Barcelona are world renowned as one of the greatest clubs in both domestic and European competition. Barca will go into the 2013/14 campaign as reigning champions of La Liga and will look to improve on their successes of last season.
Current
Domestically, Barcelona were dominant in the 2012/13 season. On their way to being crowned La Liga champions, Barca amassed 100 points, losing only 2 games throughout the entire campaign. They also reached the semi final stage in both the Copa del rey and the Champions League. In the Copa del rey, Barca were eliminated by rivals Real Madrid, whilst in the Champions league, Barcelona suffered a crushing 7-0 aggregate defeat to eventual winners, Bayern Munich. For the 2013/14 season, Tito Vilanova will be looking to his squad to replicate their dominance domestically, whilst hoping that dominance can lead to improvements on their performance in European competition.
Over the last few years many would say that Barcelona have had one of the strongest squads in the world, with many talented youngsters coming through the clubs youth system. However in order to improve on last seasons results, manager, Tito Vilanova will need to bring in some fresh faces to bolster his already immensely talented squad. His first new addition was that of the highly rated Brazilian Neymar. The transfer of Neymar from Santos to Barcelona will undoubtedly be one of the best signings of this summer with the reported transfer fee being around £49 million. The 21 year old joins Barcelona having scored 12 goals in 18 appearances for Santos in the 2013 season.
As well as new signings, coach Tito Vilanova will be hoping that 2010,11 and 12 Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi will continue the form that has made him one of the greatest players in world and potentially one of the greatest ever. Messi scored a total of 60 goals from 50 appearances in all competitions. As well as contributing 16 assists.
Tito Vilanova will once again coach Barcelona for the 2013/14 season having replaced Pep Guardiola at the end of the 2011/12 season. Vilanova will be looking to replicate his predecessors European successes whilst looking for another domestic title.
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Barcelona’s biggest rivalry in domestic compeition is the challenge of Real Madrid. The ‘El Clasico‘ is widely regarded as one of the biggest rivalries in football and draws a world wide audience to watch the fixture. The game also has huge relevance to the league title as for the past 9 seasons one of either Barcelona or Real Madrid have been crowned champions. As well as the ‘El Clasico’, Barcelona also take part in ‘El derbi barceloni’ against Espanyol. The Barcelona vs Espanyol derby is the most played local derby in the history of La Liga.
Stadium
The Camp Nou has been Barcelona’s home stadium since 1957. The historical ground can hold up to 100,000 people.
Season 2012/13
The Spanish giant FC Barcelona were founded in 1899 and is now one the most talked about teams in football. Barcelona has won many accolades in their existence including La Liga twenty one (21) times and the UEFA Cup four times. Barcelona plays their home games at the Camp Nou stadium, which has a capacity of 99,000. Over the years, Barcelona has been home to many great players such as the Brazilian trio Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho. Barcelona has two fierce rivals in the form of Real Madrid and Espanyol. The Real Madrid game is regarded as the El Clasico derby while Espanyol is a local derby.
Barcelona currently sits at the top of La Liga 8 points ahead of rivals Real Madrid. Over the summer they only recruited two players in the form of Cameroonian Alex Song from Arsenal and Jordi Alba former La Masia graduate from Valencia, who both will add an air of defensive stability that they perhaps lacked last season. Leo Messi is leading the attack for Barcelona, followed by Xavi and Iniesta The return of Carles Puyol in the defence will bolster the defence. This season, it will be again between Barcelona und Real Madrid to secure the La Liga title.
