Barcelona set unprecedented captaincy record with 9 players wearing the armband so far this season – Report | OneFootball

FC Barcelona have turned the captaincy into one of the strangest and most revealing stories of their season. Even though the official leadership group is limited to five players, the armband has already been worn by nine different footballers, a remarkable figure for an elite side and one that says plenty about how unusual this campaign has been.

According to SPORT, Barca have reached the latest international break with 46 matches played in all competitions, and no fewer than nine players have already worn the senyera armband. Injuries have played a major part in that spread, but so have small dressing-room gestures between senior players.

The most surprising detail is that the player to wear it most often from the start is not the first captain but Frenkie de Jong. The Dutchman has started 16 matches as captain, ahead of Araujo on 13 and Raphinha on nine.

Behind them come Pedri with three starts, Robert Lewandowski with two, and Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Ferran Torres and Eric Garcia with one each. Gavi then became the ninth name on the list in one of the season’s most symbolic moments.

That came against Sevilla on March 15, in a 5-2 win that almost felt designed to tell the story of this Barca squad. Raphinha began as captain, then handed the armband to Araujo when the Uruguayan entered in the second half, a show of respect to the team’s first captain.

Then came the real emotional detail. In the 82nd minute, with Gavi returning to action, Araujo offered him the armband for the final moments of the game. It was a small gesture, but one that captured the mood around the midfielder and the closeness of the group.

It is not a striking statistic or one that matters, but it shows two things. It shows that some of the captains haven’t necessarily been the preferred starting options in their position and that the team is always happy handing out gestures to long-term injured players.

It remains to be seen what the captaincy count is, come the end of the season.