Marc Roca (footballer)

Marc Roca Junqué (born 26 November 1996) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays for Bundesliga club FC Bayern Munich as a central midfielder.

For the Spanish water polo player, see Marc Roca Barceló.
In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Roca and the second or maternal family name is Junqué.
Marc Roca
Personal information
Full name Marc Roca Junqué[1]
Date of birth (1996-11-26) 26 November 1996[2]
Place of birth Vilafranca, Spain[2]
Height 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)[2]
Position(s) Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Bayern Munich
Number 22
Youth career
2003–2008 Atlètic Vilafranca
2008–2015 Espanyol
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2014–2017 Espanyol B 51 (6)
2016–2020 Espanyol 105 (3)
2020– Bayern Munich 3 (0)
National team‡
2015 Spain U19 1 (0)
2018–2019 Spain U21 7 (2)
2016– Catalonia 1 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 16:19, 30 January 2021 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 30 June 2019

He started his career at Espanyol, appearing in 121 competitive matches and four La Liga seasons. In October 2020, he signed with Bayern Munich.

Roca won the 2019 European Under-21 Championship with Spain.

Club career

Espanyol

Born in Vilafranca del Penedès, Barcelona, Catalonia, Roca joined RCD Espanyol's youth setup in 2008, aged 11.[3] On 24 August 2014, he made his senior debut with the reserves, starting in a 2–2 Segunda División B home draw against Lleida Esportiu.[4]

Roca scored his first senior goal on 17 January 2015, his team's second in a 2–3 home loss to UE Olot.[5] On 4 August he renewed his contract until 2017,[6] and was promoted to the B side shortly after.

On 26 August 2016, Roca made his first-team – and La Liga – debut, starting in a 2–2 home draw against Málaga CF.[7] On 11 November, he agreed to an extension until 2022 and was permanently promoted to the main squad the following season.[8]

Roca scored his first goal in the top flight on 21 April 2019, in a 2–2 draw at Levante UD.[9] He played 44 matches across all competitions in the 2019–20 campaign, but the club was relegated to Segunda División for the first time in 26 years.[10]

Bayern Munich

On 4 October 2020, Roca signed for FC Bayern Munich on a five-year contract.[11] He made his official debut 11 days later, in a 3–0 defeat of amateurs 1. FC Düren in the first round of the DFB-Pokal.[12][13] He appeared in his first Bundesliga game later that month, coming on as an injury-time substitute for Serge Gnabry in the 2–1 away victory over 1. FC Köln.[14]

Roca played his first-ever game in the UEFA Champions League on 25 November 2020, starting and being sent off for two bookable offences midway through the second half on an eventual 3–1 group stage win against FC Red Bull Salzburg.[15]

International career

On 28 December 2016, Roca made his debut for the Catalonia autonomous team, starting in a 3–3 draw against Tunisia (2–4 penalty loss).[16] He was named in Spain's under-21 squad for the 2019 UEFA European Championship, starting the final three games of the tournament for the eventual winners including a 4–1 semi-final victory over France in which he scored.[17][18]

Career statistics

Club
As of 30 January 2021[19]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Cup Continental Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Espanyol B 2014–15 Segunda División B 111———111
2015–16 Segunda División B 343———343
2016–17 Segunda División B 62———62
Total 516———516
Espanyol 2016–17 La Liga 25010——260
2017–18 La Liga 8010——90
2018–19 La Liga 35150——401
2019–20 La Liga 352108[lower-alpha 1]0—442
2020–21 Segunda División 2000——20
Total 10538080—1213
Bayern Munich 2020–21 Bundesliga 3020200070
Career total 1599100100001799
  1. Appearance(s) in UEFA Europa League

Honours

International

Spain U21

References
  1. "FIFA Club World Cup Qatar 2020: Squad list" (PDF). FIFA. 1 February 2021. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  2. "Marc Roca". Eurosport. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
  3. Juárez, Mari Carmen (29 July 2016). "Marc Roca, el canterano que cautiva a Quique" [Marc Roca, the youth player who captivates Quique]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 August 2016.
  4. Blanco, Íñigo (25 August 2014). "Un empat amb dos sabors" [A draw with two tastes]. L'Esportiu (in Catalan). Retrieved 27 August 2016.
  5. "Remuntada de les que fan afició (Espanyol B 2–3 UE Olot)" [A comeback from those who were supporters (Espanyol B 2–3 UE Olot)] (in Catalan). UE Olot. 17 January 2015. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
  6. "Marc Roca, renovado" [Marc Roca, renewed] (in Spanish). RCD Espanyol. 4 August 2015. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
  7. Sierra, David (26 August 2016). "El Espanyol regala un punto al Málaga" [Espanyol give a point to Málaga]. Marca (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 August 2016.
  8. "El Espanyol renueva a Marc Roca hasta 2022" [Espanyol renew Marc Roca until 2022]. Sport (in Spanish). 11 November 2016. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
  9. López, Víctor (21 April 2019). "El Levante, que acabó con 10, y el Espanyol se quedan a medias" [Levante, who ended with 10, and Espanyol go halfway]. Diario AS (in Spanish). Retrieved 4 November 2020.
  10. Martínez, Jorge (21 July 2020). "La IA define dónde se revalorizaría más la promesa Marc Roca: Madrid, contra Arsenal y Milan" [AI defines where would prospect Marc Roca increase in value more: Madrid, against Arsenal and Milan] (in Spanish). El Español. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
  11. "FC Bayern sign Marc Roca". FC Bayern Munich. 4 October 2020. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
  12. "1. FC Düren 0:3 Bayern München" (in German). German Football Association. 15 October 2020. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  13. Siemer, Torben (16 October 2020). "Wie schlugen sich die Neuen des FC Bayern?" [How did FC Bayern new faces fare?] (in German). Sport.de. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
  14. "Müller bringt Bayerns Arbeitssieg auf den Weg" [Müller gets hard-fought win for Bayern going] (in German). kicker. 31 October 2020. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
  15. "Bayern Munich 3–1 FC Red Bull Salzburg". BBC Sport. 25 November 2020. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
  16. "Catalonia impress before going down to Tunisia after penalty shootout". Sport. 28 December 2016. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
  17. Glark, Gill (27 June 2019). "Marc Roca, Spain advance to 2019 U21 Euro final with 4–1 win vs. France". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 24 August 2019.
  18. Fisher, Ben (30 June 2019). "Classy Spain sink Germany to lift Euro Under-21 Championship". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 August 2019.
  19. Marc Roca at Soccerway. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
  20. Begley, Emlyn (30 June 2019). "Spain U21 2–1 Germany U21". BBC Sport. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
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