In the last few years, Barcelona have become the team to beat in club football. The Spanish giants have won countless trophies and won numerous admirers and fans across the globe because of the brand of football they bring.
Their success over the last decade also has to do with someone named Lionel Messi who’s brilliance has helped the club to reach heights why never thought possible. But they also had rich history before the Messi era began.
There are some moments that people might not be able to recall because it happened much before some started following the club. So here are the five greatest moments in Barcelona's history:
5) Frank Rijkaard breaking Barcelona’s La Liga drought
Barcelona even before the beginning of Pep Guardiola’s era were one of the powerhouses in Spanish football. Real Madrid still have the most number of La Liga titles but Barca are not too far behind in that category.
The Catalans have always been in and about the title race and even in the seasons they didn’t manage to win it. But for a period of 5 years, the club went trophyless in Spain. From 1999 to 2004 they didn’t win the La Liga title even once.
It was a frustrating time for the Catalans and in order to try and bring Barcelona back up to the level they were supposed to be at, they brought in Dutch manager Frank Rijakkard. He turned out to be an inspired signing for the club.
Rijkaard needed a year to settle in and get the team playing his way but he managed to weed out all the players that were performing poorly for them and formed a new team with a new core of players and built the team around their one superstar signing Ronaldinho.
Barcelona went on to win La Liga twice and also lifted their second European crown in 2006 defeating Arsenal in the final.
4) Treble-winning season of 2014-15
Most fans would be familiar with this one. Barcelona broke several records in Luis Enrique’s first season in charge of the club after a spell where the club had seen the likes of the late Tito Vilanova and Gerard Martino not achieve the success of Pep Guardiola.
Barcelona’s first order of Business was to sign Luis Suarez from Liverpool for a massive sum of money. With him in the side, Barcelona had a trio of South American superstars in their forward line.
Suarez was unable to play the first few games because of the ban he received during the FIFA World cup for biting Chiellini. Once he did return he took a while to foster an understanding with Lionel Messi and Neymar.
But they eventually clicked and from then on became an unstoppable force, ripping apart almost every side that stood in their way that season. The MSN trio scored a total of 122 goals across all competitions.
Barcelona won La Liga by two points and also took home the Copa Del Rey defeating Atletic Bilbao in the final when Messi scored that incredible solo goal. The Catalans then showed their superiority against Juventus by winning 3-1 in the Champions League final that same season.
3) Barcelona’s first ever European Cup triumph
Before Guardiola’s brilliant Barcelona team the very first great Barcelona side to conquer Europe was the Johan Cruyff dream team. Barcelona were always in the shadows of Real Madrid when it came to European football.
They did win their fair share of La Liga titles but somehow always faltered in Europe. It was the one trophy that eluded them. The Catalans appointed Johan Cruyff in 1988 and he brought in several players who he thought would fit into his style of playing including Pep Guardiola.
His idea of Total football was a big hit with the club and earned them massive success, He first won the European Cup winners cup in 1989 defeating Sampdoria in the final. Three years later it was Sampdoria once again who were vanquished by his team and this time in the European cup final.
Cruyff’s and Guardiola’s teams were very similar to each other in terms of the success they both achieved with Barcelona. The former winning four consecutive La Liga titles from 1991-94 and his pupil Pep winning it three times.
But Cruyff broke the European barrier for which the Barcelona faithful will always be thankful. He is a true club legend and is sorely missed by the footballing fraternity.
2) The trophy-laden season of 2008-09
In the year od 2008, Pep Guardiola was appointed as the new manager of Barcelona. The surprising thing about his appointment was the fact that it was his first-ever managerial job so there was a lot of expectation on his shoulder.
So when fan favorites Deco and Ronaldinho were axed and sold off by Pep several eyebrows were raised as to whether this was the right thing to do. After all, the two stars were the spine of that Barca team.
But Guardiola’s decision turned out to be a stroke of genius. He knew that Lionel Messi was the future of that club and that they had to build the team around the little Argentine who had just turned 21.
But the most significant change at the club was the philosophy of football, the style that is now come to be known as the Tiki-Taka style of play. Barca went on to conquer Spain, Europe and then the world.
They won a record-breaking 6 trophies that season, a feat no club in history had managed in a single season until then. This Barcelona team has also been considered as one of the greatest in the history of the game.
1) Lionel Messi signs for Barcelona on a napkin
This had to be the most important moment in Barcelona’s history because if the little Argentine had not signed for the club, Barca would have never become a juggernaut in world football.
That’s only the tip of the iceberg. Messi has been such a huge part of the club’s history and success it's difficult to contemplate a Barcelona team without him. Barca without him would mean so many trophies not won. so many records remaining unbroken, so many memories left undiscovered.
Messi is only 29 years of age and is already their greatest ever player. Those who have been lucky enough to get a glimpse of the man at the Camp Nou would tell they have seen nothing like him.
And yet, he was so close to leaving the club at a very young age. In December of 2000, after a trial at Barcelona, the first team director at that time Charly Rexach wanted to sign Messi after he impressed him but the board were unsure.
His family became doubtful and gave him an ultimatum. So the director found the only piece of material he could write on, which was a napkin. Messi signed it and the rest is history!
