The legendary No. 6 has announced his retirement from football, giving himself the opportunity to leave before his powers truly wane.

There was a funny sequence of events that happened multiple times every game when Sergio Busquets first came to MLS. He would do that Busquets thing, dropping from midfield to receive the ball deep. Soccer fans know the movements. The center backs split, Busquets lumbers back towards his own goal, just in time for the pass to come. Busquets receives on the half turn, swivels those jangly legs, and with a pivot of the hips shuffles and turns his body forward. It was the basis of what made him so excellent at Barcelona - the model of a modern defensive midfielder.

The challenge of doing it in La Liga, of course, was the on ball pressure. Teams had figured out that in order to stifle the Blaugrana, cutting off the outlet to Busquets might be a good start. But Busquets adjusted all the same. The pass would come. A defender would bite. Busquets would shrug them off and start an attacking move. A lot of the time - during Barca's heyday - the ball would soon end up in the back of the opponents' net.

And so when he came to MLS, Busquets expected much of the same. In his first start against Atlanta United in the Leagues Cup, Busquets went about that familiar routine: make the run, receive the pass, shrug off the defender. But as he turned in one smooth motion, almost expecting contact, none appeared. Busquets found himself remarkably open. That singular moment established the pattern of Busquets' MLS tenure. For Barcelona and his national team, he was the perfect guy to play through pressure and slow the game down when everything seemed so frantic - with and without the ball.

For Inter Miami, and in MLS, Busquets was charged with a different role: create, give the ball to Messi, and plug gaps. Soon it will be all over. Busquets announced Thursday night that he will retire from professional soccer at the end of the season. And even if Busquets isn't ending his career playing the same gorgeous tiki-taka football in the way he started it, this feels like the right time to call it a day.