The Greatest Team I’ve Seen

I am starting this piece during the half-time break of Barcelona’s opening league game of the 2012/13 La Liga season. They are at home to Real Sociedad and are currently 4-1 to the good thanks to goals from their talismanic captain Carles Puyol, the mosquito-like Pedro Rodriguez, and two strikes from the mercurial Lionel Messi. It is Tito Vilanova’s first league game in charge, and the transition of the leadership torch from Pep Guardiola’s hands appears to have been seamless. This Barcelona side has been the best football club team I have ever seen.

The list of legendary club teams is illustrious, and includes unforgettable teams such as the beloved Il Grande Torino side of the 1940s that was tragically destroyed in the Superga Air Disaster of 1949, the incomparable Real Madrid side that rampaged their way to five consecutive European Cups in the 1950s, the Cruyff-inspired ‘Total Football’ Ajax side that revolutionized the game in the early 70s, and Arrigo Sacchi’s great AC Milan side, who were the last team to successfully defend their European crown, now over 20 years ago. I’m sure that even the most seasoned footballing aficionado would place those four sides towards the top of any list consisting of the greatest sides that have played the beautiful game, but I’m also sure that this current Barcelona team would be jostling for the primary seat at the top table.

The word ‘team’ is difficult to define in the context of the modern game, as a club side can alter radically from one season to the next. The Barcelona side that eased past Manchester United in the 2009 Champion’s League Final consisted of players such as Thierry Henry, Samuel Eto’o and Yaya Toure, all of whom have gone their separate ways since that memorable night in Rome. In their place have emerged new players including David Villa, Alexis Sanchez and Cesc Fàbregas. However, whilst certain personnel may have changed, the defining hallmark of this Barcelona generation has remained consistent, and that has undoubtedly been their style of play. This style is a philosophy that seems to be shifting the fundamental foundations of the game’s tactical thought process in the same way that Rinus Michels’ ‘Total Football’ did. More than ever, possession has become paramount to the ingredients of victory, and Barcelona keep possession more than any other team in the history of the game.

In the 2011 Champion’s League Final against Manchester United, Barcelona held 68% of possession; a huge amount for what is traditionally such a competitive showpiece match. United struggled to get any kind of foothold in the game, as they just could not maintain enough of the ball. Sir Alex Ferguson’s side were completely impotent in attack; Wayne Rooney had his conductor’s baton confiscated, which left the dangerous Javier Hernandez completely neutralized in the final third. The recent history shows that this has been a pattern for Barca’s opponents throughout the last four years, and it has been the basis on what Barca’s dominance has been founded upon – an unprecedentedly brilliant ability to keep hold of the ball, and an unrelenting determination to reclaim it when it is lost. This has prompted a wave of copycat teams at all levels, who not only try to dominate possession and press with more intensity, but also utilize the increasingly popular 4-1-2-3 system, incorporating a single holding midfielder and a false 9 attacker. This is what makes this Barcelona team so great – they have changed the way the game is played, possibly forever.

This philosophy could not have been put into practice without talent, and this Barcelona generation have been gifted with an abundance of riches in that department. Their incomparable Spanish midfield triangle allows them to put this revolutionary philosophy into practice. Sergio Busquets, Andrés Iniesta and Xavi Hernández are the best midfield unit to have played the game in my lifetime. Together, they have not only dominated the club stage, but at international level they have passed their way to World Cup and European Championship glory. Schooled in the archaic surroundings of La Masia, they have developed a seemingly telepathic understanding of each other’s play, to the point where it sometimes seems unfair on the opposition.

The brilliance of Busquets was on show at Wembley in May 2011, where he played matador to the bullish Wayne Rooney. He’d also been integral to Barcelona’s victory over Manchester United in Rome in 2009, when he was just 20 years old. Such early exposure to the big stage should have warned the world that this was a player destined for greatness. When I first saw his name on the team-sheet in 2009 I naively thought Barca had a weak spot that United could exploit. Surely a raw and vastly inexperienced 20 year-old would struggle in the demanding holding midfield role against the back-to-back Premiership champions? No chance. He was sublime, and his discipline, positional sense and intelligence provided the foil for the masterful Xavi and the marauding Iniesta to wreak havoc on United. A star had truly been born, and two years later when United met Barca at Wembley, I treated Busquets with the respect that he had rightfully earned. Now aged 23, he has a medal collection that would be the envy of some of the greatest players to have played the game, and whilst the feigning of injury, and occasional over-eagerness to hit the deck, can taint his reputation, his contribution to Barcelona’s record-breaking achievements cannot be underestimated. For me, he is the best defensive midfielder in the world.

I first saw Xavi in 1998 when he was selected to play for Barcelona against Manchester United in the group stages of the Champions League. This was a game that is remembered by most United supporters for the exquisite link-up play between Dwight Yorke and Andrew Cole, culminating in one of the most memorable goals of that season, which was a vintage season for Manchester United. Xavi was only 18 years old at the time, and it was his debut season playing for the Barcelona first team; like Busquets a decade later, he seemed to revel in the spotlight, even against the world-class Roy Keane. Ironically, he was fast-tracked into the side as Pep Guardiola had suffered a bad injury. Nobody had any idea of just how much success Xavi and Guardiola would come to share once the elder maestro progressed to management, and the apprentice became the club’s midfield master. Xavi has always been a great player, but over the last few years he has consistently been the best midfielder in the world. A pass-master, who completed a record 544 passes as the 2010 World Cup, Xavi is absolutely integral to Barcelona’s possession-based philosophy.  His reading of the game, spatial awareness and ability to dictate the tempo of a contest is unrivaled, and he seems to control the ebb and flow of any match he is involved in. He has become the hub of both Barcelona and the Spanish national team, and his diminutive 5’7” frame has stood tallest among a generation of athletic, dynamic midfield behemoths.

Whilst Xavi could stand out in any team from any time period, his partnership with Iniesta is what makes Barcelona’s midfield so special. Iniesta will forever be remembered for scoring Spain’s priceless winning goal in the 2010 World Cup Final, but this is a player that will leave an encyclopedia of wondrous memories. One of the most complete midfielders of all-time, Iniesta’s electric pace is matched equally by his dazzling dribbling ability; his peerless balance is complemented by his sublime touch and deadly shooting, and above all, he possesses a mental strength to consistently deliver on the biggest stage. Whilst critics have argued that he doesn’t score enough goals, an Iniesta highlight reel is littered with individual moments that would define the career of any other player – A World Cup Final extra-time winning strike, the unforgettable 2009 Champions League semi-final injury-time goal at Stamford Bridge, and his man-of-the-match display in the Champion’s League Final of the same year; the list is endless. He is the archetypal ‘big-game’ player. Iniesta’s arrival in Barcelona’s starting line-up seemed to raise Xavi’s game, and the addition of Busquets has completed a perfect possession-based midfield. It is this midfield unit that has been the consistent factor in both Barcelona’s and Spain’s dominance of the sport over the last four years. It seems almost unfair that on top of all this, they can also call on the incomparable genius of the greatest player of the last 20 years.

Lionel Messi has always seemed special to me, ever since his debut strike for Barcelona as a teenager, when he scored a lovely looping goal against Albacete Balompié, following a sumptuous Ronaldinho assist. Prior to his senior debut, there had been a small amount of hype bubbling about an apparent wonder-kid that was emerging from the Barcelona youth system. Even Ronaldinho had said that the young Argentinian would be better than him eventually, which was hard to believe considering the dizzying heights that Ronaldinho was reaching at the time. However, hindsight has proved Ronaldinho right, as Messi has not only surpassed the brilliant Brazilian in terms of ability and achievements, but he has unquestionably become the greatest player to have played the game in the last two decades. Last season he bagged a mind-boggling 73 goals in 60 club appearances for Barcelona. This broke Gerd Müller’s world record of 67 goals in a single season, a record which had stood for 39 years. Messi’s incredible goal tally was also supplemented by a total of 29 assists, which was his highest ever in a truly dazzling career thus far. To give his achievements last season some more context, his goal tally included a record-breaking 50 La Liga goals, and a record-equaling 14 Champion’s League goals. He also became the first player in history to become the top-scorer in four consecutive Champion’s League tournaments; an incredible accomplishment considering the depth of attacking quality that makes up the strongest club competition in the world.

As stunning as they are, Messi’s goal feats only paint one part of the tapestry that illustrates his overall quality. Always a breathtaking dribbler of the football, who Arsene Wenger described as the only player in the world who can change direction so quickly, Messi has added so much more to his game over the last four years. No longer pigeon-holed on the right flank of Barcelona’s three-pronged attack, he has evolved into a false 9, holding a free role that has made him even more dangerous. Alongside a sublime first-touch, which seems inherent in all graduates of La Masia, he has added a vision and reading of the game that even the world’s best creative midfielders must envy. This particular evolution in his play has been responsible for his personal best return of 29 assists in the 2011/12 season. Critics of Messi will point to his international record, as he has yet to light up the international stage in the same way that Pele and Maradona did. However, he has only just turned 25, and whilst Maradona was also in his mid-20s when he carried Argentina to World Cup glory in the blistering heat of Mexico ’86, Messi has time on his hands and many blank pages that are waiting to be filled before his story concludes. At club level his achievements cannot be overestimated. Already Barcelona’s all-time leading goalscorer, he will surely go down as their greatest ever player, and it is testament to his greatness that he stands out so brightly even in this Barcelona team.

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of this Barcelona team, certainly from a footballing purists’s viewpoint, is the emphasis on youth development. Cruyff’s philosophy of possession-based football has been ingrained at all levels at Barcelona, from the junior teams made up of local Catalonian school children, all the way up to the senior squad. Their success has been refreshing at a time where money has become such a prevalent part of the world game, particularly at the very elite level. Whilst Barcelona are undoubtedly one of the richest clubs in the world, and are certainly not shy of spending large sums of money to acquire expensive talent, the large proportion of their success has been a result of players developing from the La Masia youth set-up.

In the 2009 Champion’s League Final Barcelona started the game with seven youth team products; in the 2011 Champion’s League Final they also started with seven. This was replicated at international level as Spain won the 2010 World Cup Final in South Africa with six players that had honed their trade at La Masia. At the Final of Euro 2012 where Spain destroyed Italy 4-0 to retain their crown, the champions fielded six Barcelona players, all of whom had progressed through the Barca youth system. The midfield triumvirate of Busquets, Xavi and Iniesta started in all four Finals. Russian oligarchs and Arab oil barons have helped turn the modern game on it’s head, as traditionally under-achieving clubs such as Chelsea, Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain have been able to gain access to some of the world’s most talented (and money-hungry) footballers. It is telling that it is against this backdrop of unprecedented financial muscle that Barcelona have had their most successful period, and they have done this by promoting youth and staying loyal to a philosophy that blossoms through such a simplistically beautiful style of football. This above all is the central reason why I applaud and welcome their success.

Full-time has just arrived at the Nou Camp, and a wonderfully taken second-half strike from the returning David Villa has wrapped up a straightforward 5-1 victory for the home side. It is a fitting finish to the game as Spain’s all-time leading goalscorer completes his recovery from a broken leg that destroyed his second season at the club. Barcelona are also back, and it seems that they will once again be the team to beat. Only time will tell just how they will be remembered in the annals of footballing history, but unlike their predecessors including Di Stefano’s Madrid, Cruyff’s Ajax and Beckenbauer’s Bayern, this Barcelona side still haven’t heard the final whistle. The man who has been a mainstay in the background has now been thrust to the forefront of the world footballing stage, and Tito Vilanova has an intimidatingly difficult task on his hands to replicate Guardiola’s achievements. However, he has a unique set of players of the like that we will never see again, and I for one will savour every remaining moment that I see them play, because they are undoubtedly the greatest team I’ve seen.