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Teenage footballer Marc Guiu made history this Sunday in his La Liga debut with the Barça first team. The blaugrana striker, only 17 years old, jumped onto the pitch at the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium and, in just 23 seconds, scored the goal that gave the team managed by Xavi Hernández a 1-0 victory against Athletic Club , allowing Barça to reach next weekend's Clásico just one point behind Real Madrid. But who is Marc Guiu, the young footballer who made his debut with the first team in the best possible way?

Guiu, born in the Catalan city of Granollers on January 4th, 2006, has lived all his life in Sant Celoni (Vallès Oriental), where he studied at the Cor de Maria school. A product of Barça's youth academy, La Masia, he is currently a player in Barça's Juvenil A, where he has scored 5 goals, although this season he also made his debut in the Primera Federación division with Barça Atlètic (aka Barça B) for 8 minutes in the match against Nàstic. The 1.87-metre-tall 17-year-old has gone through all the lower categories of the Barcelona club, where he arrived in 2013, when he was only 7 years old, and in February 2022 he signed his first professional contract. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by MARC GUIU 🦁 (@marcguiu9)

Although he debuted in the league for the first time this Sunday, the youngster had already played with Barça's first team during the pre-season: in the friendly against Vissel Kobe, in Japan, a match that Barça won 0-2. As far as official matches, Xavi called up the striker, who plays in the '9' position, in the duel against Granada, and although his debut didn't come about until the Athletic Bilbao match, it set the fans ablaze when it happened.

Marc Guiu, dream debut with an historic goal

Simply, Marc Guiu became the instant star of Sunday's match at Montjuïc, scoring the winning goal with the first ball he touched. The young footballer took advantage of the opportunity in the 79th minute to make it 1-0 and give the blaugrana the advantage that was proving elusive. "I saw that João Félix controlled the ball on his own and there was a lot of space behind the centre backs. He gave it to me with the quality he has and, in front of Unai Simón, it became a reality", explained Guiu in statements after the match. "It was a very rapid play, I hardly had time to think, it was all by intuition," he acknowledged.

Visibly excited, the 17-year-old affirmed that "he had dreamed of this moment many times". "Many nights and at many times," he added. By the way, his surname Guiu sounds almost like the English word "you" - and in front of that, you just put the first letter, a "hard English" g (as in game or gossip). So from "you" to... Guiu!    

What does Xavi say about Marc Guiu?

The Barça coach on Marc Guiu's contribution: "It's a homegrown kid who made the difference, his goal gave us three very important points". "I have no problem taking our homegrown talent, quite the opposite. The way we are, you have to look to our own players. I think we have talent and you just have to give them confidence like they did with me at 17 or 18", he detailed.