3 Areas for Sergi Roberto to Improve on to Become a Barcelona Great
The 2015-16 season has been Sergi Roberto's breakthrough for Barcelona.
Of course, he really broke through in 2013-14—a campaign in which he played 27 times. But it is only this term in which he has found his feet at the club and become a valuable player for manager Luis Enrique.
For far too long after he made his debut, in 2010, Roberto was a player of little consequence.
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He was first seen as a hot prospect and then as someone who was never going to make good on their early potential.
Barcelona would use him to pad out sides for Copa del Rey games or from the bench when they wanted to give someone a rest.
It also felt like last season would be his final one at the club, but per Sport, the Barcelona boss convinced him to stay and train as a full-back during pre-season.
The midfielder excelled at right-back early in the campaign, and it gave him a lot of confidence, which he took with him even after Dani Alves returned to his usual spot.
Suddenly, Roberto was looking good in midfield and wherever else Lucho chose to put him.
His professional attitude and good technical ability, combined with strong work rate, meant the coach was happy to use him at left-back, right-sided forward and anywhere else a gap needed to be plugged.
Like Xavi Hernandez was the season before, Roberto converted into Barcelona's 12th man.
Aged 24, Roberto has the next decade ahead of him to push on and become a Barcelona great.
To do that he needs to score more goals, work harder defensively and become more consistent with his passing range.
Starting with goals, all he has to do is look at Ivan Rakitic for guidance. The Croatian has 17 in a Barcelona shirt in the last two seasons, nine of which have opened the scoring in games.
Roberto has just three. Of course, part of that is because Rakitic plays more frequently, although the Spaniard has featured in 47 games so far this season.
If he wants to force his way into the side, it will likely be in Rakitic's position, so he needs to replace the Croatian's goal tally.
Next, he must also become more effective in defensive-midfield positions. Roberto isn’t bad when it comes to tackling and interceptions, but of course, he could be better.
Rakitic works extremely hard, putting in the legwork and often making crucial interventions to stop opposition attacks. Likewise, Sergio Busquets is Barcelona’s defensive-midfield master and someone he could learn from.
Enrique sometimes deploys Roberto in Busquets’ position, although it hasn’t worked to great effect. That's partly because Busquets is better at defending and partly because he has a better and more consistent passing range than his compatriot.
According to Transfermarkt.com, he has played defensive midfield six times this term, as well as central midfield 22 times, right back 13 times, left back three times, right wing twice and left wing once.
Against Getafe on October 31, in arguably the best performance of his career, he created both of Neymar and Luis Suarez’s goals in the 2-0 win—perhaps he came dressed up as Xavi for Halloween.
The first goal was made for Suarez with an incredible backheel flick for the Uruguayan, while the second was a beautiful diagonal ball, dipping into Neymar’s path in the box, which the striker volleyed home.
If he can play at this level consistently, with passing like that, then he could yet become a Barcelona great.
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