FC Barcelona voted Team of the Decade

FC Barcelona won the Treble in 2008-09 following it with three more trophies late last year

It was perhaps no surprise that in Stoppage Time’s poll to find out who our readers thought was the best team in the last ten years that the accolade should go to the current Spanish, European and world champions FC Barcelona.They won the poll after securing 56% of the vote ahead of Real Madrid (23%) and Boca Juniors (11%).

Despite the fact that the first half of the decade was success-free for the Catalans it was the club’s more recent exploits that have earned them such acclaim. When Frank Rijkaard took over as coach of the club in 2003-04 the club were looking on enviously at arch-rivals Real Madrid who had already won two Spanish championships, two UEFA Champions Leagues and the Intercontinental Cup (now FIFA Club World Cup) since the noughties decade began. However the club’s fortunes began to change in 2004-05 when the “Blaugrana” won their first Spanish championship in six years finishing four points ahead of “El Real”. The following season, 2005-06, proved to be even more spectacular for the club as they successfully defended their Spanish crown, again beating Real Madrid to the title, this time by a whopping twelve points. In the same season, with a team including Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto’o and Deco, they went on to become European champions for the second time in their history following a 2-1 win over English club Arsenal FC in Paris.

Frank Rijkaard left the club after FC Barcelona finished the 2007-08 empty-handed after it initially seemed to promise much in terms of silverware. However a third-place finish in La Liga was deemed insufficient for the club president Joan Laporta who replaced Rijkaard with inexperienced coach Pep Guardiola, a club legend who had won six championships and the Champions League with Barça as a player. In the new coach’s first full season it was, even by Barcelona’s high standards, truly remarkable. The 2008-09 league championship was secured finishing nine points ahead of perennial challengers Real Madrid. The domestic double was secured after Barcelona won their first Copa del Rey (King’s Cup) in eleven years beating Athletic Bilbao 4-1 in the Estadio Mestalla in Valencia. Then, on a glory night in Rome’s Stadio Olimpico, the Catalans achieved the unthinkable by beating defending European champions Manchester United 2-0, thanks to goals from Samuel Eto’o and Lionel Messi, to secure the title of “Tri Campions” (Treble Champions). Not even Real Madrid, for all their previous success, had managed to achieve such a feat. FC Barcelona joined the likes of Manchester United, Glasgow Celtic, PSV Eindhoven and Ajax Amsterdam as the only European clubs who had won their domestic Double and the European Cup/Champions League in the same season.

But much more was to come from Guardiola’s new Barça “Dream Team”. FC Barcelona won the Spanish Super Cup beating Athletic Bilbao 5-1 on aggregate in the traditional two-legged curtain raiser to the new season. As the 2009-10 season was getting into full swing Barça had to travel to Monte Carlo to play in the European Super Cup against 2008-09 UEFA Cup winners Shakhtar Donetsk from Ukraine. It was a tough match which went the distance but Pedro’s winner in extra-time gave the ‘Blaugrana’ a hard-earned 1-0 victory and the “Sextuple” was on the cards. Finally, in December 2009, FC Barcelona went to the United Arab Emirates to try and achieve the only honour to have eluded the club in their distinguished history: the FIFA Club World Cup. Having lost in the 2006 competition to Brazilian side Internacional, the Catalans were in no mood to give up another chance to be crowned best in the world. In the final against Argentinian side Estudiantes de La Plata the match started slowly before Mauro Boselli gave Barça’s opponents a shock lead on the half-hour mark. For much of the game the Argentines defended their goal as if their lives depended on it but they were ultimately broken down by Pedro who scored two minutes from the end of normal time. In extra-time it was to be cruel for the Argentines that it was to be one of their compatriots, Lionel Messi, who scored the winner for Barcelona. The “Sextuple” was won, Pep Guardiola and his team had created history and for new Barça star Pedro it was to be a unique individual achievement in that he scored in every major competition that Barcelona had won in the Sextuple year.

The people have spoken and it was a unanimous decision. “Stoppage Time” hails FC Barcelona as the 2000-09 Team of the Decade.

“Big Two” qualify for FIFA Club World Cup final

Zlatan Ibrahimovic started for Barcelona in their semi-final against Atlante of Mexico

The FIFA Club World Cup is well under way now in the United Arab Emirates and, as expected, there will be a showdown between European champions FC Barcelona and their South American equivalents Estudiantes de la Plata on Saturday, December 19th. Stoppage Time looks at the tournament so far.

The tournament kicked off in Abu Dhabi with the Oceania representatives Auckland City FC, who had previously participated in this tournament in 2006, winning the first match against host team Al Ahli FC 2-0 thanks to goals from Adam Dickinson and Chad Coombes. Thanks to that win the New Zealanders had already achieved their main goal which was to qualify for the quarter-finals, in which they played against North/Central America champions Atlante CF (Mexico). Alas they were unable to progress any further as the Mexicans cruised into the semi-finals winning the game 3-0 due to strikes from Daniel Arreola, Christian Bermudez and Lucas Silva. In the other quarter-final it was a Brazilian who helped Asian champions Pohang Steelers (South Korea) overcome a half-time deficit as Denilson’s two second half goals helped see off the challenge from African Champions League winners TP Mazembe (Congo DR) in a close match 2-1.

The big two of the tournament entered at the semi-final stage. First to play were Estudiantes (Argentina) against Pohang Steelers. Although the Argentines enjoyed twice the amount of possession and had nearly three times as many shots at goal as their opponents they were made to work hard by a Pohang side that were tough to break down. Leandro Benitez scored two minutes into first half stoppage time to give “the Students” the advantage at half-time and followed that with his second goal eight minutes into the second half. It was the Koreans’ own South American influence that brought them back into the game when Denilson pulled one back after 71 minutes. However their discipline, or lack of it, proved their undoing as they had three players sent off the pitch. Two of the players, Kim Jae Sung and goalkeeper Shin Hwa Yong, were sent off in the final eighteen minutes of the game and the numerical advantage allowed Estudiantes to cross the line in comfortable fashion and into their fourth Club World Cup final.

Barcelona’s campaign started with a tougher challenge against Atlante CF just four days after they had won their local derby against Espanyol 1-0 in La Liga. The scorer in the derby, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, was among the starters for Barça while Lionel Messi, newly crowned European Footballer of the Year winner, was on the substitutes’ bench. However the Mexicans hadn’t come to the Middle East to make up the numbers and they stunned their more illustrious opponents early on thanks to a Guillermo Rojas goal after five minutes. The game ebbed and flowed for the next thirty minutes until Barcelona equalized thanks to a Sergio Busquets strike and the half finished 1-1. However the second half was to be dominated by the “Blaugrana” as Pep Guardiola’s 52nd minute substitution bringing on Lionel Messi for Yaya Toure, proved a masterstroke as the little Argentine made an immediate impact, rounding the keeper to make it 2-1 on 55 minutes. From here the “Blaugrana” began to take charge and they were further rewarded on 67 minutes when some good work by Andres Iniesta was turned home by Pedro from close range making the score 3-1. The remainder of the game was played almost as a Barcelona training session as Atlante failed to trouble the scoresheet any further and it was the giants from Catalonia who sealed their place in Sunday’s final, their third final since 1992, against Estudiantes de la Plata.