Club Profile: F.c. Barcelona
F.c. Barcelona, known as either Barcalona or simply Barca top the UEFA rankings for Clubs in Europe for the upcoming 2010/2011 football season. Barca is a Spanish football club, hailing from the seperatist region of Catalonia. Barca are known througout Europe for their attacking brand of football which has become their trademark over the years.
Barcelona was established in 1899 and since then it has grown to become one of the biggest football clubs in the world. Home colours of blue and claret have become synonymous with Barca, a Club that has become home to some of the finest football players of all time. Some greats who have put on the famous jersey of Barcelona in recent time are Johan Cryuff, Diego Maradonna, Ronaldo, Luis Figo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, Romario.
Barcelona are currently managed by Josep 'Pep' Guardiola who is a former Barca player. He played for Barca for the majority of his career, making the defensive midfield role his own. It is a mark of the Barca academy that they not only produce great players, but great coaches as well. And indeed, Guardiola has been one of the most successful managers that Barca has had in it's illustrious history. In his very first season as manager, Pep Guardiola led his team to an astonishing treble, winning the La Liga crown, Copa del ray (Domestic Cup in Spain) and arguably the best tournament in the world, the UEFA Champions league. The treble meant that Barcelona became the first Spanish club to win all three titles. History was made and it was fitting that a man who has the club running through his veins was responsible.
Last year Barcalona were unable to repeat this feat, losing out to Sevilla in the Copa del ray and Inter Milan in the Champions league. However, the season had yet another record for this phenomenal Barcelona team as they accumulated the highest ever points total in the Spanish La Liga (99 Points), beating rivals Real Madrid to retain the crown of the best team in Spain.
The Barcelona team consists of many stars at the moment and none come bigger than the Argentinean wonderkid, Lionel Messi. Messi scored 47 goals in 53 appearances for his team last year which made him the highest goal-scorer in Europe and one of the most deadly forwards of all time. Barcalona is no one-man team though. Iniest and Xavi, two local boys who were brought up through the club's academy, pull the strings in midfield ahead of another Barca star in-the-making, Busquets who holds the midfield. At the back, Club Captain Carlos Puyol plays in central defense with Gerrad Pique. Both centre-back's are also academy products, something which sets Barcalona apart from other european heavy-weights such as Real Madrid, Chelsea who have relied on imports from other clubs to achieve success.
Barca is likely to play a very important role in the up-coming football season as they will be targetting all three major trophies yet again and they are favourties, yet again, to take all of them which explains why UEFA ranks them as the best club team in Europe right now.
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