2023-10-25 12:15:00
It was 10:36 p.m. Sunday evening when Xavi attempted a slightly crazy bet: starting a seventeen-year-old striker, a complete novice, to hope to get out of a very complicated match once morest Athletic Bilbao. At this moment, Marc Guiu has 42,000 subscribers on Instagram and is completely unknown to the general public. But thirty-five seconds later, at 10:37 p.m., his destiny changed: he scored with his first touch of the ball and gave Barça victory (1-0).
From almost anonymous, the teenager becomes the new Barcelona attraction. His photo appeared on all the front pages of Spanish sports newspapers the next morning and his popularity exploded on social networks: he gained nearly 700,000 subscribers in 24 hours. Everyone wants to know who this new phenomenon coming out of the Masia is.
Seventeen-year-old Marc Guiu delivers victory to Barça… on his very first touch of the ball as a professional player (VIDEOS)
“He has been at Barça since the juniors (seven years), said his dad, moved to tears, at the microphone of El Chiringuito just following the final whistle. He spent eleven seasons giving everything, fighting, and even more to get to this moment.”
Born in Granollers, 30 minutes from the center of Barcelona, Marc Guiu is a pure Catalan. But, unlike many of his predecessors from the Masia, he has very special physical qualities. In addition to being tall (1.87 m), the young striker combines power and speed.
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“The defenders are not comfortable facing such a profile.”
“With spaces, he is unstoppable,” summarized his former trainer Ivan Carrasco in the columns of Sport. Another of his qualities is his great ability to fight for all the balls and press like an animal. The defenders are not comfortable facing such a heavy attacking profile.”
It was Deco, the former glory of the club who became sporting director, who slipped the name of Marc Guiu to Xavi. The kid was called up last June for a friendly match once morest Andres Iniesta’s Vissel Kobe. He replaced a certain Robert Lewandowski but then returned to the shadows with his older team. For a few weeks.
Absent for a month
”I thought of him because he has a sense of purpose, a spark, and I like him personally. I give him the confidence that was given to me when I was 17-18 years old,” explained Xavi, very happy to see a new star from the academy emerge. “It was a big surprise to see him score a few seconds following coming on. But in training he showed us that he is a player who can score goals and who brings the kind of joy we need,” said his teammate Ferran Torres.
Taking advantage of the numerous absences (Gavi, Raphinha, de Jong, Pedri and Lewandowski), Marc Guiu is rewarded with a call-up to face Shaktar Donetsk this Wednesday in the Champions League. He should also be present on Saturday for the Clasico but will then be unavailable for potentially more than a month. The striker will join the Spanish selection from October 30 to prepare for the U17 World Cup which will take place from November 10 to December 2 in Indonesia.
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