5 incidents that turned Barcelona's season around

4) Losing at home to Malaga

Malaga beat Barcelona 0-1 at the Camp Nou in February to shake up the Catalan club

Barcelona had won 11 straight games after the loss at Real Sociedad before Malaga pitched up at Camp Nou. Ask anyone at the time what they expected the result to be and it wasn’t a question of the win, but by how many.

Malaga’s victory was as deserved as it was surprising and it gave the Catalans a massive jolt at precisely the right time. The cloak of invincibility was well and truly removed and the result forced a number of players to reassess the level of their individual performances.

It gave Enrique the perfect chance to overhaul the collective. 18 wins out of the next 20 games in all competitions speaks for itself.

5) Outwitting Pep Guardiola

Perhaps Enrique’s greatest accomplishment other than winning La Liga was beating a highly fancied Bayern Munich side in the Champions League. Pep Guardiola is generally regarded as this generation’s managerial genius. With 14 trophies won at Barca out of a possible 19, he may well go down as the best ever.

With a flexible tactical acumen that seemingly has no barrier, and with a managerial style that expertly transmits ideas to his players in simple terms, beating Guardiola at this own game wasn’t going to be easy. Far from it.

Barcelona beat Bayern Munich 5-3 on aggregate in the Champions League semi-final

Indeed, when Bayern Munich arrived for the first leg of their Champions League semi-final, suggestions were that Enrique wouldn’t be able to outwit his old Barca team mate. They were well wide of the mark as Barca played some of the best football seen this season to reduce their German visitors to also-rans.

With that win, Enrique had uniquely beaten the German, Dutch, French, English, La Liga, European and World champions in the same season. Defeat Italian champs Juventus in Berlin and he will have a full set that may never be beaten.

And who would have thought that in January.