Bojan, Busquets and Sanchez want another cup

original source: www.sport.es




The Copa del Rey is a tournament that exists to make a great season even better or to make a bad season acceptable. This point of view that the majority of the supporters hold doesn't seem to be something that the players share in thought. And much less the Barça players, who have gone two years without winning a trophy. However, in the blaugrana roster, there are three players who are especially hopefull for the Copa for a simple reason: they've won it before.

Víctor Sánchez, Bojan Krkic and Sergio Busquets won the trophy with the Juvenil team in 2006, which was the last time that the team has won the cup. With a team that consisted of, minus those previously mentioned: Marc Crosas, Jeffren Suarez, Iago Falque, and Giovani dos Santos, it was logical to win the trophy. That's how things went, in both the Copa and the Liga. These three players that are now a part of Pep Guardiola's first team want to repeat the celebration they lived that day in Soria. This time it'll be in Valencia.

The knockout tournament is allowing the coach to give minutes to all of his players, and everybody does what he has to. Bojan has played almost every minute in the Copa and has been important in the reaching of the semi finals, thanks to his goals against Benidorm, Atlético and Espanyol. Busquets had only missed a few minutes, before the game against Mallorca on Thursday. He played in the rest of the matches. Victor Sanchez played the first game of the 1/16 finals, although he didn't make another appearance until the Espanyol game, when he came in for Rafa Márquez, who left the pitch injured.

Feeling important to the team gives these players extra motivation to give everything in this tournament. On one hand, none of them know what it feels like to win a title with the first team. Bojan couldn't do it last season and his fellow players only arrived to the first team last summer. The forward says it clearly: "The Copa is one of the three titles that we can win, one of the three that we're still participating in and it's obvious that I'm hoping to lift the trophy because, although I hope that it's not the only title that we can win, it'll be my first. Also, I'm participating often."

The Linyola native remembers the Copa that he won with the youth team, and especially the final: "In that match Busquets scored a great goal, a cracker." Bojan arrived to Alex Garcia's team with the tournament already started, from the Juvenil B, but was still vital in the final victory: "The fixture against Real Madrid was great."

Sergio Busquets also remembers those games to be special: "Winning that Copa was incredible. Also, we defeated Real Madrid in the semi-finals in a great match at the Mini Estadi." Today, the midfielder is determined to help the first team repeat the feat: "Defeating Espanyol was the first objective and if we reach the final, which I hope to do, I'm certain that it'll be a great match. It must be impressive to see how your supporters occupy half the stadium and the rival team's supporters occupy the other half." In that case, it would also be a great career start for the player: "It would be awesome to win a title in the first year in the senior team."

Victor Sánchez entered the final against Zaragoza in the second half and was an important player during the whole tournament, where he was a key player for the coach, Alex García. The all-around player remembers: "I have great memories about that match. I felt like I was involved because I played many matches and because it was my first title," said the player, who also won the Liga with the team.

Now, three seasons later, Victor Sanchez is a part of both the senior team and Barça Atlètic, where he's doing well: "It's easy because what I like best is to play football and I know that, no matter where it is, I will play." Therefore, he could be the first player in the club's history to win the Copa del Rey and also win promotion to the second division: "It would be great for everyone. Winning a title with the first team must be great."

The next objective would be to win the fixture against Mallorca next month, after the 2-0 home game. After that, there would be one more game for the three players to repeat the moment that they lived on June 24, 2006, a day that is now already distant, even though it's still fresh in the minds of Bojan, Sergio Busquets, and Victor Sanchez. History always repeats itself.


Translated by: Al