FCBARCELONA.CAT

28.08.2009 23:44

Barça of the Five Cups (mark II)

David Saura

The legend of Pep Guardiola at Barça is greater than ever after they have won their fifth title of 2009. At the same time, it brings back memories of 1951/52, when another wonderful FC Barcelona side brought home five trophies.

If Kubala, Gonzalvo III, César, Martín or Segarra could have seen tonight’s game , they would have been proud of this Barça side. In the same way that Ramallets, Biosca and Basora have done in their later years. All of them were members of the great Barça of the Five Cups, which 57 years ago and managed by Fernando Daucik, won the League, the Cup, the Fairs Cup, the Copa Eva Duarte (equivalent to the modern day Spanish Super Cup) and the Martini&Rossi. That amazing generation of footballers, immortalised in a Joan Manel Serrat song that honoured the Barça magic, have now passed the baton on to Pep Guardiola and his side.

2009 simply has to be the best year in the club’s history. And only the 1951/52 campaign is in any way comparable. True, this modern incarnation of the Barça of the Five Cups achieved their aim in two different seasons (2008/09 and 2009/10), but nobody can argue that what Guardiola is doing now is a mere continuation of the good work he did last year. In fact, of the players on show at the Louis II tonight, only Ibrahimovic was not in the squad last season.

From Valencia to Monaco

After an unforgettable month of May, FC Barcelona have won a further two titles, with a playing style that the world can only marvel at. Since May 13, with the win in Valencia that opened the path towards the treble, until August 28 in Monaco, 108 days have passed that have seemed like a never-ending orgy of delight.

First ever treble plus Super Cups

In Rome, Barça became the fifth team to win the European Cup plus their two domestic titles, an achievement only previously managed by Celtic (1967), Ajax (1972), PSV Eindhoven (1988) and Manchester United (1999). But now they have gone even further still. For none of the four aforementioned clubs also managed to win the two Super Cups, as Barça have done in the space of just five days, winning the Spanish and European versions.

And as if that wasn’t enough, it’s not long before Barça will be having a crack at the World Clubs Cup. That’s a trophy Barcelona have never won, but then again, until 2009, they had never won a the treble either...