FC Barcelona: The Perfect Season?

They say that there is no such thing as the perfect season. Even the best of teams have their ups and downs, and this has proven to be the case time and again. World class teams give it their all for a long and gruelling season, only to end with a whimper, to have little, sometimes nothing to add to the trophy cabinet.

If ever there was a perfect season, FC Barcelona’s triumph at the Stadio Olimpico last night capped it. This was a treble of unprecedented proportions, and one can only admire such sheer brilliance.

Of course, we can go back 10 years and look at our Champions League runners up, Manchester United, and see that they indeed also won a treble. This was meant to be the ultimate achievement, the best season ever, a season for the ages.

It was difficult to comprehend how anyone could match that season, let alone surpass it. Unbelievably, FC Barcelona has not only surpassed the achievements of that 1999 Man United side, they have almost made a mockery of it.

In 1999, Man United won the league by one point on the last day after their rivals had slipped up the week before. It was a tense finish to the title race, but the Red Devils prevailed. Contrast this to Barcelona this year. Not only did they win their league with three matches to go, they thrashed closest rival Real Madrid 6-2 away from home, asserting their dominance in the most defiant way possible.

Now it's time to move onto the domestic cup competitions. The FA Cup was the easiest one for Man United all those years ago, although they did have some difficult replays against Chelsea and Arsenal. A majority of their matches were played at home that season.

In contrast,  Spain’s Copa Del Rey is different. Each knockout round is played over two home and away legs, arguably tougher than the FA Cup. Barcelona did not lose a single game despite having some difficult away legs, and overall had a relatively comfortable Copa Del Rey this year.

Finally, the UEFA Champions League. With all due respect to the ‘99 Man United side, we all know how lucky they were to get those two goals in injury time in the final. Even in the semifinal, Juventus were leading 3-1 on aggregate in Turin before the Red Devils staged a remarkable comeback to win the tie 4-3 on aggregate in another great escape.

In this year’s Champions League, Barcelona was lucky against Chelsea with that last gasp equalizer, however, during the rest of the tournament, they flexed their muscle, especially against Lyon and Bayern Munich in the knockout stages. They confirmed their class by completely outplaying Man United in the final, which surprised many, including the bookmakers.

When Man United won the treble, they had their fair share of luck in getting there. No matter how good a team was, they needed that little bit of luck to achieve the treble. Barcelona has almost proved that theory wrong. Barring one lucky match against Chelsea, they have been deserving winners of all their trophies. They are really in a class of their own, and have to be one of the greatest teams in recent history.