It's been a few days since Barcelona thoroughly dismantled Manchester United to capture its second UEFA Champions League crown in three years, but the debate continues: Is the 2010-2011 edition of Barcelona the best club team ever?
There's plenty of evidence to support that notion.
The club's performance in the Champions League final was awe-inspiring. Between Lionel Messi's finishing and creating, the quality of Pedro and David Villa's goals, the incessant game of keep-away and the marking that made Javier Hernandez and Wayne Rooney — aside for one impressive finish — essentially invisible, the La Liga side dominated the title game on English soil. Barcelona possessed the ball for more than two-thirds of the game and outshot the Red Devils, 22-4, including a 12-1 edge in shots on goal.
The fact that hobbled centerback and captain Carles Puyol, who is having offseason knee surgery, only appeared to make a late cameo, makes the result even more overwhelming.
As for the rest of the club's achievements this season:
- Barcelona went 30-2-6 in league play to win the La Liga crown.
- Barcelona had a goal differential of +74 — 95 goals scored, 21 conceded — in its 38 league games (only Real Madrid scored more goals, 102, but it conceded 33).
- Barcelona went 9-1-3 in Champions League play, with its only loss being at Arsenal in the opening leg of their Round of 16 tie. It had a goal differential of +24 (33 scored, 9 conceded) in UCL games and only yielded more than one goal in a game once — in the 2-1 loss to Arsenal.
And then there's the roster.
Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Villa, Pique. The list goes on.
Not all star-studded rosters complete the task at hand, but Barcelona did.
The lone blemish on the club's triumphant season from a results standpoint was the Copa del Rey loss to Real Madrid, which prevented Barcelona from completing its treble. Detractors will also point to the diving antics of Dani Alves and Sergio Busquets and the gang-whining to referees about calls, which was extremely prevalent in the team's four games in 19 days with rival Madrid.
Others may point to the 2008-2009 Barcelona team that won six trophies (La Liga, Champions League, Copa del Rey, Club World Cup, Spanish Cup Winners Cup, European Cup Winners Cup) as a team that may have been more successful.
Regardless, the most recent edition of Barcelona was perhaps even more dominant than that team and must be at the forefront of the conversation when mentioning the greatest club teams of all time.
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What do you think? Is the 2010-2011 FC Barcelona the best club team ever? If not, which club from the past is?
Share your thoughts below.
booyah@
agreed. That is the beautiful game. They beat teams with beautiful skill, not athleticism, sprint speed, or crunching tackles. So exciting to watch them create, like artists painting a canvas. Very unpredictable. Work very hard. Make it look easy. Amazing to watch.
Now being reported by Reuters….
Concacaf fired Chuck Blazer (tweet from Grant Wahl)….. Can we boycott FIFA’s sponsors till something changes?
Real Madrid, Santos, Ajax, AC Milan, Barcelona… Exceptional teams on their own times…
I don’t know, I’m always partial to the 2002-2003 Real Madrid team…but I’m biased towards Zidane since that is the great player I grew up watching.
This Barcelona team has made the Beautiful Game…effective. In my lifetime, yes…the best team to play the game.
93-94 AC Milan is the best team ever. They conceded 15 goals in league play in a much tougher league at the time. They conceded 1 goal in the Champions League. Won the final 4-0 against Barca. Backline was the best ever assembled.
Agreed. I think Barca’s style is a pleasure to watch. The EPL plays at a breakneck pace, but it’s often rather unattractive soccer.
I don’t really doubt this Barca team would beat any other team if they got in a time machine to play them, but Real Madrid’s run in the second half of the ’50s was pretty impressive.
As for the team a couple years ago being “more successful”, that’s probably true on paper, but you also have to take into account that a stronger Real Madrid team stood in their way this year, and Barca got the better of them in the two most important competitions.
Both Sacchi’s Milan and current Barca are great teams, but it is hard to compare them because the rules of the game are different. The offside rules have been relaxed and Sacchi’s Milan’s offside trap would not be as effective under the current rules.
Yes, except that the Real-Barca rivalry engenders the most vituperative and biased commentary (on both sides) that even if Barca’s current side is the best ever, di Stefano would never say it.
In the 15 years that I’ve been watching, I think this Barca side is the best I’ve ever seen. However, I agree with other posters who feel that comparing teams from different eras is apples to oranges.
i believe he was joking.
I think they are in contention for best squad, club or international, to ever play to game. The only arguments against them are weaknesses at goalkeeper and past their nucleus of 14 players or so. However, I think it will be a long time before another team is comparably dominant while playing such breathtaking football.
Lance, did you get a kickback for the PED referral?
PEDs…nuff said…
It’s not just the players fitness, diet and trainign either. Would Barcelona’s short passing game work as well on the pitches of the 1950s? How would they do in international competitions if they had to travel by train and ship rather than charter flight?
All I can say is they are easily the best team I’ve seen in my lifetime.
That Milan to me is still the greatest team in history and then the Bayern of the 70s comes closely behind who also won back-to-back European cups, if this Barca team wins the next years Champions League, then we can start to discuss whether they’re among the greatest.
And these guys weren’t playing an MLS team…they were playing the undisputed best team from what many argue is the best league in the world, Manchester United. The fact that they just absolutely demolished and dominated ManU is what blows my mind. Boring soccer, some people say? You’ve got to be kidding me! I’ve never enjoyed watching a team as much as I love watching this year’s Barca. Best team I’ve ever seen…Best team ever? I don’t presume to know, but I have a hard time believing any other teams could beat who we saw on Saturday.
No diving against Manchester United. I wonder why?
Sorry kpugs:
NY cosmos: big names no doubt about it, but soccer is not collecting stamps or cards. These players were playing in their decadence.
A match NY-Cosmos Barcelona would be 0-7 or even more.
Know what you’re saying. I don’t have the historical perspective either and it’s hard to compare different eras… but yeah, Barca is is the best I’ve seen play in the last decade or so. Their performance Saturday was stunning.
To each his own. But, I love the passing and the creeping frustration on the faces of Barca’s opponents as the match progresses…
I also find Barca painfully boring. If this is the future of soccer, I’m out of here.
The core of the World Cup winning team plus Messi…that’s a pretty good team.
Best club I’ve seen play. Hands down.
The simulation antics of Mascherano, Villa and others is criminal though.
boring? you’re nuts. almost every goal they create is a thing of beauty. the way they pass the ball and get out of tight spaces with one-two’s is something that mesmerizes, and they make it look easy, game in and game out. if barca bores you, you don’t understand soccer.
I actually think the 2009 version was the best team of all time. They won six effing trophies in one year. I still think it was stupid they sold Eto’o. This team is a close second, though.
“I just can’t stand watching them because theyre so blasted boring”
Agreed completely.
“tiki-taki is absolutely devastating”
It can be, but it’s not unbeatable. You can’t try to attack them. Neither can you simply sit back and take the pressure. You need to be aggressive defensively. Inter did it well last year, and RM was doing it well this year in the Copa final and the beginning of the UCL, until the referee screwed them.
I did find it interesting to see that there was not much diving in the finals against United, but against Real everytime a player came close to contact the Barca player went down..
Their demolishing of Man Utd. eases my memories of the earlier CL knock-out games, but I did think Arsenal was playing a good game against them–though Silly Gunner fans who say they were going to beat them just isn’t accurate either..
Another thing worth noting is that 7 players from the CL final were “home-grown” through the Barca Academy.. that is a truly mindblowing fact, and makes their ridiculous debt that much more ridiculous.
When was the last time that the three candidates for Footballer of the Year were all from the same team?
The Milan team under Arrigo Sacchi won back to back CL, something this Barca team still has to do. The same team beat Barca with Romario, Stoichkov, Guardiola and Co. 4-0 in the CL finals. Now, that is a legendary team.
More pathetic inaccurate excuses from a RM supporter with rose colored glasses and blinders on.
When you are have the ball 1/3 of the time and are having to play defense 3 times as much and make 3 times as many tackles as the other team in a game, you’re much more likely to get yellow and red cards, especially when your gameplan is to tacle late and foul cynically. The more you put a ref in a position to possibly pull out a card the more likely you are to pay that price. The cards were the result of RM’s cynical defensive play, nothing else. Barcelona’s diving was a reaction to counter RM’s cynical play. You didn’t see Barca diving against Manchester..
Greatness is all relative to the era in which it was achieved because so much changes as time goes on. Personnel and trophy-wise they are definitely among the elite. 60’s Santos, ’77 cosmos, ’95 Ajax, 03 Arsenal and maybe the current iteration of Real Madrid are likely the only teams that can compare. Tactically, tiki-taki is absolutely devastating. any team that can outpossess United 69/31% should be incredible but I just can’t stand watching them because theyre so blasted boring – no real “battles” between players, persistent fouling when they are forced to play defense, Busqetts perpetually rolling around clutching his face, and the ominous shadow of Barca’s incredible debt are real reasons to dislike this team compared to some of the other great teams of history. Just my $0.02.
Great team. I think Real Madrid were pretty close — would have been even closer (and perhaps even surpassed Barca) if they were as healthy the entire season as Barca largely was.
As we saw in the Copa del Rey and the first 60 of the UCL first leg, Real Madrid was perfact able to play with Barca, so long as RM played Jose’s preferred defensive style (rather than the attacking style that saw them blown out at the beginning of the season) and the referee doesn’t make a dreadful error in sending Pepe off for absolutely no reason whatsoever.
If the ’77 Cosmos had all been in their prime, you could make an argument. But ll of these players best years were well behind them. they were more comparable to a traveling testimonial team.
Simple answer, no.
I agree. Clubs from the past (in any sport) will always be called “the greatest” but I always contend that modern clubs, even the mediocre ones, would outplay any great team of the past.
I doubt there are too many people who can say that (s)he witnessed all the past great teams against which this Barcelona team is compared to. And unless you followed them beyond your local league, it is hard to tell.
The great Santos team of Pele didn’t play in Europe and the style being played in South America at that time was different from the one played in Europe.
Even comparing the current squad against past Barcelona teams is difficult. Different style from the 1974 team that I started following and the Dream Team.
Like Pep has said numerous times, it will take time for history to tell where they belong. Remember that the current team has changed quite a bit from the team that started the string of Championships in 2006.
However, there is no denying that this team is something special, and that we are so lucky to see them in action.
Cheers
The answer to your question Ives is yes and Messi is the best player ever.
Then you have the Ajax teams of ’71-’73.
If Alfredo di Stefano comes out and says this Barca team is the best ever…thats when I think all conclusions can come drawn to a close because his 1950’s Real Madrid are really the only team that most people would contest as being possibly better and he has been around for so long and seen so much, he would be one of the best judges
I’ll give you an underrated team. Ajax 1995. Van der Sar, F.DeBoer, Blind, Rijkaard, Reizeiger as your defense. Seedorf, Litmanen, R.DeBoer in midfield. Finidi, Kluivert, Overmars up top. Oh…and Davids and Kanu on the bench. One loss in all competitions on the season.
Yes.
On the same level as Pele’s Santos team from the early 60’s? These guys however will get better and if we’re lucky as fans, more teams will try to emulate their style of play instead of hindering it. What we saw Saturday was truly something special. I’v already seen this one twice and I’m still in awe.
SAF said this was the best team he had ever faced, nuff said.
eh
Comparing teams from different eras is an impossible task. Modern diet and training methods (not to mention PEDs *cough*) have really raised the level of athleticism.
There’s also the money factor. Who knows how good some of the players of yesteryear might have been if they didn’t have to keep missing training to go on their paper-routes.
Still can’t touch the 1977 New York Cosmos. Pele, Chinaglia, Carlos Alberto, Beckenbauer etc. etc.
I don’t have the historical perspective to say definitively that this Barca squad was the best ever. I’m sure there are some past squads that might have a legitimate argument to the best ever claim.
Having said that, since I’ve been closely following soccer in the mid 90’s, they are easily the best team I’ve ever seen play. And I’d have to say they’ve got to at least be in the conversation of the all-time best squads ever…