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Who is Marc Guiu? The 17-year-old scored just 30 seconds into his FC Barcelona debut on Saturday against Athletic Bilbao in La Liga, and made his UEFA Champions League debut on Wednesday against Shakhtar Donetsk.
He made history by scoring the quickest goal by a Barcelona player on their league debut, and looks set to break many other records over the course of his career.
Who is Marc Guiu? Barcelona wonderkid profiled
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Guiu is a striker who has predominantly featured in Barcelona’s academy. He has played eight times at youth level in total, scoring twice, and has also netted eight goals in 12 appearances for Spain’s U17 side.
Due to several injuries in the squad, Guiu was named in a senior matchday squad for the first time on Saturday, and was given a chance by Xavi to start his own Barcelona legacy…
Guiu scores 30 seconds into debut
Picture the scene: it is the 80th minute, and Barcelona are being held 0-0 at home by Bilbao. The electronic board shows that no.38 was set to come on. It is Guiu, a barely-known teenager from Barca’s academy.
Just a few seconds later, Joao Felix has the ball in Bilbao’s half, and Guiu makes a run in behind. Felix threads the ball through to him, and with one touch, he drives into the penalty box.
In on goal, Guiu opens up his body, and places the ball beyond the rushing goalkeeper and into the net. The celebrations are jubilant, as the youngster has just given Barcelona the lead late on in front of their home fans.
Barca win the game 1-0, and move up to third in the La Liga table, just one point behind leaders and arch rivals Real Madrid, ahead of the much-anticipated El Clasico.
WHAT A MOMENT! 😱😱
Just seconds after coming on for his first action as a Barcelona senior player, Marc Guiu scores what could well be a late winner! 🔵🔴 pic.twitter.com/qWX0gFTJhI
— Viaplay Sports UK (@ViaplaySportsUK) October 22, 2023
Guiu makes Champions League debut
On Wednesday, Barcelona beat Shakhtar 2-1 at home on matchday three of the Champions League group stage. Xavi’s team raced into a 2-0 lead before half-time, thanks to goals from Ferran Torres and Fermin Lopez. The latter is another youngster impressing at Barca at just 20 years old, and was certainly the star player in the game.
Shakhtar pulled one back just after the hour mark through Georgiy Sudakov, before Felix went down injured a few minutes later. Fresh from scoring on his La Liga debut, Guiu came on to replace him.
He did not score this time, but was still impressive in his short cameo, as he won a duel, had a shot on goal, and was fouled – recording 10 touches of the ball in total.
With Felix joining Robert Lewandowski on the injury list, all eyes are now on Guiu with El Clasico on Saturday…
Will Marc Guiu start in El Clasico?
With Lewandowski and Felix injured, Barcelona are short of options to play up front against Madrid. Given Guiu’s remarkable debut last time out in La Liga, and the fact that he has more senior minutes under his belt after playing in the Champions League, he could earn his first senior start in the biggest game in club football.
It would be an unbelievable sign of faith from Xavi should he choose to start him, and even if he is named on the bench again, Guiu should at least expect to come on in what would be the biggest moment of his career.
See also: Which player got a pig’s head thrown at them in a 2002 Clasico?
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