David González. PHOTO | COURTESY
The quantity 8 shirt has been worn by a number of the all-time greats of Spanish soccer, with this yr’s crop trying to go away their very own mark on the sport.
The quantity 8 is mostly worn by midfielders and, in 2020/21, all of the occupants of this shirt quantity in LaLiga might be labeled as midfielders apart from Villarreal centre-back Juan Foyth and Levante centre-back Óscar Duarte.
The record is stuffed with stars, together with World Cup winners Actual Betis, Nabil Fekir and Actual Madrid’s Toni Kroos, who lifted worldwide soccer’s high honour with France in 2018 and Germany in 2014, respectively.
At Atlético de Madrid, Saúl Ñíguez has worn the quantity 8 jersey since 2016 and, provided that he has a contract which commits him to the capital metropolis membership till 2026, he’ll absolutely put on that package for a lot of extra years to come back. The Spaniard is a classically versatile box-to-box midfielder, much like different quantity 8s similar to Joan Jordán at Sevilla or Pape Diop at Eibar.
A number of of the quantity 8s are younger gamers who’ve their careers all forward of them, as is the case with the likes of Celta’s Fran Beltrán, Valencia’s Carlos Soler and Actual Valladolid’s Kike Pérez.
They’re all already ok to characteristic in Spain’s high division, however there’s much more potential to be unlocked within the years to come back.
Ten LaLiga legends who wore the quantity 8
Luis Aragonés (Atlético de Madrid), Andrés Iniesta (FC Barcelona), Hristo Stoichkov (FC Barcelona), Míchel (Actual Madrid), Miguel Muñoz (Actual Madrid), Santi Cazorla (Villarreal CF), Jon Errasti (SD Eibar), Juan Román Riquelme (Villarreal CF), Julen Guerrero (Athletic Membership), Rubén Baraja (Valencia CF).
Luis Aragones, one of the crucial necessary figures in Spanish soccer historical past, wore the quantity 8 and made it his personal as a participant for Atletico de Madrid earlier than embarking on an much more profitable teaching profession not solely at Atleti however with the Spanish nationwide crew – profitable the 2008 European Championships.
An equally iconic quantity for the Spanish nationwide crew as for LaLiga, it was one other quantity who produced La Roja’s greatest ever triumph.
That man was Andrés Iniesta, who truly wore the No.6 for Spain when he scored the winner within the 2010 World Cup ultimate however cemented his legend at Barcelona sporting the membership’s quantity 8 shirt for over a decade.
At sure golf equipment, sure numbers have extra historical past than others and the quantity 8 has been a very particular one at Villarreal the place it has been worn by Juan Román Riquelme and Santi Cazorla. They’ve been two of the best playmakers of the 21st century, a century that bought going with Rubén Baraja sporting quantity 8 at Valencia and Julen Guerrero doing so at Athletic Membership.
