Are we Witnessing the Best Barcelona Side Ever?

Messi has been instrumental in this side's success

 - Picture Courtesy of Lobo

The stats speak for themselves. 43 points after 16 weeks. Only 4 points dropped so far. 51 goals scored in that same period. Only conceeding 9 goals during thos games which is only 0.625 per game. 10 games now won consecutively, and an 100% record away in all games to boost. The aggregate score of their last five league games: 26-1. The clubs played against: Almería, Real Madrid, Osasuna, Real Sociedad and Espanyol. In that list you have the most successful club in the world, their perennial local rivals and a top-half club. This Barcelona side completed the calender year with a record 103 points. The club also have three of their players in the FIFA Ballon d'Or shortlist, which, strangely enough, consists of only three players. What is even more remarkable is that all three of those players, Xavi Hernández, Andrés Iniesta and Lionel Messi, were brought up in La Masia, the Barcelona youth setup. Not only that, but eight of the Barcelona first team that obliterated Real Madrid 5 - 0 came from La Masia and six of the Spain first team that won their first World Cup earlier this year came from the same youth academy. It is also important to remember that this Barcelona side is practicaly the same one that won six out of six competitions they competed in a year ago. No-one in history has rivalled that. 

So for all of the statistics and beautiful football they play, are they the greatest Barcelona side ever? The Catalan side are no strangers to great stars and teams, so they will come up under tough opponents. 

The first successful Barcelona side came about in the early twenties, spearheaded by Josep Samitier. The native from Barcelona played in central midfield, and according to many, pioneered leading from the back in the midfield general role. Up until then the key players in Spain were the forwards, who were strong and big, like Pichichi, playing the characterstically tough football found in Northern Spain. No tiki-taka found at that time. Samitier was a great all-round footballer, capable of scoring 326 goals for Barcelona while also being ruthless in the tackle. He was also the highest paid footballer in Spain by the mid-twenties.

Barcelona weren't just funding Samitier's night life, however,  they also enrolled Ricardo Zamora, a promising 19-year goalkeeper old from rivals Espanyol. Zamora was a great goalkeeper, but like Samitier, moved to Real Madrid afterwards. Zamora's performances for both clubs have led to the award to the best goalkeeper in Spain to be named after him, as 'Pichichi' is for the top scorer. 

The Barcelona side of the twenties also had a key goalscorer: Paulino Alcántara. The Philippines-born striker of part Spanish inheritance is the all time top scorer for Barcelona, having netted 357 goals in as many games.

In the three years that all of those players were together, the club won three Capionat de Catalunyas and two Copa del Reys. There was no La Liga to win, as it had been created in 1929, which Barcelona with an aging Samitier won. 

The next great team Barcelona had arrived with a Hungarian in the back of a truck: László Kubala. Born to a working-class Slovak family in Budapest, Kubala was a talented footballer with excellent dribbling skills. In his early career Kubala turned out for popular clubs in Central Europe such as Ferencváros, Slovan Bratislava and Vasas. 

He left Hungary in January 1949, as the Soviet Union consolidated its sphere of influence over Eastern Europe. Kubala, fearing Communist control, fled Hungary in the boot of a truck and arrived in Allied-control Austria. He then moved onto Italy to play for Pro Patria and Torino, just before the dreadful Superga air disaster which wiped out a whole generation of talented footballers. Soon Hungary appealed to FIFA as Kubala had fled, leaving him unable to do national service. FIFA consequently issued him with a one-year ban. 

Kubala then started a football team with Ferdinand Daučík in 1970 called 'Hungaria', which was made up of refugees from Eastern Europe. Hungaria toured Spain, and it was there that Samitier, now a scout with Barcelona, lay eyes upon the Hungarian.

Samitier wasn't the only scout watching Kubala, Real Madrid were as well. Apparantely, Samitier used his warm relationship with Dictator Franco to secured Kubala's move to Barcelona instead of the Hungarian moving to Real Madrid. This suggests that Franco didn't hate Barcelona that much, or at least valued his relationship with Samitier highly. Nevertheless, Kubala signed for Barcelona with Daučík appointed coach. Due to the one-year ban he had with FIFA, Kubala only started playing competetive football for Barcelona in 1951. 

Within his first season, Kubala had scored 26 goals in 19 games and had established himself at Barcelona. He defined the club during the 1950s, a decade that was overshadowed by Real Madrid's growing success and the Di Stéfano transfer saga. One theory for the Argentine's snub of Barcelona was because it was believed the club wouldn't be big enough for him and Kubala. Towards the end of the decade, however, Barcelona emerged from the shadows, with a certain pre-catenaccio Helenio Herrera in charge of the side. Fellow Hungarians arrived, such as the prolific Sándor Kocsis and skillfull Zoltán Czibor, both part of the Magical Magyars side that dominated the early 50s of football. 

Another member of that Barcelona side was Luis Suárez, a Spanish midfielder who was a fantastic passer of the ball. He won the Ballon d'Or in 1960 as a Barcelona player and went on with Herrera to Internazionale, were that team dominated Italian and European football. 

Barcelona won La Liga and Copa Generalísimo in 1959 and La Liga and Fairs Cup in 1960. They then went on to reach the Champions League final a year later, losing 3-2 to Benfica and the golden boot of Eusébio.

In 1988 Barcelona decided to revert to a club legend to coach the team in Johann Cruijff. With him, the Dream Team was born and some of the most successful years for Barcelona were under his tutelage. 

Cruijff blended a mix of Spanish players and luxury foreigners to help the side win its first ever European cup. In goal featured Andoni Zubizarreta, the record cap-holder for the Spanish national team and former Athletic Bilbao player. Other Basques, such as José Mari Bakero, Txiki Begiristain and Andoni Goikoetxea played for the club regularly.

The leader of the side and current manager, Josep Guardiola, was a lifelong supporter of the club and a Catalan. He joined La Masia when he was thirteen and started out on the right-wing. When Cruijff was watching him player for the youth team, he told Rexach, the youth team manager to play him in the middle. The change worked and Guardiola played the general role created earlier by Samitier to full effect, bossing the midfield. 

With the Spaniards came the addition of foreigners, some of whom were the greatest players in the world. Ronald Koeman played at centre-back for Barcelona and possessed a fierce shot coming forward. His presence in defence helped sturdy a very fluid and attacking team, carried on by Cruijff from the totalvoetbal days of the seventies. 

Hristo Stoichkov, who unlike Kubala left Eastern Europe after the 1989 revolutions, played for the Dream Team. Had Bulgaria been a Communist country, Stoichkov may not have left to play abroad, with footballers in the Eastern Bloc not allowed to leave until they were 28 years old. It is for that rule that players such as Ference Puskas played out their best years in Eastern Europe instead of moving to the richer leagues which many young players decide to do nowadays. Stoichkov was a player of fantastic technique and touch, a player that went in hand-in-hand with Cruijff's vision of football. 

Another player which did so was Michael Laudrup, a player who won the European Championship with Denmark in the same year as winning the Champions League for Barcelona. 

It was the Champions League win in 1992 in Wembley which defined this Dream Team, for they were the first Barcelona side to win the European Cup. It was thanks to a Koeman free-kick that they overcame Sampdoria in extra time.The trophy had eluded them until now, forever written next to Real Madrid's name.To win it now was a great relief for the whole club.

The success the Dream Team had was also a symbol of Barcelona's revival after the Franco years as a major cultural centre. 1992 was the year when the Olympics were held in Barcelona, were the other Dream Team which was the USA Basketball team dominating play. Artists began to flock to Catalonia and Barcelona had a successful team once again.

There has been difficulty in deciding the greatest ever Barcelona team as there will always be in judging football across time periods. Unless you have seen all of the teams mentioned, from 1920 to 2010, how can you possibly decide which is better. I myself have only been alive to see the current Barcelona side play in this list. Most of the assumptions you make on former teams are based on articles and people reminiscing. Furthermore, all the teams mentioned in this article have a honourable claim to the title. 

I, however, believe that the current Barcelona side are the best Barcelona side that has ever been. Which team can lay claim to La Liga, Copa del Rey, Supercopa de España, Champions League, European Supercup and World Club Cup at the same time? Which side can have the record amount of points in La Liga? The answer is in the question. I may be biased, having lived to see this great team, but there are reasons behind it.

Talent Scout: Gylfi Sigurðsson

In the first of a new series, I will be profiling the latest 'wonderkids' in European football and rating the stars of tomorrow. Up first: Gylfi Sigurðsson

Gylfi Sigurðsson

Name: Gylfi Þór Sigurðsson

D.O.B.: 09/09/1989

Age: 21

P.O.B.: Reykjavík 

National Team: Iceland

Position: Central Midfielder/Attacking Midfielder

Club: TSG 1899 Hoffenheim (Germany)

Games (Goals) this season: 10 (5)

Previous Clubs: FH (Iceland, Youth), Breiðablik (Iceland, Youth), Reading (England), Shrewsbury Town (England, Loan), Crewe Alexandra (England, Loan)

Gylfi Sigurðsson will be a familiar name to football fans in England. He was part of the Reading team which had that remarkable FA Cup run last year, beating clubs such as Liverpool and West Bromwich Albion on their way to the quarter finals. Sigurðsson established himself in the middle of Reading's midfield and contributed with 16 goals in 32 games. He also proved to be a set-piece specialist, converting many penalties and thundering in free-kicks for the Berkshire side. Much to the disappointment of Reading's fans, however, Sigurðsson was tracked by scouts from bigger teams across Europe and eventually left at the end of August to the Bundesliga.

Sigurðsson joined Hoffenheim on the the last day of the summer transfer window for £6 million. The Bundesliga club must be credited for their successful scouting policy, unearthing talented young players such as Chinedu Obasi, Carlos Eduardo and Isaac Vorsah from all over the globe in the aim to consolidate and build on their position in the Bundesliga. Their relatively low reputation, owing to their lack of significant footballing history, has left them looking for young players from smaller nations. Sigurðsson has adapted fairly well to life in Baden-Württemberg, scoring goals against Hannover, Mainz and Kaiserslautern. Despite a goal record of one goal every two games, however,  three of these have come from set-pieces and he hasn't established himself in Hoffenheim's first team. Furthermore, not all young players who joined Hoffenheim have been successful, such as the Finn Jukka Raitala, who has only played one game for them since joining last January.


Iceland boast a talented generation of players coming through their youth system, with their U-21 team qualifying for the next European U-21 Championship, the first major tournament in the country's history. Along with Sigurðsson, that team contains Coventry's Aron Gunnarsson, Odense's Rúrik Gíslason and AZ's Kolbeinn Sigþórsson, all of which have played for the senior Icelandic side and look a good bet of finally condemning the reliance of the national team on Eiður Guðjohnsen . Sigurðsson has played an active role in that success, scoring twice against Scotland with long range strikes in a qualifier.


Sigurðsson's main attributes include his free-kick taking, his passing and his long range strikes. He is technically astute but for a central midfielder he could improve on his defensive skills to become a world-class player.


A very good video compilation on Sigurðsson

Benfica 1 - 2 Schalke 04: Match Report

Before this game, both teams had something to play for. Benfica had to ensure that Hapoel Tel-Aviv didn't gain at least two more points than them against Lyon to qualify for the Europa League as third in their group, whilst Schalke needed Lyon to not gain two more points than they did in the last match of the group stage to guarantee first place and receive an 'easier' draw for the knock-out stages. Benfica fans obviously weren't excited by the prospect of Europa League football as only a paltry 23,000 people came to watch the game in the 65,000 seater Estádio da Luz.

Starting Line Ups:

Benfica:

12 - Roberto

14 - Maxi Pereira

4 - Luisão

23 - David Luiz

18 - Fábio Coentrão 

6 - Javi García 

5 - Ruben Amorim

25 - César Peixoto

17 - Carlos Martins

30 - Javier Saviola

7 - Óscar Cardozo

Jorge Jesus employed a 4-4-2 diamond formation, with Amorim and Peixoto positioned somewhere between central midfield and winger roles. Maxi Pereira and Coentrão provided further width to the team with energetic runs down the flanks. Javi García was the deepest of midfielders, but he stayed relatively close to Amorim and Peixoto. Carlos Martins played as a enganche in the first half.

Schalke:

1 - Manuel Neuer

22 - Atsuto Uchida

4 - Benedikt Höwedes 

21 - Cristoph Metzelder

13 - Lukas Schmitz

14 - Kyriakos Papadopoulos

12 - Peer Kluge

18 - José Manuel Jurado

10 - Ivan Rakitić

7 - Raúl 

25 - Klaas-Jan Huntelaar

It was extremely difficult to define the shape of Schalke's midfield. Throughout the whole game, Papadopoulos protected the back four and was efficient in dispossessing Benfica and passing the ball onto someone else; he is a natural centre-back. The rest of the midfield, however, swapped places for much of the game, with Kluge mostly stationed on the right and Rakitić on the left. Whenever Schalke were out of possession, Kluge and Rakitić would tuck inside, forming a three-man centre midfield. Conversely, when Schalke had the ball, they would move out towards the wings, opening the play up. Raúl often tracked back to make the most out of his passing and technical abilities.

Opening Minutes: Contrasting Styles

Generally in football, the first twenty minutes establish what the game will be like in the remainder of the game. Up until the Schalke goal, however, Benfica were dominating and were making use of their short passing game. The match created an interesting juxtaposition between the short, slow passing of the Latin game and the fast, direct passing which is common in northern Europe. Benfica controlled the possession while Schalke were penned back into their own half. Furthermore, when Benfica had the ball, their players would take longer to decide where to pass it to, but when the Germans received the ball, their first aim would be to play a long ball towards Huntelaar and Raúl up front. Schalke also wanted to stretch the game more as when they had possession of the ball  Rakitić and Kluge would go to wide positions. Whilst it meant that their direct game would be more effective, the fact they played centrally while out of possession meant that Benfica wouldn't have a two man advantage in the centre of midfield and couldn't out-pass Schalke, which they were hoping to do.

Soon Schalke began to take the game to Benfica and sure enough scored in the 19th minute when Raúl spread the ball out to the left flank where Schmitz was stationed, who immediately laid it back for Rakitić to swing a cross in to an unmarked Raúl, who chested the ball back for fellow countryman Jurado to put the ball past Roberto with the outside of his foot. Schalke made the most of some dire marking by Benfica who didn't seem to posses the spirit to come back into the game in front of nearly-empty stands.  

Half Time Changes: Benfica more Attacking

At half time Jorge Jesus made a couple of substitutions at half time to try and introduce some pace and width into the team. Maxi Pereira went off for Nicolás Gaitán and Pablo Aimar came on for César Peixoto.Ruben Amorim went to right back and Gaitán was stationed on the left flank. Carlos Martins was left on the right wing, most probably because maybe there was a slight chance of discouraging him from shooting from distance, which he had done for much of the match. It failed, and he was later substituted for Eduardo Salvio, a more natural right-winger and a player less incline to shoot. 

Despite the more attacking outlook in Benfica's side, they still couldn't penetrate the organised defence of Schalke. Neither Saviola or Cardozo are particularly quick to take advantage over the lumbering giant that is Metzelder and if there was an unmarked man in Benfica's attack, he would be picked up by Papadopoulos.  Pablo Aimar also played a lot of through-balls for Saviola to run on to, but Saviola was often caught offside and Aimar's vision was used in vain as Benfica struggled to create any meaningful chances.

Schalke again capitalised on some dreadful marking by Benfica to score their second goal. After a Schalke corner went towards the edge of the penalty area, most of Benfica's players edged out away from the goal towards it. The ball was headed, however, back by Kluge towards the penalty area, were a mass evacuation had occurred earlier and where Höwedes was left onside and unmarked to head in his second goal in two games. 

Benfica scored a consolation goal from a Luisão header in the 87th minute as Schalke held on for the win. In the end, German efficiency triumphed over Portuguese flair, and the true extent of Schalke's efficiency are reflected in the match statistics.

Schalke finished as winners of Group B, while Benfica qualified for the Europa League after Hapoel Tel-Aviv conceded an equaliser against Lyon. 

Scoring List:

19' Jurado

81' Höwedes 

87' Luisão 

Statistics:

Benfica                        Schalke

61%    Possession        39%

15       Shots               7

4        Shots on Target  6

8        Corners             2

5        Offsides            4

14       Fouls               19

http://euro-goals.blogspot.com -> This is a good blog showing highlights of Europa and Champions League games