Ladies & Gentlemen as you well know FC Barcelona completed their greatest season ever by defeating Manchester United 2-0 in the 2008-09 UEFA Champions League Final. The win gave them their 1st ever treble as Barcelona became the 1st Spanish team to win a treble. Barca captured La Liga, Copa Del Rey, and the Champions League. We at La Liga Talk breakdown the Top 5 Reasons why Blaugrana earned their place in footballing history.

#5 = Improved Team Atmosphere

Let’s be real, last year’s team was good enough to win a treble but what prevented it was a poor team atmosphere. Frank Rijkaard could not handle the divisive figures in his locker room such as Ronaldinho & Deco. Don’t forget how Eto’o looked like he was headed to AC Milan and Henry was talking about how playing on the left side was stifling his goal scoring instincts for France and he needed to be in the middle. The following season Dinho & Deco were out while Eto’o & Henry fell in line without a locker room wrecking word all season. Guardiola deserves massive credit for improving the team’s atmosphere cause talent wasn’t the reason The Blaugrana went trophy-less last season.

#4 = Playing Style

Over the last 5 – 10 years we’ve seen managers cower in the face of opposition by playing a more conservative, boring style of football. A recent trend of 5 midfielders with 1 striker or more withdrawn “forwards” has seen a reduction in the entertainment value of football. However, Barça, said DAMN THAT and played with 3 strikers and they got the 3 most explosive and skilled forwards on the planet to fill their formation. No wonder fans take a liking to Barça, the Blaugrana scored as many goals this season as Brad Pitt has women sweating him. Yo, that’s a lot of damn goals. People who love the Beautiful Game want to see speed, skill, and goals. Barça gives football fans all of those things and Barça wins.

#3 = Josep Guardiola i Sala

Some people might say that the coach of the best team on the planet is only #3. By no means is this a knock on Guardiola’s acumen because his brilliance can never be understated. However, so many other factors had to line up perfectly for a coach in his 1st season as a head coach of a big club to make history like this. Mourinho has much more experience than Guardiola and he only got a Scudetto in his 1st season with Inter. Guardiola did a perfect job no doubt, but he had to go #3 because he inherited a supremely talented team that was close to history. His leadership was the spark Barça needed to get Treble and he is the 6th person to win the European Cup as a player & coach.

#2 = Joan Laporta i Estruch

Joan Laporta i Estruch is the best club president on the planet. Since his reign began in 2003, Barcelona has won 2 Champions Leagues, 3 La Liga titles, 2 Spanish Supercups, and a Copa Del Rey. He managed to maintain the integrity of the Barça shirt by keeping sponsors off the shirt but his humanitarian act of giving money to UNICEF and having the UNICEF logo on the sacred shirt was a brilliant business, PR, and charitable move. He hired Frank Rijkaard & Guardiola and he has overseen the most balanced transfer policy of any club in Europe. Everyone who gave Laporta a vote of “No Confidence” are looking stupid right now. Not to mention he’s a true Catalan patriot.

#1 = La Masia – Barca’s Youth Academy


On a recent podcast of Mad About Fútbol, GOL TV’s Andres Cordero made a great point about how this treble was years in the making and how Barca’s youth academy was a huge part of this historic feat. If you look at the roster of the Eqiupo Triplete its key components are products of Barca’s youth academy. Victor Valdes, Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Bojan, Pique, Puyol, Sergi Busquets all came up to the 1st team through La Masia. Amazing, even Pep Guardiola himself is a product of the famous youth academy. The success of La Masia is a testament to the proper investing of monetary gains to maintain and build a high-level football club.

Congratulations to FC Barcelona for showing the world how football should be played and proving that winning, attacking football is not a dream but a dream come true.