Barcelona 2009: The Greatest Year in Football !

There have been plenty of incredible teams and incredible seasons in world football.  FC Barcelona has dominated 2009 and has perhaps achieved the greatest footballing year in the history of international football.

The most convincing argument to place Barcelona on top is their record.  They have participated in six competitions and have won them all.  This fact, in itself, is an incredible achievement but not the only facts to consider. 

FCB are known for playing beautiful football with many short passes, amazing skills, and deadly finishing.  In 2009 they did not always display the beauty, but won with heart in ugly games.

A perfect example of this the UCL tie with Chelsea.  They went to Stamford Bridge tied 0-0 with a history of struggles with English competition.  They went down early to an incredible strike from Essien but fought back with their heart and soul and were rewarded by a late equalizer from Iniesta, perhaps the greatest goal of his young career.

The final against Manchester United was no easy win.  Ronaldo had some good early chances that the Barca defense dealt with to keep the scoreline even.  The quality of Eto'o seeped through the thinnest of cracks and put Barca up.  Leo Messi put the finishing touches on a masterful Champion's League campaign.

In previous years I would have counted Barca down and out after the 80th minute against Chelsea with no reprise goal.  However, Barcelona played with their hearts on their sleeves and proved to the world that beautiful football deserves to triumph in any setting.

FCB also won the Spanish league title beating out Real Madrid.  The 6-2 thumping in the Bernabeau was the best game that I ever remember watching Barcelona play, in any competition.  They proved their worth and showed on the world stage that they meant business and cruised to the top of league and never looked back down at Madrid.

The European Super Cup was no easy game and Barcelona once again played with heart even though their beautiful game looked more like an ugly duckling throughout the first 90 minutes.  They stayed true to their form and eventually it payed dividends with a beautiful game from Pedro to secure yet another trophy.

The Spanish Super Cup and the Spanish Cup were two more trophies that Barcelona earned.  They pressed their style and the beautiful game rose to the top on several occasions.  They showed that their dominance was just not in the league.

Finally, the Club World Cup rose as the last mountain Barca had yet to climb.  Not only was it the final possible trophy for Barca, it was one that previous great teams had never won.

Barca went down early in both games, but never shied away from the style that got them to the top in previous tournaments.  The final match proved Barca's worth when in the final five minutes of a choppy game that broke up Barca's flow, Pedro netted the equaliser.  In extra time, the best player in the world solidified his spot with a brilliantly controlled goal of his chest.  FCB made an incredible comeback to earn the final trophy that had eluded the dozens of trophy cases back home in Barcelona.

Perhaps the most undervalued aspect of 2009 was the development of La Masia, the Barcelona youth system.  It gave them Xavi, Iniesta, Pedro, Messi, Puyol, Valdes and even the coach, Pep Guardiola.  Other teams have good youth systems but there are none that keep players with the team like La Masia does.

2009 was a magical year not just for Barcelona, but for world football.  Fans in all corners of the world had a chance to watch football be played in its purest form.

The 2009 Barcelona team showed courage, heart, skill and a resilient attitude to win so many trophies in so short a time.  2009 was clearly the year of FC Barcelona and the greatest year for one team in the history of world football.

Barça make history with second treble!

2008/09 and 2014/15 go down in history as the two greatest seasons in FC Barcelona history. After beatingJuventus at the Olympiastadion on Saturday night, they have completed the treble of Liga, Copa del Rey and Champions League, just like they did under Pep Guardiola six years ago. 

Seven different teams had won similar trebles in the past, but Barça are the first to repeat the achievement of 2009, the year that they won 6-2 at the Santiago Bernabéu on the way to the Liga title, beat Athletic Bilbao at Mestalla to win the cup and then overcame Manchester United in Rome to become champions of Europe.

Of course, they went on to add the Spanish and European Super Cups and the Club World Cup, meaning an unprecedented six major titles in a calendar year.

Repeat performance

Six years later, now under Luis Enrique, and they have done it again. They clinched the league title at theVicente Calderón, home of the defending champions, with a game in hand. Athletic were once again the victims in the cup final, this time at the Camp Nou, and the Champions League was secured on Saturday night in the German capital against another side that was chasing a treble, Juventus of Turin.

No fewer than seven of the current Barça squad were involved in both treble-winning campaigns, namelyXavi Hernández, Andrés Iniesta, Leo Messi, Gerard Piqué, Dani Alves, Sergio Busquets and Pedro Rodríguez.

Breaking Down Lionel Messi's Magical 91-Goal Year for Barcelona and Argentina !

So maybe you’ve heard of this guy Lionel Messi. Not a bad footballer, that one.

And not a bad 2012 for the 25-year-old from Rosario, Argentina.

During the calendar year, Leo scored a record 91 goals combined in all competitions for Barcelona and the Argentina national side, shattering the mark of 85 tallied by Gerd Muller for Bayern Munich and Germany in 1972.

Denis Doyle/Getty Images

Though he had already bested Muller’s mark (and many others) early in December, young Leo finished his 2012 this past Saturday with a brilliant goal in Barcelona’s 3-1 victory atValladolid, a delightful buildup and finish best summed up byRay Hudson’s “magisterial” callon beIN Sport.

Now, Messi’s club side may have had a relatively underwhelming end to the 2011-12 campaign, finishing a disappointing second to Real Madrid in La Liga and falling to Chelsea in the semifinals of the Champions League. But Messi neither underwhelmed nor disappointed.

But I didn't realize quite how ridiculous Messi's year was until I broke down the numbers.

To start, Messi's 91 goals upped Muller's record by about seven percent. That would be like Miguel Cabrera breaking Barry Bonds' one-season home-run record of 73—and not by a home run or two...but byfive, for a new total of 78. That would be impressive.

Leo scored 91 total goals in 69 official games, 79 in 60 appearances for the Blaugranaand 12 in nine matches for theAlbiceleste. 

The math is easy enough; that’s an average of 1.319 goals per game. While it’s not quite up to Muller’s average of 1.417 (85 goals in 60 matches) back in ’72, well, it ain’t half bad.

Messi’s tally of 91 goals in 69 matches, though, gets more impressive when you look at it under several other lights.

According to ESPN FC’s count of Messi’s playing time in 2012, that’s an average of one goal every 66 minutes he was on the pitch. If you consider that Racing Santander—I repeat, the entire team of RacingSantander—scored just 28 goals in 38 La Liga games in 2011-12 for an average of 0.737 goals a game and one goal every 122 minutes, you realize what a ridiculous number Messi’s total is. In fact, Messi’s total 2012 goal-scoring numbers best those of an astonishing 13 La Liga teams from the 2011-12 campaign:

GOALS PER GAME

AVERAGE NUMBER OF MINUTES REQUIRED PER GOAL SCORED

Similarly, check out the breakdown of Messi’s goals for both Barcelona and Argentina in 2012: 

He scored 13 goals in 12 Champions League matches, five goals in eight Copa del Rey games, two goals in twoSupercopa tilts and 59 goals in 38 league appearances—good for an astonishing 1.553 goals per game in La Liga. (Remember when Muller’s 1.417 seemed impressive?)

Messi didn’t exactly disappoint for Argentina either. While his 12 goals in nine matches seem almost pedestrian by comparison, he did manage to double his previous yearly best of six goals for his country back in 2007. Here's a goal-by-goal breakdown:

To delve even deeper, we’ll enlist the help of ESPN FC:

Messi scored 78 of his 91 goals inside the penalty area, including 14 penalties. He converted all 10 of his La Liga penalties and two of his three tries in Champions League play. The miss was a huge one, as it would have given Barcelona the lead in the Champions League semifinal against Chelsea, which survived Barca’s onslaught to reach the final and eventually win the title.

In any given game, Messi was far more likely to score multiple goals than no goals at all. He scored exactly twice in 22 games, matching the number of games in which he was shut out. He added nine hat tricks, including a pair of four-goal games and a Champions League-record five goals against Bayer Leverkusen in March.

Messi opened the scoring in 21 of the 47 games in which he scored. More than half (59 percent) of his goals were scored after halftime, and the quarter-hour he scored most in was between the 76th and 90th minutes. In fact, 40 of his 91 goals were scored in the last half-hour of games. 

Wondering how Leo's goals break down by month? Well, needless to say, he came in (and went out) like a lion in March:

His 73 goals in all competitions during the 2011-12 season set a new world record, as did his 50 La Liga tallies.

David Ramos/Getty Images

And what’s more incredible? IfMessi remains healthy, he could well top both of those marks in 2012-13. His 26 goals in 17 La Liga games so far have him on pace for an otherworldly 58 by the end of the Spanish campaign. That would be a 16 percent increase over last season’s all-time record. Not bad.

The point is, these numbers are hard to fathom. But it's science, so unless you're the state of Kansas, you kind of have to believe them.

Yet while they may capture the quantity of goals, they don't help you grasp the immense quality Messi brings to the table.