Player profile

Pedro’s World Cup call-up comes off the back of a record-breaking season with Barcelona. In December, he became the first player ever to score in six different club competitions in one season: the league, Champions League, Spanish Cup, Spanish and European Supercups, and the Fifa Club World Cup.

The forward was not even assured of a first-team place – he started 22 league games in 2009/10 – but still amassed 23 goals and impressed with his pace, two-footedness and direct running.

Born in Tenerife, Pedro joined Barcelona shortly after his 16th birthday but three years later, in 2007, he was on the verge of being discarded until Pep Guardiola took over as Barcelona’s reserve coach.

He made 37 appearances as the reserve side won promotion in 2008, and he followed up with 10 goals in 17 matches at the start of the next season to follow Guardiola into the first-team set-up.

Pedro signed a five-year contract with a €75m release clause last summer after making 14 appearances during Barcelona’s treble-winning 2008-09 season. The diminutive Canary Islander came on as a late substitute in the 2009 Champions League final, replacing Andrés Iniesta.