cop del Rey title award becoming the captain that season. He was the vice-captain of Barcelona therefore when Iniesta left, Messi was prepared for this position of wearing the armband. Messi’s first trophy as a captain was the 31st Copa del Rey of Barcelona against Athletic Bilbao winning a great victory of 4-0. He was so happy even if fans were absent, he had won a trophy as a captain
5. Sergio Busquets (2021-present)
Sergio Busquets is the greatest Barcelona captain in history from 2021 to the present. He got the armband after the departure of Messi in 2021, Busquets is also the best defensive midfielder right now with the good technical ability to steal the ball and pass actuate passes. Sergio and De Jong have the most passes right now. Although he has not yet won any cup as a captain, he has achieved so much playing in Barcelona since he join in 2015. Sergio has won 26x La Liga titles, 31x Copa Del Rey trophies, 3x FIFA Club World cup, and 5x UEFA Champions League in his career with his club Barcelona.
Sergio’s vice captain is Gerard Pique, Sergio has less than twelve months to end his contract. Meaning next summer in 2023, he is set to leave FC Barcelona. In general Sergio Busquets is a calm and good passer as a captain and Barcelona hope he will led his club to UEFA Champions qualification this season of 2022.
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Conclusion
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