Best post-CL team

Which team was the best?


  • Total voters
    42

bismp

Well-known member
Thinking about the glorious past, one inevitably ponders about the failed chance to win back to back CLs.

I think we can all agree that we had pretty good teams, but none of them managed to succeed.

But which one of them was the best?

In 2009/2010 the team had just won the first treble and the footballing world was still in awe and unable to adjust to our playing style. Despite having a pretty much perfectly balanced team, Pep decided to swap the versatile and lethal Eto’o with Ibrahimovic, who clearly did not fit well with the team’s playstyle. Despite that, the team managed to win all 3 titles in the beginning of the season(Spanish Super Cup, European Super Cup and CWC).

The team went on to win La Liga playing great football. It was a really tight contest against the newly formed Real Galacticos, but we managed to win both Clasicos, which turned out to be quite crucial.

Messi had his first GOAT season, Xavi was great, Pedro emerged as a great option and the team fired in all cylinders. But we also faced problems: Ibra never became a part of the system and had a bad relationship with Pep, Iniesta faced injuries and Henry declined a lot compared to the previous season.

Of course, the biggest disappointment of the season was the elimination against Inter. We were tired in Milan after a long bus drive and maybe a little naive tactically against a strong Inter side. Despite giving it all in the Camp Nou, luck and Inter’s bus prevented us from qualifying to the final.

Would we have beaten Bayern in the final? I am pretty confident that we would.

Finally, we also have to mention that we were eliminated in the CDR pretty early on. Of course, CDR is not a big title, but when comparing great seasons, it has to be mentioned.


I have already made a similar post about 2011/12 so I will be brief. In 2010/11 Barcelona reached new,unimaginable heights, playing beautiful football and won the 3rd consecutive La Liga and the 2nd CL in 3 years. Most players were in their prime and we looked unbeatable.

However things did not go well at all.The team faced a lot of injuries, Cesc and Alexis faced problems to adjust in Barcelona, Pep was kinda stubborn and experimented too much, Real were hitting their prime under Mourinho etc. So, despite winning once again all 3 small titles at the beginning of the season and Messi having perhaps his greatest season ever(73 goals!) the team failed to win La Liga. We also lost an extremely crucial El Clasico in the Camp Nou, which still hearts..

In the CL we were never convincing enough(we beat but did not dominate a fairly average Milan side) and eventually got knocked out against Chelsea. Yes we were REALLY unlucky, but once again, we could have won if we were better defensively( conceding a late goal in the first half in a COUNTER ATTACK after being 2-0 was extremely dumb).

Would we have beaten Bayern in the final? I kinda doubt it, considering that we got humiliated the next year against pretty much the same team.

The only saving grace was the CDR trophy.

Finally, we’ve got the 2015/16 team. The team won the treble again in spectacular fashion in 2015, most players were hitting their physical prime, MSN was the deadliest trio the world had ever seen, Messi had perhaps the most complete season of his life, Neymar was emerging as a superstar, Suarez was the best striker in the world and a very well balanced team supported them.

The team started the season in a disappointment, losing the Spanish Super Cup against Bilbao. However we did manage to win the other two small titles(ESC and CWC).

The team was quite inconsistent in the beginning of the season and Messi missed 1-2 months due to injury. But the duo of Suarez and Neymar started playing extremely well and the team managed to humiliate Real in the Bernabeu even without Messi. In fact, from December until ~March the team humiliated every opponent on their sight. During this period, one could make a claim that Barca reached their peak under Lucho. Suarez in particular had the best season of his life, Neymar was getting in the ‘best in the world’ conversation. That said Messi was a bit off..

But gradually the team dropped their form. We got knocked out in the CL quarters against Atletico(despite dominating them domestically) and started losing games left and right in La Liga, including the Camp Nou Clasico, a game that we looked pathetic, especially considering it was the first El Clasico after Cruyff’s death.

Would we manage to win the CL? The way we were playing, I doubt we could have beaten both Bayern in the semis and Real in the final.

In the end we barely managed to secure La Liga. We also won the CDR, securing the domestic double. But in the end something felt off?




In conclusion all 3 teams had great moments, but also some lows.

I would say that the 2009/10 team was the best, followed by 2015/16 and 2011/12 coming dead last.

What do you think?
 
Last edited:

Laplacian

Senior Member
Obviously the one succeeding the 2008/2009. There was a stark decline in the 2015/2016 team, and in 2011/2012 burnout was pretty much evident.
 

Fati_Future_BallonDor

Well-known member
09/10 would have been the strongest imo. 15/16 we should have won the cl, we had peak MSN and were the best team in the world. By the way we could have won once against bayern after smashing out atletico. Suarez has been top in that season, Neymar was pure class in first half, declined a bit in second half but was still worldclass. Messi had a weak season compared to his 14/15 season and a very weak performance against Atletico. Anyways, in 2016 we had to win. 11/12 was unlucky, can happen.
 

Birdy

Senior Member
11/12 of course.

Fantastic football, Messi in GOAT form smashing all records, and Pep conducting beautiful experiments with 3 atb

Bumped into one of the best RMs ever, and rightfully lost the league.
But could have won the UCL. Unlucky not to win a major trophy that season as well
 

Bobo32

Senior Member
The one after Luis Enrique was miles away from the other two. Barcelona were clear favourites for years after the other two, but not after 2015, it only took a year or so for people to realize that they weren't the best team by miles anymore.

2009 was just in the beginning and there was much to do still, while 2011 was the height of Peps project. Or maybe 2012 was even better, but at that time they were so good that motivation was beginning to be a big problem and also the fact that other teams had gotten some years to prepare and develop plans to counter Barcelonas way of playing, meaning there was a need to evolve even more, while after 2009 there was more of an obvious path forward...

If Pep (or Tito) could continue their project with full trust and confidence they would continue to dominate, and 2012 was a better team than 2010, but Rosell et al wanted to take the club in another direction...
 

bismp

Well-known member
The one after Luis Enrique was miles away from the other two. Barcelona were clear favourites for years after the other two, but not after 2015, it only took a year or so for people to realize that they weren't the best team by miles anymore.


With all due respect, I think there’s a little bit revisionist history here.

In 2012 we were clear favorites because we had won 3 consecutive La Ligas and 2 CLs in 3 years.

The 2010 team is considered close to elite because it was preceded and followed by UCL winning teams. I mean, if we had not won in 2011, maybe you would have a similar opinion about the 2010 team.

I think that after winning in spectacular fashion in 2015 and playing god like football for many months in a row, the world clearly saw us as the big favorites.
 

serghei

Senior Member
Imo the 2015 team was losing steam pretty quickly. The whole feeling was that it was an extremely top-heavy team that was losing its balance quickly. MSN were a bit of flat track bullies outside of 2015 and those sensational 10 months.

It was special, but short-lived. And at the top in CL, it didn't quite work except for that one season.
 

Rassvet

Well-known member
2012 CL run was a big disappointment. We had one of the easiest CL paths ever but weren’t that convincing vs Milan and then lost to a bum Chelsea team.
 

serghei

Senior Member
2012 CL run was a big disappointment. We had one of the easiest CL paths ever but weren’t that convincing vs Milan and then lost to a bum Chelsea team.

Both 2010 and 2012 were big disappointments because we dominated the rivals big time and simply failed to convert.
 

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