Introduction
Barcelona football club was undeniably the best soccer team in the last ten years. The professional football club based in Barcelona, a city in northeastern Spain on the Mediterranean, has won numerous domestic, continental, and global titles in the last decade. The club has won 21 titles since 2004 (King, 2010). This success has propelled the club to the second position among the world’s richest soccer teams based on revenue and market value.
The football club has also increased its fan base in the last ten years, especially on major social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus. Barcelona boasts of a highly talented and dynamic team of young players drawn from various parts of the world. However, Spanish players such as Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas, and Victor Valdes among others dominate the team (Hunter, 2013).
The team also boasts of Lionel Messi, arguably the best player of the current generation of footballers in the world. Most players who have represented the Barcelona football club in the last decade have managed to receive individual accolades for their efforts with the club and their national soccer teams (King, 2010).
Success and achievements in the last decade
Barcelona is one of the most successful teams in the world in terms of overall achievements since its inception. From the year 2004, the club has won a number of domestic and continental titles, as well as global titles. The domestic honors won by the team in the last decade include six Spanish football league titles, six Spanish Super Cup titles, and two Copa Del Rey titles (Hunter, 2013). Continental honors include three European Champions League titles and the two European Super Cup titles. Barcelona also achieved global success when they won the FIFA Club World Cup in 2009 and 2011. The club has emerged as runners up in most of these competitions several times during the last decade. In the last ten years, Barcelona has had three managers who helped to put it on the global map following the team’s impressive results (King, 2010).
The most successful of the three managers was Pep Guardiolas, who made history for winning numerous titles within a short time. The coach is also hailed for successfully tutoring Lionel Messi, who has dominated football awards all over the world (Hunter, 2013). Pep Guardiolas helped Barcelona to win 14 titles in the period he was the club manager between 2008- 2012. He is famous for the manner in which he developed a successful team around Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, and Xavi Hernadez after selling top players at the club such as Deco and Ronaldinho (Hunter, 2013). Under his guidance, Barcelona made history in 2009 for becoming the first team from Spain to win three major titles in one football season (King, 2010). The team also made history in 2009 when they won all the six competitions they participated in during the year. The football club almost repeated the same performance of 2009 in the year 2011when it won five out of six competitions.
Barcelona made great strides during the reign of Pep Guardiolas as the manager. In the year 2010, Barcelona made a mark in the history of world football when three of its academy products emerged as the top three players in the world. Messi, Xavi and Iniesta were shortlisted for the award of the prestigious FIFA Ballon d’OR in 2010 (King, 2010). Most football experts argue that Barcelona’s team of the last one decade easily qualifies as the greatest squad of the current generation of footballers.
Barcelona is among the three teams that have remained in top-flight football in Spain alongside Real Madrid and Athletic Bilbao. The central player for this team in the last decade has been Loniel Messi, who has won the FIFA Ballon d’OR for a record four consecutive years from 2009- 2012 (Hunter, 2013). Apart from Messi, Barcelona has also been represented by a number of football stars such as Ronaldinho, who won the FIFA Balon d’OR in 2005, Deco, Carols Puyol, Samuel Eto’o, Cesc Fabregas, Victor Valdes, and Gerald Pique among others (King, 2010).
Effect of Barcelona players on Spanish team and the 2010 world cup
The FIFA world cup is one of the most-watched sports competitions in the world. Spain is the reigning world champion after they defeated the Netherlands in the final of the last edition held in South Africa in 2010 (Hunter, 2013). There is a lot of influence from the Barcelona football club on the Spanish national team. This team has the highest number of representatives in the national team. The Spanish football team applies the philosophy of short passes in the field, just like Barcelona. The presence of Barcelona players in the national team has popularized this philosophy on the global arena, as many people now consider it their style of play (King, 2010).
Barcelona boosts of not less than ten players every time the team gathers for national duty. During the 2010 FIFA world cup in South Africa, eight players in the Spanish national team came from Barcelona. The top scorer at the tournament was David Villa, who had signed for Barcelona from Valencia before the competition began.
Important members of Barcelona also scored crucial goals for Spain during the tournament that they eventually won. The most notable contribution of a Barcelona player happened during the finals when Andres Iniesta scored the winning goal in extra time to give Spain their maiden world title (Hunter, 2013). Famous Barcelona players who played in the world cup in South Africa and are still playing in the team include Victor Valdes, Gerald Pique, Carlos Puyol, Andres Iniesta, Xavi Hernadez, Sergio Busquests, and Pedro Rodriquez. Two years later, Barcelona players again made a mark in the Spanish national team when they helped their country to defend the European title that they had won in 2008 (Hunter, 2013). Spain will look forward to defending their world title this year when the tournament moves to Brazil in the summer.
Conclusion
Barcelona has undeniably been the best soccer team in the last ten years. The achievements of the team since 2004 have made it a force to reckon with in the history of club football, as they have managed to equal and even surpass records held by other great teams such as Real Madrid, AC Milan, Manchester United, and Bayern Munich among others. Barcelona is expected to produce the highest number of representatives in the Spanish national team during this year’s world cup in Brazil. Some of the players that will be hopping to represent their country in the world cup for the first time include Morata, Christian Tello, and Jodi Alba. Many football clubs will struggle to achieve what Barcelona has managed in the last ten years within a similar or even shorter timeline.
References
Hunter, G. (2013). Barcelona: The Making of the Greatest Team in the World. New York: Cengage Learning. Web.
King, J. (2010). FC Barcelona: A Tactical Analysis. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Web.