Barcelona; The Golden generation
Barcelona is arguably the best football team on the planet. The golden generation of the club has been magnificent and have destroyed every opposition in sight.
The golden generation came into their own in the 2007/08 season when one of their own, Pep Guordiolla took charge of the team. Pep himself was a star player for Barcelona in the 90s. He is also a graduate of the Barcelona youth academy.
The academy has produced most of the current squad members. Astonishingly when Spain won the 2010 FIFA world cup, 7 Barcelona members were in the starting 11.
Messi, the Argentinean sensation is also a graduate of the academy as he joined the club system when he was only 13. He is the best player on the planet and is the current FIFA world player of the year. Messi is not the only attacking talent to come out
of the highly famed academy. The midfield maestro Xavi and the magician Iniesta are graduates too.
Messi. Iniesta, Xavi, Pique, Puyol, Bojan, Pedro and Bosquets all are Catalans through and through. This factor means they have almost telepathic understanding on the pitch which makes them a formidable foe.
In the 1st season under Pep, Barcelona won an unprecedented treble winning the La Liga, the Spanish cup and the UEFA Champions league. They followed these accolades with success at the FIFA world club championship and the UEFA super cup. Barcelona
won a staggering 5 trophies in 1 year, a feat no other Spanish team has accomplished before and this record is unlikely to be broken in the future. In the following season the team again was utterly dominating in La Liga but lost out in the Champions league
semi final to eventual winners Inter Milan.
Barcelona plays a brand of football known as “total football”, originally deployed by the great Johan Cryuff. According to this method, every member of the team is an attacker when on the offensive and every player is a defender when the opposition
has the ball. Surprising aspect is that despite being ominously talented every player is equally hard working.
Barcelona very rarely loses possession of the ball. Almost every member of the team has an immaculate 1st touch and terrific ball control. They dominate most games on possession and it is extremely rare to see them either overpowered or overhauled
by the opposition. They have a simple theory that attack is the best form of defence therefore the full backs are mostly in the attacking half. It is as if Barcelona says to its counterpart that if you score 4, we will score 5 or 6.
There is tremendous unity within the squad. One team mate’s success is cherished by the others. The manager is considered one of the
“boys”. This means the players feel a deeper connection to the manager and are in return ready to put their body and soul on the line for him.
It is a wonderful time for Barcelona supporters. The fans are very loyal to the players; this is very evident in any of the home games played at the Nou Camp. Week in week out more than 90,000 fans come out to support their superstars. The Catalans are very
proud and have every right to be.
The success story of the golden generation is unlikely to end any time soon. The unity in the squad means no player would want to leave. Another factor is that the squad is still very young and very hungry for success. Only Puyol is over 30 years old while
the others are either in the prime of their careers or still heading towards the peak.
No one would want to bet against another season similar to 2007/08. The team is high on confidence after thrashing bitter rivals, Real Madrid 5-0. They sit at the top of La Liga and have qualified for the knock out stage of the Champions league. If the past
was bright the future looks even brighter. The so-called status of “the golden generation” for once is not an overstatement.
Tags: