{{primary_category}}
{{/primary_category}} 
View: Is Jack Wilshere v Barcelona the best teenage performance ever?
Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere stunned the world with a legendary performance against Barcelona, but is this the best performance from a teenager ever?
The former Arsenal midfielder announced his retirement from the game yesterday (8 July) and Gunners worldwide begun to start reminiscing about his best moments.
The one that first sprung to mind for the majority of Arsenal fans was Wilshere’s midfield clinic again Pep Guardiola’s prime Blauguarana side.
Sensational Performance
At the tender age of 19, Wilshere dominated a legendary midfield trio of Xavi, Sergio Busquets, and Andres Iniesta 11 years ago (16 February) and declared his unbelievable talent to the world on the biggest stage in the game.
Wearing the number 19 on his back, he showed energy throughout the game, covering every blade of grass possible.
Subscribe to Football Insider TV now
He outmuscled Xavi and Busquets several times while also dispossessing Argentine legend Lionel Messi numerous times throughout the magical evening.
The former Bournemouth and West Ham midfielder would come and claim possession from deep, picking the ball up from his defenders and easily beating the suffocating Guardiola press to start attacks and offload the ball to the attacking players.
Throughout the night, he was tough in his tackling, showed an exquisite weight of pass and had the precision of a seasoned veteran to ensure every pass reached his desired target.
Simply put, he was everywhere and the Gunners went on to win the game 2-1 with goals from Robin van Persie and Andrey Arshavin cancelling out David Villa’s opener on a mesmeric night at the Emirates Stadium.
A performance littered with precise slide tackles, mazy runs, lay-offs covering full-backs, dictating play, Cruyff-turns, bursts of pace, and defence-splitting passes.
That night Wilshere did it all, and if there has been a performance better from a teenager on that sort of stage in a game with that sort of importance, I would love to hear it.
In other news, Wilshere is close to re-joining his boyhood club as an under-18 coach.