Barcelona under Pep Guardiola is arguably the best team to represent Barcelona, and we know we’re not the only ones who feel this way.
In the course of barely 4 years, they captured 14 significant awards. They became the first side to ever win six major titles, including a treble, in a span of just one year.
They were the only team who had a player who managed to score 91 goals in a single season. We will discuss them today – the buildup, the glory, and the unrivaled performance.
Cruyff’s 90s Dream Team
Barcelona went from being a solid side which had won a decent amount of championships in their close to 100-year existence to a squad that routinely gave several of their adversaries nightmares over the course of the 1990s – which is amusing given that they were dubbed the Dream Team in the past.
An homage to the USA basketball team, which won gold at the Summer Olympics in 1992, which were hosted in Barcelona.
With players like Ronald Koeman, Romário, Michael Laudrup, and maybe most importantly, La Masia graduate Pep Guardiola, Johan Cruyff built an unstoppable machine.
But ten years later, Blaugrana had become a mere shadow of their former selves. Important players have departed.
Most notably, players like 20-year-old Ronaldo Nazario, who played 49 times across all competitions in just one season in Catalonia and scored 47 goals.
The greatest treachery was committed by Luis Figo, who quit the team while he was still the finest player across the globe.
Which club did he join? Madrid Real. Wow, that’s cold.
Even worse, he won the Ballon d’Or while playing for Real Madrid, despite having earned it primarily during his time at Barcelona.
Luis Van Gaal, Sir Bobby Robsonand, and obviously Johan Cruyff are the coaches who departed. Presidents of the club came and went.
Before being fired, Joan Gaspart took control in 2000, and had a pretty forgettable three years in charge. And just like a lot of the presidents, players, and coaches, silverware too took a break.
Between 1991 and 1999, Barcelona won La Liga six times, along with their first-ever 1992 European Cup, and other honors, but between 2001 and 2003, they only managed to go as high as fourth.
Additionally, by 2003, the club’s debt levels were rapidly reaching €200 million, primarily as a result of excessive player salaries.
There wasn’t much to show for these expenses though, and something had to be done about it.
Joan Laporta: A Time For Change In 2003
Everything underwent a radical transformation in 2003 – both on and away from the field, when Joan Laporta was elected club president and got to work right away.
The team underwent a major makeover over the course of the following two years under the management of Dutch legend Frank Rijkaard.
This was the new cast when the 2003–2004 season began: Andres Iniesta, Victor Valdes, Quaresma, Ronaldinho, Rafa Marquez, and others from La Masia.
The talents of Deco, Samuel Eto’o, and an actual alien from the youth academy appeared a year later. The outcome? The glory days returned immediately.
Back-to-back titles in the La Liga in 2005 through 2006. And to top it all off, the champions league during the subsequent year.
After embarrassing the Real Madrid defense, Ronaldinho rose to become the greatest player in history and even inspired the Bernabeu to stand and applaud for him.
Millions of people who never heard of the game before fell in love with it thanks to just one individual. Barcelona had returned – for two seasons anyway.
Barcelona’s fortunes changed drastically almost overnight.
During a preseason trip to the USA, a number of players suffered injuries. Samuel Eto’o publicly rebuked Rijkaard as well as Ronaldinho for saying they weren’t entirely committed to the cause, which led to infighting.
Ronaldinho was frequently observed being drunk when he arrived for practice, perhaps from the previous night.
In 2007 through 2008, Real Madrid recaptured first place in the league, leaving its Catalan opponents in the dust by winning on goal difference the first time.
However, the second time, Barcelona found themselves 18 points down. Something needed to change again, and quickly.
Pep Guardiola: 2007’s Saving Grace
This gets us to the topic of this entire story, in many respects . Pep embarked on a brief global tour after Barcelona’s 2001 departure due to injury.
He traveled the world and returned in 2007, this time as a coach, in the period he took Barcelona from zero to hero again.
Barcelona, with Porto, won the Champions League and broke Arsenal’s (see also: Best Arsenal Players)and Manchester United’s dominance via the English Premier League.
Johan Cruyff and Laporta believed that the applicant with only a year of coaching was the best option.
This was a strange decision made without the benefit of being aware what would transpire in the forthcoming years. They were adamant, though, for some reason.”
“I’ll win anything for you if you choose to hire me as the coach” – according to reports, Guardiola told Laporta this before the choice was finalized.
Laporta, who apparently has a high level of trustworthiness, accepted his explanation.
Perhaps the greatest option he made while serving as president was this choice.
2008-2009: The Triple Winning Strategies
The 2008–2009 season was the start of glory and the triple-winning season. But as many would agree, success frequently has a price. There have to be sacrifices taken.
Ronaldinho and Deco, and some others, served as a metaphor for the price of success in this instance. Guardiola had an extremely clear vision for his team’s identity and strategy.
In a word, he demanded total dedication and had very little patience for disrespectful behavior.
Samuel Eto’o was also targeted by this action. Eto’o was still actively performing, unlike Deco and Ronaldinho, both of whom were discovered engaging in questionable behavior.
A revealing picture is painted by the 94 goals scored in 147 prior games.
Final Thoughts
Barca continued as usual in the years that followed, now led by Tito Villanova. In fact, they matched Real Madrid’s record-breaking point total the year following Guardiola’s departure.
However, under Guardiola’s leadership, Barcelona defied all odds. A new crop of aspiring football fans was empowered by them.
With their sophisticated interaction, they captivated both the spectators and the opposition.
They exerted themselves to exhaustion and achieved heights of success never before seen.
Guardiola’s Barcelona is known as the greatest Barcelona team of all time – and for very good reason.
Soccer is the most popular sport played and watched in the world, yet it is one rarely talked about in the United States. Why is this?
Hi, my name is Adrian Turner and I am a self-proclaimed soccer head.
Since I was young, I have always been fascinated by soccer, and any of the games I could find on the TV channels. There weren’t many games broadcast, so thankfully I could find more on the internet as I grew up.
I turned all of my friends onto soccer and we’d play into the evenings after school.
