Krkic to break appearance record

Krkic to break appearance record

Roger Bogunyà

Bojan Krkic could become the youngest player to make 100 first team appearances for FC Barcelona if he appears against Athletic Club de Bilbao on Saturday evening.

On September 16, 2007 the striker made his debut for Barça against Osasuna in Reyno de Navarra and has now played 99 times for the Catalan outfit and can write his name in the club's record books by make it a century at the age of 19 years, two months and 24 days.

Goals galore

In his first 99 games for the team Krkic has scored 26 goals with 13 coming in the league, eight in the Copa del Rey, four in the Champions League and one in the Spanish Super Cup. That figure is made even more impressive when one considers that he only started in 42 of those matches as the other 57 as substituted.

Other records

In his first game in the starting line-up Krkic scored against Villarreal and became the youngest player to ever score a league for FC Barcelona. In the Champions League his first goal came against Schalke 04 in Germany and saw him become the second youngest player to ever score in the competition with only Oforiquaye ahead of him.

Rijkaard debut

Frank Rijkaard gave Krkic his debut at the highest level and in his first season, 2007-08, he scored ten goals. The following year he helped Pep Guardiola's team win the treble and played almost as many games, scoring five times.