FC Barcelona celebrated its 21st league title in its history and the third straight under Pep Guardiola on Sunday. Since Guardiola’s return to the club as a manager, he has won a league title in all 4 four seasons he has managed then. His first came as the manager of Barça B and ever since he was promoted as manager of the first team, he has won the league every single time. Some thought the first one was the toughest to win since it was his first season in top flight football and was without Ronaldinho. Some thought the second league title was the toughest to win since it’s always harder to repeat and Real Madrid had Florentino Perez as their president again who splashed a fortune on Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, and Benzema in an attempt to dethrone Barça. However, I believe the recent third league trophy was the best one during Guardiola’s era after he encountered numerous hurdles and yet still won the league title. The third one is also special because this allows FC Barcelona to keep the League trophy forever as a result of winning three consecutive league titles.

 

 

Some said that Guardiola would face a huge task of winning the league a third consecutive time because of the World Cup. History had shown us in the past that the World Cup usually signaled the end of an era for a team. Real Madrid’s famous La Quinta del Buitre saw their era end to Cruyff’s Dream Team following five straight titles after World Cup 1990. Cruyff would then manage the Dream Team to four consecutive league titles but that team’s downfall would begin following World Cup 1994. The Dream Team not only had players representing Spain, but Romario shined for Brazil, Koeman performed for Holland and Stoichkov starred for Bulgaria. So there was a similar concern that Barcelona would struggle this season since the likes of Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol and David Villa had been playing in three consecutive summers of international competitions for Spain.

 

Additionally, Real Madrid had hired the man who many believed was Barça’s kryptonite, Jose Mourinho, following his elimination of Barça from last season’s Champions League. Guardiola had to endure all season long the whining and silly mind games from Mourinho and did finally retaliate to the press in the build up to the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals. Sure, the club did lose the Copa Del Rey to Real Madrid but then again; the club were also eliminated by Sevilla in last year’s edition of the Copa Del Rey. Nevertheless, the Mou factor did not hinder the club from losing the more important league title and in the process saw them win an aggregate 6-1 over two games with the first encounter ending in an unforgettable 5-0 win at the Camp Nou.

 

Barça and Guardiola did not only have to tolerate juvenile taunts from Mourinho, but had to also deal with the Madrid based media and their mud-slinging campaign. I mentioned how disappointed I was with the club’s slow reaction when the Madrid press concocted a story about Guardiola refusing to shake Mourinho’s hand at a UEFA event. The story was fake but the club did respond that they would seek legal action against those who try to tarnish the club’s image with fake stories. We already endured fake interviews from the English media along with this Madrid based fabrication. Sadly, Madrid would be the setting again when someone from Cadena Copa radio station came out and accused Barça and Valencia players of doping and claimed his source was someone from Real Madrid. This time, the club reacted swiftly and sued the radio station.

 

That alone would be tough for some managers but Guardiola also had to endure the whispers or criticism that his squad lacked depth that could rival Real Madrid’s. It was brought up a few times on Revista De La Liga throughout the season and everyone seemed to be in a hurry to pat themselves on the back when players such as Xavi, Pedro, Iniesta and Puyol all suffered injuries. Just when Guardiola thought it couldn’t get any worse, he had to make do without the services of Eric Abidal, who was having his best season as a Barça defender, after being diagnosed with a tumor on his liver. Heck, even Guardiola endured an injury when he suffered a hernia. I jokingly said that came as no surprise since he has been carrying the club on his back ever since he took over from Rijkaard.

 

Yet, not only did Guardiola and the club overcome all these obstacles, they made sure they did not use them as an excuse. For all we know, these hurdles might have motivated them even more. Half the squad had just won the World Cup, and majority of the team had already tasted success domestically and in Europe. Nevertheless, they were still hungry and got the job done and no one can take that away from them. This is no fluke when your team has an 8 point lead and those players thoroughly enjoyed parading the league trophy after their 0-0 draw at home against Deportivo.

 

Coincidentally, what makes winning this league title even more special is the fact that the club will be able to keep the trophy forever in their museum. Now we all know that UEFA has this custom where clubs can keep the cup forever after they have won the Champions League five times. The Spanish league has a similar custom where a club can keep the league trophy forever if they win on five separate occasions without another side winning five before them or after winning three successive league titles. Usually, a club that wins the league title can only keep it for a year before returning it to the league who then hand it over to the next champions. Afterwards, clubs can only display a reduced scale version of the original trophy. Overall, this had only occurred nine times prior to Barça winning the tenth one on Sunday.

 

Athletic Club were the first club to ever keep the trophy when they won five different league titles back in 1930, 1931, 1934, 1936 and 1943. FC Barcelona were the second club to do so for their five titles back in 1945, 1948, 1949, 1952 and 1953. Real Madrid would become the third and only other team to keep the trophy permanently and did so on five different and uninterrupted occasions thanks to winning five titles in 1954, 1955, 1957, 1958, and 1961 and then three league titles in a row twice during the 60’s, another five during the 70’s and another three consecutive league titles in the late 80’s. Since then, only FC Barcelona has managed to accomplish the feat of keeping the trophy. Cruyff’s Dream Team grabbed the second trophy thanks to their three peat in the early 90s’ and the third cup came thanks to their five league titles spanning from the Dream Team’s final league title along with Van Gaal’s and Rijkaard’s back to back league titles (1994, 1998, 1999, 2005 and 2006).

 

Thus, Barça’s successful three-peat under Guardiola allows them to capture a fourth league trophy for the third time in a row and leaves them only one short of matching Real Madrid. Sure the 21 league titles are 10 short of matching Real Madrid’s tally of 31 but it doesn’t hurt to point out to them that most of those league trophies that their players hoisted, including the ones from the Galáticos and Calderón’s era, are sitting in the Barcelona museum right now. It is always good when Barça wins a league title, but it’s also extra special when they get to keep that trophy forever for all to see. So this is without a doubt the best league title that Guardiola has won and here’s to more continued success for Guardiola and the club.