Sixth consecutive semi-final berth in the UEFA Champions League for FC Barcelona

Sixth consecutive semi-final berth in the UEFA Champions League for FC Barcelona

WWW.FCBARCELONA.COM 04/10/2013 23:02

No other team have managed to equal FC Barcelona's feat of qualifying for the semi-final round of the European competition for six consecutive seasons

The last time Barça were eliminated before the penultimate round was in the 2006/07 season



It’s not easy to start a tradition, but FC Barcelona have managed to become a near permanent fixture in the semi-finals of the Champions League. This Wednesday, Tito Vilanova’s men qualified for the penultimate round of the European competition for the sixth consecutive time, a feat that no other team have managed to equal since the competition adopted it’s current format (1992/93).


In fact, the old record was broken last season, when Barça clinched its fifth consecutive semi-final berth. Juventus (from 1995 to 1999) and Real Madrid (from 1999 to 2003) made four straight semi-final appearances over a decade ago.


From Rijkaard to Vilanova

FC Barcelona continue to be the focal point of European football; champions twice over from the last four editions of the competition, the team have always been in the top four best clubs of the continent since the 2007/08 season. In that season, the last of Frank Rijkaard’s tenure on the Barça bench, Barça were eliminated in the semis by Manchester United.

With Josep Guardiola as the head man in Can Barça, the team continued to flourish on the continental stage as he led his men to four straight semi-final berths, and winning the title in 2009 and 2011. Now, with Tito Vilanova as the head manager, Barça continues to do well in the Champions League.


Barça's semi-finals


2007/08
FCB-United (0-0)
United-FCB (1-0)


2008/09
FCB-Chelsea (0-0)
Chelsea-FCB (1-1)


2009/10
Inter-FCB (3-1)
FCB-Inter (1-0)


2010/11
Madrid-FCB (0-2)
FCB-Madrid (1-1)


2011/12
Chelsea-FCB (1-0)
FCB-Chelsea (2-2)

Considering our form, our defense, and our horrible injury problems I am surprised that we even got this far. Yet through hell and high waters, they made it to the semi's. The last 4 is when all rules of the universe change and the better team has absolutely no advantage. Anything could happen and the main things needed to make it through are a desire for victory, nerves, and luck. I'd consider us one of the underdogs right now, but as I said before, anything can happen.

I'm pretty confident we'll be a lot better in the semis than we were against PSG, especially considering that Messi was out for most of the tie.

We have the best midfield and (IMO) attack in the world (though our attack does rely a bit too much on Messi), so I think we have a good shot at winning the whole thing. Especially if our remaining games are anything like the Milan game. Remember, that was our last CL game in which Messi played the full match. I think our performance in the remaining games will be a lot closer to that game than the PSG game last night.

The only thing I'm really worried about is our defense. It could definitely end up costing us.

Madrid and Bayern have the best attack. The only reason why we say that Barca has the best attack is because of Messi.
Our attack isn't that dangerous anymore. Other teams gets 4-7 shots on target while we only get to have 1-3 shots on target. We also has the least amount of succesful dribbles when it comes to our wingers.

With the current form, the best attack right now might be Ribery-Mandzukic-Robben or Ronaldo-Higuain-Di Maria

aaron101 said:

Madrid and Bayern have the best attack. The only reason why we say that Barca has the best attack is because of Messi.
Our attack isn't that dangerous anymore. Other teams gets 4-7 shots on target while we only get to have 1-3 shots on target. We also has the least amount of succesful dribbles when it comes to our wingers.

With the current form, the best attack right now might be Ribery-Mandzukic-Robben or Ronaldo-Higuain-Di Maria

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Villa's a great striker as well, though he wasn't that great in the two games against PSG. I still think we have the best attack in the world because of him and Messi. Especially when Pedro plays well, like he did last night. Our attack is pretty dependent on Messi though, as we saw last night. Then again, I don't think RM's attack would do much better if you took Ronaldo out.

The reason we weren't that dangerous against PSG was because Messi was out for most of the tie. Once he came on, it pretty much changed everything.

Remember the second leg against Milan? I doubt any other attack could have pulled it off.

aaron101 said:

Madrid and Bayern have the best attack. The only reason why we say that Barca has the best attack is because of Messi.
Our attack isn't that dangerous anymore. Other teams gets 4-7 shots on target while we only get to have 1-3 shots on target. We also has the least amount of succesful dribbles when it comes to our wingers.

With the current form, the best attack right now might be Ribery-Mandzukic-Robben or Ronaldo-Higuain-Di Maria

Click to expand...

1-3 shots on target? Yes, we had 2 shots yesterday, but it was the smallest figure of the season. You can't say we have 1-3 shots on target every game just because we had as little yesterday. I agree our wingers are not really dangerous anymore but it's not like Robben or Di Maria have been brilliant lately either. I'd say every team has a chance to win the CL but if we manage to control the game like we usually do, if the players are in good shape and if all our players are fit, we have the best chances of doing so.

Indignado said:

1-3 shots on target? Yes, we had 2 shots yesterday, but it was the smallest figure of the season. You can't say we have 1-3 shots on target every game just because we had as little yesterday. I agree our wingers are not really dangerous anymore but it's not like Robben or Di Maria have been brilliant lately either. I'd say every team has a chance to win the CL but if we manage to control the game like we usually do, if the players are in good shape and if all our players are fit, we have the best chances of doing so.

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And don't forget, Messi didn't play for 60 mins. Big part of why we only had 2 shots on target IMO.

Real Madrid won the CL in 98 ,so they must have 5 SF in a row ?

aaron101 said:

Madrid and Bayern have the best attack. The only reason why we say that Barca has the best attack is because of Messi.
Our attack isn't that dangerous anymore. Other teams gets 4-7 shots on target while we only get to have 1-3 shots on target. We also has the least amount of succesful dribbles when it comes to our wingers.

With the current form, the best attack right now might be Ribery-Mandzukic-Robben or Ronaldo-Higuain-Di Maria

Click to expand...

So Messi doesn't play for FC Barcelona anymore?

The team has been great over these years but looking back on it; I don't think they would have even coming close to achieving this feat without Messi.

In 2010 he scored the 4 vs Arsenal, in 2011 he was great all around, in 2012 he was once again crucial in getting the team to the semis, and even with his limited contributions against PSG he was the difference in getting the team to the semis and let's not forget his awesome brace vs AC Milan in the round of 16.

All legends have certain awesome achievements like Maradona's world cup and his leading Napoli to win a very competitive Serie A or Pele's multiple world cups and Santos achievements or Zidane's performance at 36 to drag France to the world cup final.

For me, Messi is already the best ever for everything he's done and for leading Barcelona to 6 consecutive semi-finals of the Champions League. An extremely difficult task for even the best of teams.

Paganinisrvnge said:

The team has been great over these years but looking back on it; I don't think they would have even coming close to achieving this feat without Messi.

In 2010 he scored the 4 vs Arsenal, in 2011 he was great all around, in 2012 he was once again crucial in getting the team to the semis, and even with his limited contributions against PSG he was the difference in getting the team to the semis and let's not forget his awesome brace vs AC Milan in the round of 16.

All legends have certain awesome achievements like Maradona's world cup and his leading Napoli to win a very competitive Serie A or Pele's multiple world cups and Santos achievements or Zidane's performance at 36 to drag France to the world cup final.

For me, Messi is already the best ever for everything he's done and for leading Barcelona to 6 consecutive semi-finals of the Champions League. An extremely difficult task for even the best of teams.

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Yup. We've always been pretty dependent on Messi IMO. In 2011 for instance, I'm not even sure we'd have gotten past Arsenal without him...

We definitely wouldn't have won the CL...

You guys are probably going to think I'm a pessimist,but I have to be realistic: I don't think we are going to win the Champions League...
I don't know why, but we play well against bad teams but we are not that great against the best teams.

But still, let's hope for the best!

Number of semifinals achieved in the hystory ho Champions League (1955-2013):

Real Madrid: 24
Bayern Munchen - Barcelona: 15
Milan: 13
Manchester United: 12
Juventus: 10
Liverpool: 9
Ajax - Benfica: 8
Chelsea: 6
Red Star Belgrade - Borussia Dortmund: 4
Porto - Hamburg - Steaua Bucarest: 3
.....
....

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