Who is Marc Casado? Meet 19-year-old Barcelona midfielder named on the bench against Man United despite only playing 23 minutes at senior level

Barcelona named Marc Casadó on the bench against Manchester United in the Europa League. He is one of the 11 players sitting on the bench behind manager Xavi Hernandez.

The 19-year-old defensive midfielder has played just once for the Barcelona senior side while being named on the bench seven times. He made his debut as a replacement for Franck Kessie in the UEFA Champions League clash with Viktoria Plzen at the Doosan Arena earlier this season.

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The teenager was called up to the senior squad for the Champions League games after captaining the youth side in the UEFA Youth League's first two matches. The youth side did not miss him a lot on the pitch as they finished the group stage unbeaten – winning four and drawing two.

Xavi has been impressed with Casado and has called him up to his La Liga squad four times this season. He was on the bench for wins over Real Mallorca, Celta Vigo, UD Almeria and Osasuna, but he never got to play in any of the matches.

Where does Marc Casado play for Barcelona?

Marc Casadó is a defensive midfielder who plays a similar role to Sergio Busquets in the senior side. He is a regular for the Barcelona B side and has played 20 of their 23 matches so far.

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Casado missed two matches after being called up to the senior side, while a yellow card suspension saw him sit out the 1-0 win over Calahorra in January.

The teenager is yet to play in the Europa League and will be hoping to make his debut against Manchester United.

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Sripad is a veteran Sportskeeda football journalist who has been with the company for around 10 years. His tryst with writing happened in class XI when he started penning blogs, and his foray into football was during the early 2000s, watching matches with his cousins.

Sripad has been a Chelsea fan through and through since the age of 9 and can watch their 2012 Champions League triumph on repeat. The undisputed ‘GOAT’ according to him is Lionel Messi and his favorite managers are Jose Mourinho and Sir Alex Ferguson. Apart from popular European leagues, he also likes to follow other leagues like the MLS, Saudi Pro League, Eredivisie, and Liga MX.

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If given a chance to change a football rule, Sripad wants VAR to be fully automated and offside rules to be less stringent. When not working, he likes to watch past Formula 1 races and play FIFA.

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Edited by Rajdeep Barman