Mes Que Un Club, More Than A Club. FC Barcelona are unique in many ways. A lot of clubs have a style of play, but none match the Blaugrana. They are the incarnation of a philosophy.
At the very least, they divide opinion. Loved by many for their ability to win by using the same easy on the eye philosophy, they are also despised by others who claim they are arrogant and do not deserve their acclaim, having used negative means to reach the top such as conning referees.
The ideas stemmed from the Dutch philosophy of ‘total football’, brought to the club when Johan Cruyff arrived from Ajax in 1973. It took over the club, becoming identity in its purest form and after years of misery at the turn of the 21st century, former president Joan Laporta came in 2003 with the idea of getting back to basics. What followed, over the next decade, was unprecedented success.
Regardless of public opinion, it cannot be denied that some truly legendary players have graced the turf at the Camp Nou, their fabled stadium which has become like a theatre which 98,000 people flock to in order to be entertained.
The current squad has the same sprinkling of star dust as ever, and could quite easily achieve another clean sweep of titles come May. Under Luis Enrique they are currently struggling to keep pace with eternal rivals Real Madrid in LaLiga, sitting six points behind Los Blancos before they jetted off to Japan for their successful Club World Cup campaign.
They’re not short on quality these days, but equally they are not hitting the heights of bygone years. As a follow-up to the five greatest Real Madrid players article, we have counted down from five to one documenting Barcelona’s best ever. Enjoy!