Sergio Busquets’ red card against Rayo Vallecano ends incredible run | OneFootball

Such was the excitement surrounding Barcelona ahead of their first match of the season, such was the deflation inside Camp Nou as they ground to a 0-0 draw with Rayo Vallecano, that Sergio Busquets’ red card was barely a footnote in proceedings.

Busquets was shown a second yellow in stoppage time, as he swung his arm out to protect the ball, but made contact with Radamel Falcao’s face.

According to Mundo Deportivo, it was just the second red card of his career in Spain, across 452 appearances in the league, and third overall. The last time he was sent off in La Liga was against Real Madrid in 2009, as Alberto Undiano Mallenco gave him his marching orders with a second yellow in the 62nd minute.

His other red card came in the Champions League against Benfica in 2012, he was sent off directly for a bad challenge towards the end of the match.

It does leave Busquets just shy of 10 years without being sent off. Given he has played 693 times in his career in a position where yellow cards and fouling is an integral part of the game, it is a fairly impressive record. Especially when considering how often Busquets is left to cover large swathes of space without much pace to call on.