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29.10.2009 13:42
Barca Brothers
Manel Tomàs / Jordi Clos
Jonathan dos Santos followed in his brother Giovani's footsteps on Wednesday night when he made his first team debut for the club and the two join a long line of brothers who've figured for the team.
Jonathan came on for the last 190 minutes against Cultural Leonesa, whilst his brother Giovani made a total of 50 appearances for the first team between 2006 and 2008. The Dos Santos brothers are though, just the latest in a long history of brothers at the club.
De Boer, López and Garcia brothers
The most recent brothers at the club were the twins Frank and Ronald De Boer who
signed from Ajax in 1998. Frank stayed for five years and made 243 appearances, whilst brother
Ronald left for Glasgow Rangers in 2000.
The twins were at the club alongside the younger of the López Segú brothers, Gerard, who came up through the youth structure before leaving for Valencia and returning in 2000. A decade earlier his brother Sergi had been one of the great young promises at the club before injury stopped his progress when he was already a first team regular.
The Garcia Junyent family provided three brothers in the 1990s: older brother Genis only figured in four friendlies for the first team in 1996, but his two brothers Oscar and Roger played 148 and 138 games each under Cruyff, Robson and Van Gaal.
Contrasting fortunes
Less well known were the Rifé brothers: Llorenç only appeared in 24 games between
1958 and 1962, whilst his brother Quimet was one of the most famous wingers in the club's history,
playing 527 over 12 seasons. A similar case was the Rodriguez brothers: Ricardo, known as
“Calo” played in defence from 1954 to 1960, but will be forever overshadowed by his
brother Cesar's 294 goals for the club.
Common occurrence at club's start
The presence of members of the same family was much more common at the
start of the club's history, with the Gonzalvo (Juli, Josep and Marià), Parera (Manuel and Ramon),
Cella i Comamala (Arseni and Carles), as well as the English brothers Arthur and Ernest Witty, who
were decisive in the founding and consolidation of the club in 1899.
Close, but not quite!
There are more cases of brothers, one of whom didn't quite make it at the club, such as Jose Mari
Bakero – a pillar of the Dream Team, and his brother Jon, who played a few seasons in the
reserves without ever appearing for the first team or the Basoras – Estanislau was one of the
mythical Five Cups team, whilst his brother Joaquim –or ‘Basora II’– only
managed five friendlies in the 52/53 season.
