Sergi Roberto

Sergi Roberto Carnicer (Catalan pronunciation: [ˈsɛɾʒi ruˈβɛɾtu], born 7 February 1992) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays for Barcelona and the Spain national team. Mainly a full-back, he can also operate as a defensive midfielder, central midfielder or winger.[3][4]

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Roberto and the second or maternal family name is Carnicer.
Sergi Roberto
Roberto playing for Barcelona in 2019
Personal information
Full name Sergi Roberto Carnicer[1]
Date of birth (1992-02-07) 7 February 1992
Place of birth Reus, Spain
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)[2]
Position(s) Full-back / Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Barcelona
Number 20
Youth career
2000–2004 Santes Creus
2004–2006 Gimnàstic
2006–2009 Barcelona
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2009–2013 Barcelona B 106 (7)
2010– Barcelona 192 (3)
National team‡
2008–2009 Spain U17 11 (3)
2010–2011 Spain U19 9 (0)
2011 Spain U20 5 (1)
2011–2014 Spain U21 14 (2)
2016– Spain 10 (1)
2011– Catalonia 6 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 31 January 2021
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 17 November 2020

He spent most of his career with Barcelona after making his first-team debut at the age of 18, going on to win several accolades with the club including six La Liga championships and two Champions Leagues.

Sergi Roberto made his first full appearance for Spain in 2016.

Club career
Sergi Roberto playing for FC Barcelona B in 2012

Born in Reus, Tarragona, Catalonia, Sergi Roberto began playing football with local UE Barri Santes Creus at the age of 8,[5][6] arriving in Barcelona's youth academy six years later from neighbours Gimnàstic de Tarragona.[7] In the 2009–10 season, at only 17, he first appeared with Barça's reserves, contributing with 29 appearances as the team returned to the second division after 11 years.

On 10 November 2010, Roberto made his debut for the first team, playing the second half of a 5–1 home win against Ceuta for the campaign's Copa del Rey (7–1 on aggregate).[8] On 27 April of the following year he made his first UEFA Champions League appearance, coming on as a substitute for David Villa in the last minute of a 2–0 away victory over Real Madrid for the competition semi-finals' first leg.[9]

Roberto first appeared in La Liga on 21 May 2011, playing the full 90 minutes in a 3–1 win at Málaga in the season's last round.[10] His first start for the main squad came on 6 December of that year, against BATE Borisov in the Champions League group stage, as manager Pep Guardiola rested all his starters for the upcoming El Clásico: in the 35th minute, he opened the scoring in an eventual 4–0 home win.[11]

In only his third official appearance for Barcelona's first team, on 12 January 2012, Roberto scored his second goal, helping the visitors come from behind to win it 2–1 against Osasuna in the domestic cup (6–1 on aggregate).[12] On 16 December 2014, also in that competition, he netted another, contributing to an 8–1 demolition of Huesca at the Camp Nou.[13]

In the 2015–16 season, after being reconverted by manager Luis Enrique and merely months after nearly being deemed surplus to requirements,[14][15] Roberto appeared as a right-back in several games.[16][17] In two consecutive matches against Athletic Bilbao in January 2016, one for the league and another for the Spanish Cup, he featured on the other flank in the place of injured Jordi Alba,[18] going on to play in as many as seven different positions.[3]

On 20 August 2016, Roberto started as a right-back and provided two assists in a 6–2 home defeat of Betis in the opening match of the campaign.[19] On 24 September, from the same position, he again contributed with two assists in a 5–0 away rout of Sporting de Gijón.[20]

On 8 March 2017, Roberto scored the final goal for Barcelona in the 95th minute as part of a decisive 6–1 home victory against Paris Saint-Germain in the second leg of the Champions League round-of-16, making Barcelona the first club to overcome a four-goal deficit in the competition.[21][22] On 22 February 2018, he extended his contract until 2022.[23]

In injury time of the first half of El Clásico on 6 May 2018, Roberto was shown a straight red card after punching Marcelo, in an eventual 2–2 home draw.[24] He was first-choice right-back during the season ahead of newly signed Nélson Semedo, and his team won the national championship after a one-year wait.[25]

International career
Sergi Roberto playing for Catalonia against Cape Verde in 2013.

In October 2009, shortly after making his Barcelona B debuts, Sergi Roberto was called by the Spanish under-17 team for the 2009 FIFA World Cup in Nigeria. On 5 November, before being substituted by Javier Espinosa in the 88th minute, he scored a hat-trick against Burkina Faso at the Sani Abacha Stadium in Kano.[26][27] Spain eventually finished third in the tournament, with him and Atlético Madrid's Borja Bastón accounting for eight of the team's total goals.[28]

Roberto made his debut for the under-21 side on 5 September 2011, playing the last four minutes of the 2–0 win in Lugo over Georgia for the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifiers.[29] He received his first call up to the senior squad in March 2016, for friendlies against Romania and Italy.[30] His debut took place in the former match on the 27th, as he started in a 0–0 draw in Cluj-Napoca.[31]

Style of play

Sergi Roberto plays predominantly as a full-back, but also excels in midfield. In the 2015–16 season, under Luis Enrique, he played in seven different positions with Barcelona. This versatility, combined with his pace, strength, rigorous work rate and accurate passing earned the praise of the manager: "In a team like ours, except in goal, he could play in any position, it's no surprise. The most difficult thing is doing it well all over the field and Sergi Roberto does that."[32][3] He is best utilized as a box-to-box player.[33]

Personal life

In 2014, Sergi Roberto started dating Israeli model Coral Simanovich (Pnina Rosenblum's step-daughter).[34] They became engaged in early September 2017,[35][36] and got married in Tel Aviv on 30 May 2018.[37] Their first daughter, Kaia, was born in 2019.[38]

Roberto's mother, María Rosa Carnicer, died in December 2019, a year after being diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.[39][40] On 2 December 2020, he tested positive for COVID-19.[41]

Career statistics

Club
As of 3 February 2021[42]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Copa del Rey Europe Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Barcelona B 2009–10 Segunda División B 290—290
2010–11 Segunda División 262—262
2011–12 284—284
2012–13 231—231
Total 1067—1067
Barcelona 2010–11 La Liga 10101[lower-alpha 1]00030
2011–12 10211[lower-alpha 1]10042
2012–13 10301[lower-alpha 1]00050
2013–14 170604[lower-alpha 1]000270
2014–15 120422[lower-alpha 1]0—182
2015–16 310608[lower-alpha 1]14[lower-alpha 2]0491
2016–17 320608[lower-alpha 1]11[lower-alpha 3]0471
2017–18 301808[lower-alpha 1]02[lower-alpha 3]0481
2018–19 290619[lower-alpha 1]00[lower-alpha 3]0441
2019–20 301206[lower-alpha 1]01[lower-alpha 3]0391
2020–21 81103[lower-alpha 1]000121
Total 19234545138029610
Career total 298104545138040217
Notes
  1. All appearances in UEFA Champions League
  2. One appearance in UEFA Super Cup, one appearance in Supercopa de España and one appearance in FIFA Club World Cup
  3. All appearances in Supercopa de España

International
As of 17 November 2020[43]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Spain
201631
201820
201920
202030
Total101
As of 5 September 2016[43]
Scores and results list Spain's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Roberto goal.
List of international goals scored by Sergi Roberto
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
15 September 2016Reino de León, León, Spain Liechtenstein2–08–02018 FIFA World Cup qualification

Honours

Club

Barcelona[2]

International

Spain U17

Individual

References
  1. "Acta del partido celebrado el 02 de enero de 2016, en Barcelona" [Minutes of the match held on 2 January 2016, in Barcelona] (in Spanish). Royal Spanish Football Federation. 2 January 2016. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  2. "S. Roberto". FC Barcelona. Archived from the original on 6 November 2015. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  3. "Sergi Roberto is 'Mr.Versatile'". FC Barcelona. 19 January 2016. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
  4. "Sergi Roberto". Who Scored. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
  5. Gil, Jordi (13 November 2015). "El fax que le cambió la vida a Sergi Roberto" [The fax that changed the life of Sergi Roberto]. Sport (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  6. Domènech, Oriol (27 July 2012). "Reus, la cantera del Barça" [Reus, Barça's youth system]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). Retrieved 29 January 2016.
  7. "Youth: Sergi Roberto aims to make a future at Barça". Total Barça. 21 March 2010. Archived from the original on 24 April 2010. Retrieved 1 May 2010.
  8. Aldunate, Ramiro (11 November 2010). "Hay Barça para rato" [We have Barça for a long time]. Marca (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  9. "Ten-man Madrid undone by Messi magic". UEFA. 27 April 2011. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
  10. "Second XI ease to win". ESPN Soccernet. 21 May 2011. Retrieved 21 May 2011.
  11. "Youthful Barcelona breeze past BATE". UEFA. 6 December 2011. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  12. Aldunate, Ramiro (12 January 2012). "Messi enciende las antiniebla" [Messi turns fog lamps on]. Marca (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 January 2012.
  13. "Barcelona 8–1 Huesca (12–1 agg)". BBC Sport. 16 December 2014. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
  14. Rico, Miguel (2 November 2013). "El extraño caso de Sergi Roberto" [The strange case of Sergi Roberto]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). Retrieved 23 November 2015.
  15. Maxedo, Cristian (2 October 2015). "Sergi Roberto, la decisión más inteligente de Luis Enrique" [Sergi Roberto, Luis Enrique's smartest decision] (in Spanish). Eurosport. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  16. San Antonio, Ivan (2 September 2015). "Revealed: How Luis Enrique convinced Sergi Roberto to switch to right-back". Sport. Retrieved 29 September 2015.
  17. "Eusebio Sacristán: Sergi Roberto será el futuro lateral derecho del Barcelona" [Eusebio Sacristán: Sergi Roberto will be Barcelona's future right-back] (in Spanish). Goal. 3 October 2015. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  18. "Sergi Roberto, el comodín de Luis Enrique" [Sergi Roberto, Luis Enrique's joker]. Marca (in Spanish). 20 January 2016. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
  19. Mitten, Andy (21 August 2016). "Barcelona: Suarez and Messi share limelight, but Sergi Roberto subtly emerges as a key". The National. Retrieved 21 August 2016.
  20. Marsden, Samuel (24 September 2016). "Barcelona coach Luis Enrique praises 'quality' right-back Sergi Roberto". ESPN FC. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  21. "Barcelona complete stunning six-goal comeback against PSG". ESPN FC. 8 March 2017. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  22. Lowe, Sid (8 March 2017). "Barcelona shatter PSG as Roberto caps absurd 6–1 comeback win". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
  23. "Sergi Roberto: 'I want to stay as long as I can'". FC Barcelona. 22 February 2018. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  24. "Barcelona y Madrid ofrecen una noche de fútbol y tensión" [Barcelona and Madrid offer night of football and tension]. La Opinión de Murcia (in Spanish). 6 May 2018. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  25. "Valverde elege o melhor lateral-direito do mundo... e não é Nélson Semedo" [Valverde elects the world's best right-back... and it's not Nélson Semedo]. A Bola (in Portuguese). 23 February 2018. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  26. "Sergi Roberto catapulta a España Sub-17 a cuartos del Mundial" [Sergi Roberto catapults Spain Under-17s to the World Cup quarter-finals] (in Spanish). Europa Press. 5 November 2009. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  27. "Espanha e Nigéria avançam no Mundial Sub-17" [Spain and Nigeria go through in Under-17 World Cup] (in Portuguese). ESPN Brasil. 5 November 2009. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
  28. "Consuelo de bronce" [Bronze consolation]. El Mundo (in Spanish). 15 November 2009. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
  29. "Canales double earns Spain the points". UEFA. 5 September 2011. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  30. Corrigan, Dermot (18 March 2016). "Diego Costa overlooked as Spain call up striker Aritz Aduriz instead". ESPN FC. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  31. Juanmartí, Toni (27 March 2016). "A Rumanía y España se les atraviesa el gol en el debut de Sergi Roberto" [Romania and Spain wanted nothing to do with goal in debut of Sergi Roberto]. Sport (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 March 2016.
  32. "Sergi Roberto – The dynamic midfielder". Defending with the Ball. 27 September 2013. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
  33. Travis, Mark (22 August 2017). "Sergi Roberto: The Blaugrana Chameleon". Blaugrana Waves. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
  34. "Así es Coral Simanovich, la futura mujer de Sergi Roberto" [Meet Coral Simanovich, Sergi Roberto's future wife]. Marca (in Spanish). 2 September 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  35. Montes, Silvia (4 September 2017). "Sergi Roberto y Coral Simanovich anuncian su compromiso" [Sergi Roberto and Coral Simanovich announce their engagement]. Diario AS (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  36. "¡El Barça se va de boda! Sergi Roberto y Coral Simanovich anuncian su compromiso" [Barça get marrying! Sergi Roberto and Coral Simanovich announce their engagement] (in Spanish). ¡Hola!. 6 September 2017. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  37. "A romantic and wild pre-wedding party for Sergi Roberto and Coral Simanovich". Marca. 30 May 2018. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  38. "Sergi Roberto announces the birth of Kaia, his first daughter". FC Barcelona Sport. 9 November 2019. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  39. "Sergi Roberto's mother diagnosed with ALS". Marca. 21 June 2018. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  40. "Barcelona offer condolences to Sergi Roberto following the death of his mother". Marca. 28 December 2019. Retrieved 30 December 2019.
  41. "Sergi Roberto tests positive for COVID-19". Marca. 2 December 2020. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  42. "Sergi Roberto". Soccerway. Retrieved 26 May 2015.
  43. "Sergi Roberto". European Football. Retrieved 9 November 2016.
  44. "Our Champions League breakthrough team of 2016". UEFA. 24 December 2016. Retrieved 24 December 2016.
  45. L., Viktor (14 November 2017). "Barcelona star wins Catalan footballer of the year". Soccer Info Mania. Archived from the original on 7 February 2018. Retrieved 7 February 2018.
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