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.