FC Barcelona players – Bojan Krkic
Bojan Krkic has spent his entire football life breaking records.
Almost since he was born in Lleida in 1990, to a Spanish mother and a Serbian father who had played for Red Star Belgrade, Bojan has been a prodigy. He joined Barcelona in 1999 and made unprecedented progress through the youth ranks until he joined the senior team in the 2006-2007 season: though not before he had scored 960 goals in his seven seasons at youth level!
The youngest goalscorer in the history of Barcelona’s first team -17 years, 1 month 22 days, to be exact- against Villareal in October 2007; Barça’s youngest player in the Champions League, the month before, and a Spanish under 21 international at 16, all milestones that Bojan has taken in stride. He also helped Spain win the Under 21 European Championship in 2007 and was part of the team that finished second at the Under 17 World Cup the same year.
So what is it about Bojan that makes him so special?
Well, first of all, he’s very fast and he has that invaluable ability to appear just as fast when he’s running with the ball as he is without it. More than this, however, it’s that ‘ice sliver’ in his instinct that he makes sure he never panics in front of goal; he is totally sure. He seems to pass the ball into the net with complete calm. Despite being carefully nurtured by Frank Rijkaard during the 2007/08 season, Bojan managed to score 10 league goals, in just 14 starts.
It is understandable that Spain has been especially interested in involving Bojan in the national team, as much to ensure that Serbia does not sign him as for anything else. He was selected for the squad for a friendly against France in February 2008 and was to play his first cap and become Spain’s youngest full cap until he fell ill on the eve of the match. The player himself then asked to be left out of the Eurocup call, claiming exhaustion, for which the conspiracy theorists in the Spanish media made themselves felt. However, he made his full debut in September 2008 in a World Cup qualifying tie against Armenia, thus cementing his future with the Spanish team.
The management and fans in Barcelona clearly think of the world of Bojan Krkic and continue to use his talents sparingly. Of course, that’s relatively easy in a team that contains Barcelona’s attacking talent, but nevertheless Bojan is showing that he could well become one of the greatest goalscorers for both club and country. He certainly has all the attributes and has faced all the challenges that have come his way thus far in his short career.
