Riqui Puig may not sound like a footballer's name, but the youngster certainly looks a player. The midfielder made his competitive debut for Barcelona on Wednesday night – and he lit up the Camp Nou.
The young midfielder had fans purring in the summer as he impressed for the Catalan club on their pre-season tour in North America, but his opportunity in the first team would have to wait.
It arrived on Wednesday against Segunda B side Cultural Leonesa in the Copa del Rey. Puig, who only made his Barca B debut in January, came on in the 55th minute and impressed in his brief time on the pitch as the Blaugrana wrapped up comfortable a 5-1 aggregate win.
The 19-year-old is a midfielder very much in the Barca mould: he is small and slight, but with extraordinary vision, awareness and technique. “We expect a lot from him,” coach Ernesto Valverde said in April.
Puig was born in Terrassa, like Xavi Hernandez, and played in the same youth side as Sergio Busquets: Jabac. And in pre-season, he was happy to take the no. 8 shirt recently vacated by Andres Iniesta.
Now he has followed in the footsteps of those three legends, stepping up from La Masia to the first team, and he capped his debut with an assist for Denis Suarez in Barca’s 4-1 at Camp Nou as he slotted a lovely ball through to the Galician for the team’s final goal in the 70th minute on Wednesday night.
“It’s a dream debut,” a beaming Puig said afterwards. “Not only is it a victory, but I was also able to give an assist. But especially because the team did so well.”
And he added: “I used to come to Camp Nou at three years old. Imagine how excited I was to go out on the pitch – and even more so after Ernesto gave me 35 minutes!”
For his part, Valverde said: “Riqui plays with self-confidence, in attack and defence. He looks forward. He doesn’t hide, he wants the ball.”
The teenager certainly showed that and Barca fans will now be hoping to see him a lot more. Because La Masia may not be producing midfielders as prolifically as it once was, but the 19-year-old definitely looks like the next in a long line of talents from the club's fabled youth academy.
