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After an early season wobble where FC Barcelona dropped seven points in three games in La Liga in September, it looked like things were about to get complicated as Barcelona were handed a tough run of fixtures in October.
Starting with Tottenham and Valencia away, followed by three home games against the then league leaders Sevilla, Inter Milan in the Champions League and then the Clasico against rivals Real Madrid, Valverde's side had their work cut out.
After a convincing 4-2 win against Spurs, Barcelona stumbled to a 1-1 draw against Valencia, but the signs looked promising as they dominated for large spells of the match. After a bright start against Sevilla, Barcelona lost their talisman Lionel Messi to an arm injury for three weeks. But their performances against Inter and Madrid without Messi showed that their poor results in September was just an early season slip and they mean business this season.
Winning the treble is an achievement every club desires. Only seven European clubs have achieved this feat since 1967 when Celtic won the first ever treble in European football. Barcelona will be looking to be the first club in history to win the treble for the third time as no club has won it more than once, let alone twice.
Here are 4 reasons why another treble may be on the cards for them:
4. Motivation to win the Champions League
Last season's league and cup double was an impressive achievement, but the disappointing loss to Roma put a major dent in the club's confidence and watching arch-rivals Real Madrid winning it for the third consecutive time made matters even worse for the Catalan giants.
Messi delivered a rousing speech to the fans and promised that the club would try to do everything to bring the Champions League back to the Camp Nou. Pique had also mentioned that prioritising the UCL over the league is like committing suicide, indicating that the club are looking to compete on all fronts. After a good start in October, where the club have had some tough fixtures, Barcelona look motivated to go and win it all.
3. Summer signings
To compete on all fronts, every squad needs a strong bench and Barcelona have lacked depth in recent years. The main reason why Zidane was able to win three consecutive Champions League titles is that of the depth of the squad. Suarez even confessed that he regretted playing the 90 minutes against Leganes as he lacked fitness for the Champions League clash against Roma three days later.
Many fans suspected a lack of rotation as the reason for the loss last season. But Valverde cannot be blamed as Barcelona lacked the bench players who could play at such a high level.
An eventful summer where they have shipped out players who have struggled at the club, Barcelona have made some good signings such as Arthur, Lenglet, Vidal and Malcom. Valverde has been provided with the required depth to compete on all fronts this season and keep his players fresh for the knockout stages and the latter part of the season.
2. Messidependencia
It is not surprising to see Barcelona dependent on Lionel Messi. Any team with the best player in the world would be dependent on him to bail them out of difficult situations. But Messi is like a football heroin to Barcelona. Without him, the team lack quality and look clueless at times.
It was a tough test for Barcelona as they had to take on Inter Milan and Real Madrid without Messi as he has been sidelined for the three weeks.
Suarez who struggled for form early in the season has switched on at the right time after an impressive hattrick in the Clasico. Coutinho who isn't cup-tied this season provides the required quality up front and has developed a good understanding with Suarez.
All the players seemed to have stepped up in Messi's absence in the last two games as Barcelona have proven that Messidependencia does not exist anymore.
1. Arthur - Xavi's successor
It's time we start talking about Arthur Melo. Since Xavi's departure in 2015, Barcelona have lacked a controller in the midfield. After failing to sign Verratti from PSG, Barcelona turned to Arthur, a 22-year-old playing for Gremio in the Brazilian league.
The transition to Europe is always difficult, but Arthur has managed it with ease. After being handed a start against Spurs at Wembley, the Brazilian midfielder has never looked back. He has started in every game since and has had a colossal impact on every game.
Arthur has Barca DNA in him. He was made for Barca and Barca was made for him. Arthur may just be the man to fill the biggest ever void there has ever been at Barcelona - the one shaped by Xavi.
Along with Busquets and Rakitic, Barcelona have reverted back to the 4-3-3 formation and are dominating the midfield once again, just like the old days under Pep Guardiola, when Barcelona had won their first ever treble.
