Barcelona’s European Success

As a fan of Barcelona I was thinking the other day about the club’s rich history as well as their successes in the UEFA Champions League. Barcelona have won the UEFA Champions League three times in their history with two coming in the last four years which is extremely impressive.

It got me thinking; which Champions League winning side was better? They all have tremendous strengths and I wanted to know what you all think. I will lay out some information on each squad and then please feel free to vote in the poll at the bottom of the page. The teams are in chronological order.

European Champions of 1991/1992 {The return of Johan Cruyff}

When Cruyff returned to Cataluña as manager and formed the “Dream Team”, Barca went on the best run in the club’s history.

Barcelona’s squad:

Goalkeepers:
Busquets, Zubizarreta

Defenders:
Ferrer, Juan Carlos, Ronald Koeman, Nadal, Nando, Serna, Cristobal

Midfielders:
Amor, Bakero, Eusebio Sacristan, Goikoetxea, Guardiola, Michael Laudrup, Richard Witschge

Strikers:
Beguiristain, Julio Salinas, Hristo Stoichkov

Some interesting notes for you trivia gurus out there. Guardiola is the current coach of Barcelona. Keeper Busquets is the father of current Barca midfielder Sergi Busquets. Also Nadal is the uncle of current Tennis star Rafael Nadal.

The tournament was not called UEFA Champions League back then and the format was different. Barcelona beat – on aggregate: Hansa Rostock (3-1) and Kaiserslautern (3-3 on away goals).

They came top of their group with four victories, a loss, and a tie. Barca defeated Sampdoria in the final thanks to a Ronald Koeman freekick.

Barcelona scored 17 goals while conceding 8.

European Champions of 2005/2006 {The reign of Ronaldinho}:

The smiling Brazilian was at the peak of his form and arguably one of the best players of all time.

Barcelona’s squad:

Goalkeepers:
Victor Valdes, Jorquera

Defenders:
Edmilson, Carles Puyol, Oleguer, Giovanni Van Bronckhorst, Sylvinho, Rafael Marquez, Juliano Belletti

Midfielders:
Mark Van Bommel, Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Thiago Motta, Garcia de la Torre Gabri, Deco, Giuly

Strikers:
Samuel Eto’o, Ronaldinho, Henrik Larsson, Santiago Ezquerro

Barca were unbeaten in the group stage with five wins and a draw.

The Catalans proceeded to beat Chelsea (3-2), Benfica (2-0), and AC Milan (1-0) in the two legged rounds only to meet Arsenal in the Final.

Barcelona were down 1-0 but up a man after the 18th minute when Jens Lehmann was sent off. A goal from Eto’o in the 76th minute and then a winner from Belletti four minutes later saw Arsenal’s dreams crushed and Frank Rijkaard’s men triumph.

Ronaldinho ended the tournament with seven goals and Eto’o was right behind him with six goals.

The Blaugrana scored 24 goals that year while conceding 5.

European Champions of 2008/2009 {The reign of Lionel Messi}:

Messi climbed out of the Samba King’s shadow with an impressive tournament that may see him win his first FIFA World Player of the Year award this campaign.

Barcelona’s squad:

Goalkeepers:
Victor Valdes, Jorquera, Pinto

Defenders:
Carles Puyol, Gerard Pique, Rafael Marquez, Eric Abidal, Dani Alves, Sylvinho, Martin Caceres

Midfielder:
Yaya Toure, Iniesta, Xavi, Gudjohnsen, Hleb, Keita, Sergi Busquets

Strikers:
Samuel Eto’o, Thierry Henry, Lionel Messi, Bojan Krkic

Barcelona were fortunate to get a relatively easy group to start their Champions League campaign. They still had some trouble though as they sustained a draw and a loss in their first six matches.

Out of the group stages Barcelona went on to beat Lyon (6-3), Bayern Munich (5-1), and then Chelsea (1-1) on aggregate. Chelsea gave Guardiola’s men plenty of problems and scares but a late goal by Iniesta made sure they made it to the final against Manchester United.

The team that played the most beautiful football was up against the deadly efficient winners from Manchester. But Beauty felled the Beast. Messi and Eto’o capped off a brilliant campaign with a goal each to beat Alex Ferguson’s squad 2-0 in Rome.

Barcelona were scoring for fun and Messi ended up with nine goals, Henry had five goals, and Eto’o had four goals.

Barca scored 32 goals last year while conceding 13 to the opposition.

So there you have it. Both sides were impressive in their own way and both were the best in Europe for their respective years. But which was better?

Play Beautiful!

Tags: 1992, 2005, 2009, Arsenal, Barcelona, Champions League, Dream Team, Eto'o, Guardiola, Johan Cruyff, Manchester United, Messi, Rijkaard, Ronald Koeman, Ronaldinho, Sampdoria

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 at 6:27 pm and is filed under Champions League. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.