FC Barcelona Moments of the Decade
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1. Champions League Final 2011-12: Barcelona vs. Manchester United 3-1
Barcelona finished the season as the Champions of Europe in 2011-12. The Spanish giants beat the Premier League champions of that season by 3-1 to lift the cup! Both teams entered the competition having won it three times previously. The opening goal of the night was scored by Pedro in the 27th minute with the help of Xavi. Barcelona’s lead was then equalized by Wayne Rooney before going into the half-time. In the second half, Barca continued to dominate the game and regained the lead in the 57th minute when Messi took a shot from 20 yards away to beat the Manchester United keeper Van der Sar. United was pushing really hard to get the equalizing goal but a third goal came in for Barca after David Villa took a curler and put the ball into the top right corner. Barcelona defended their lead for the rest of the game and emerged as the Champions of Europe for 2011-12.
2. Champions League 2012-13, Round of 16, Second Leg
Barcelona were 2-0 down in the first leg against AC Milan in the Round of 16 in the Champions League 2012-13, but they not only went on to quarterfinals, they also beat the Italian giants AC Milan, 4-0 at Camp Nou. Messi scored the opening goal for Barca in the 5th minute. After receiving a hard and low pass from Xavi, he took one touch to control and then, with no back-lift, almost just with a flick of the ankle, he sent the ball flying into the corner. Just before the first half ended, Messi scored another goal and equalized the score on aggregate, and it was half time with AC Milan down by two goals. First 5 minutes into the second half and David Villa scores with his left foot into the left corner. Barca entered quarterfinals with this goal. The rest of the game continued with constant pressure from each side as AC Milan just needed to tie the game to enter the quarterfinals. Into the extra time and a counter-attack by Barcelona. A beautiful cross from the right, Jordi Alba is there to receive it and finishes off with just a simple touch. Barcelona won the game 4-0 and put up an aggregate score of 4-2 and finalized their place in the quarterfinals.
3. Champions League Semi-finals 2010/11: Real Madrid vs. Barcelona 0-2
Barcelona vs. Real Madrid, the El Classico, the most-watched football match in the world. Messi again shows his magic on the field scoring 2 goals and leading Barcelona into the finals. The goals were scored in the 76th and 87th minutes. Both teams tried their level best to score a goal but the tables turned in Barcelona’s favor when Messi scored the tap-in in the 76th minute. Incredible saves by Iker Casillas and Victor Valdes, both trying to keep the opposition from scoring. The game got more intense minute by minute. But there’s nothing that we can predict about Messi. He carried the ball through Madrid’s defence, going past one, two, three , four and beating the keeper to score a goal. Just magical! This gives Barcelona a 2-0 win over their biggest rival and they also enter the Champions League Final!
4. Barcelona vs Madrid 5-0
Real Madrid were humiliated by the Catalans. Pep Guardiola’s Barca defeats Mourinho’s Madrid. A historically bad result for Jose. He expected his team to lose, but not against Barcelona and not with a 5-0 score on the scoreboard. First, a pass by Iniesta to Xavi, beautifully taken over the head and calmly put behind Casillas, putting Barca a goal ahead of Madrid. Real Madrid trying really hard to equalize. Barca’s side being dominating one as always. David Villa on the left flank puts the ball in the keeper’s area, Pedro finds the ball and puts it in, Barcelona are 2 goals ahead of Madrid. Jose couldn’t sit back on the bench. David Villa puts two goals in the second half giving Barca a 4-0 lead in the game. Barcelona added a fifth in stoppage time when Jeffren finished off Bojan Krkic’s cross to complete a miserable night for Mourinho’s team. Jeffrén had been on the pitch for only three minutes.
5. TREBLE
A treble is achieved when a team wins three trophies in a single season. Barcelona won the treble not once but twice and they are the only team to have done that. They won the La Liga, Copa del Rey and Champions league. First time in 2008/09 and replicated the feat in 2015/16. They beat archrivals Real Madrid by nine points for the league title in 2008/09 and edged them by one point seven years later. Barcelona are the only team to have won the treble twice. Barca also achieved a sextuple after contesting in 6 different championships in a year, the Supercopa de España, UEFA Super Cup, FIFA Club World Cup, Copa del Rey, La Liga, and the UEFA Champions League.
6. Laliga: Real Madrid vs. Barcelona 2-3
Luis Enrique’s 11 rips apart Zidane’s Madrid with a last-minute goal by none other than Lionel Messi. Messi scored two goals and picked up 3 crucial points for Barcelona and put the team at the top of the table. Casemiro put Barcelona behind by a goal. Their joy was short-lived as Leo Messi scored an equalizing goal within 5 minutes with a trademark finish. The visitors then took the lead with Rakitic taking a shot from just outside the box with a left foot, curling the ball in the left corner and Navas couldn’t reach it. Soon the Los Blancos captain got a straight red card for sliding tackle on Messi. The Blaugrana thought that they could get those three points easily, but the super-sub for Madrid, James Rodriguez equalized the lead. Just as it looked that the game was ending with a draw, there was another twist as Messi stepped up to the occasion and fired home the winner with the last kick of the game.
7. Champions League 2017, Round of 16: Barcelona vs. Paris Saint Germain
La Remontada, The Comeback. The first leg was played in Paris; both teams were in good shape. Ángel Di María put the Parisians in front on 18 minutes with a free-kick after Barcelona’s Samuel Umtiti committed a foul. Julian Draxler made it 2–0 with a low shot in the 40th minute, assisted by Marco Verratti. After 55 minutes, Di María scored once again from a shot outside the box. Edinson Cavani scored the final goal of the game in the 72nd minute, securing the 4–0 win. The second leg was played at Camp Nou, the home for the Catalans. Luis Suarez scored the opening goal for the night in the 3rd minute. Just before going into half time, Paris Saint-Germain’s Layvin Kurzawa scored an own goal in an attempt to block a shot by Andrés Iniesta. he third goal came in the 50th minute via a penalty scored by Lionel Messi after Neymar was fouled by the visitor’s keeper. Barcelona’s hopes were seemingly brought down after Edinson Cavani scored Paris Saint-Germain’s only goal in the 62nd minute, leaving the Blaugrana requiring three more to win due to the away goals rule now favoring PSG. Neymar scored two goals in the closing stages – a free kick in the 88th minute and a penalty kick in the 91st – to make it 5–1. In the final seconds of the match, Neymar appeared once again to deliver a cross into the penalty area, and Sergi Roberto scored their sixth and final goal in the 95th minute thus winning the game 6-1 and advancing to the quarter-finals 6-5 on aggregate.
