FCBARCELONA.CAT

17.05.2010 14:01

Widespread recognition for Barça

Vanessa Forns

The second league trophy of the Guardiola era has had major media repercussions. Many of the headlines refer to the record tally of 99 points.

They had to wait until the last day, but FC Barcelona got there in the end with an emphatic 4-0 victory over Valladolid to secure their twentieth league title. The tight battle between FCB and Real Madrid meant it al went down to the wire, but the Catalans got there in the end, setting a European record of 99 points.

And many of the sports and general interest newspapers made reference to that remarkable feat in this morning’s headlines, which we summarise here:

‘Sport’

Under the headline “The best champion in history”, and with a giant photo taking up not just the front but also the back of the paper and showing the team celebrating the title in the Camp Nou, Sport proclaimed that “Barça win the league with 99 points … what a record!”. It also mentions that Messi has won the Pichichi and the Golden Boot with 34 goals, and that Real Madrid ended up 3 points adrift of the champions.

‘Mundo Deportivo’

“Champions!”, cries ‘El Mundo Deportivo’, who also show the team celebrations on their cover. The paper speaks of an “Impressive Barça” that “won the league with 99 points” and also comments that Pellegrini’s side “end up with nothing”. It also reminded readers of what Josep Guardiola said after Champions League elimination: “We owe you one and these won’t let you down”.

‘El 9’

“You know what you are worth”, said ‘El 9’ on it cover, with a photo of the players gathered in a group. “Barça did their job against Valladolid with another attacking exhibition, reaffirming their style of football and retaining the league title with a record number of points”, it said in its sub-header.

‘Marca’

The Madrid based daily spoke of a “Record winning title”, and showed a picture of the players celebrating. The paper compared the 99 points won by Barça to the 96 won by Madrid.

‘As'

‘As’ decided to show Manuel Pellegrini on their cover, with a rather harsh “You’re fired Manolo” as their headline. But they do mention Guardiola’s side, who they call “fair League champions” and also highlight how “Barça ended the season with 99 points”.

General interest dailies

The general interest papers opted for similar headlines. ‘La Vanguardia’ states that “Barça conquer the record-breaking league”, ‘El Periódico’ goes with “Seventh heaven”. “Barcelona win the record-breaking league” appears in both ‘ABC’ and ‘La Razón’; “99, a record-breaking Barça”, says ‘Público’; “Barça win the best league”, says ‘El País’ and “Championship in Barça, goodbye in Madrid”, says ‘El Mundo’.