FOOTBALL FORMATIONS

About this formation

Barcelona "Treble Winners XI" (2008 - 2009)

In 2008–09, Futbol Club Barcelona started under a new manager, former player and FC Barcelona Atlètic manager Josep Guardiola, who led the team to the first Treble in Spanish football history. After selling off high-profiled players such as Deco and Barcelona's greatest player Ronaldinho, they played brilliant football throughout the season, winning the Copa del Rey, La Liga, and the UEFA Champions League.

Barcelona forward line created goal scoring history as legendary Thierry Henry, Eto'o and Messi together crossed 100 goal mark, and became the most successful trio ever. With this resulted the unprecedented treble win for Barcelona. And they didn’t do it by merely winning games, they did it by winning in style, making them perhaps the most universally respected side of the decade.

Tactically, Barcelona generally stuck to a 4-3-3 shape throughout the season, playing high up the pitch and pressing from the front. Henry stayed wide on the left, with Messi having more license to come in off the right wing, knowing that the energetic Dani Alves would be providing width. In midfield, Iniesta played furthest forward, Xavi was the calm, methodical ‘link’, whilst Yaya Touré sat deep infront of the centre-backs.

Of course, there were further subtleties to the system, both in defence and attack. Upfront, it was not unusual for Guardiola to switch the positions of Eto’o and Messi, especially late in the season. But with Messi a tricky playmaker and Eto’o a natural striker, the formation altered significantly. Messi played in a false nine position, whilst Eto’o played high up the pitch on the flank, with he and Henry significantly more advanced than Messi, but troubling the full-backs rather than the centre-backs. What formation did this create? A version of Roma’s strikerless shape? A 4-3-1-2? Either way it caused problems for the opposition in a similar way to that Roma 4-6-0, although it focussed upon pressuring high up the pitch, rather than breaking from deep.

At the back, the most notable feature was how willing the two centre-backs were to spread to the flank when Barcelona were in possession (particularly when Victor Valdes had the ball), making sure the pitch was as wide as possible. The gap in the centre of the defence was covered by Yaya Toure dropping into a centre-back role to create a temporary three-man defence, giving the full-backs license to go forward, in a similar fashion to the current Brazil side.

This meant that Barcelona were flexible both in defence and attack, whilst possessing perhaps the two best ball-playing midfielders around in Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta. They won every competition they entered – and all this after an opening day defeat to Numancia.

The 2-6 win at the Bernabeu in early May was the season-defining victory – two for Henry, two for Messi, but Xavi was the star of the show, running the midfield and having a hand in almost every Barcelona goal.

Barcelona thus created a legacy like very few other has ever done. Although they may not have matched the feats of legendary Milan side or Liverpool side, but they have the time in their side to attempt to match the feats of the previous legendary sides. Are they as good as the Real Madrid side of Puskás and Di Stéfano? Only time would tell, as this team is still young enough.



Coach/Manager : Josep Guardiola

Reserves include : Sergio Busquets, Sylvinho, José Manuel Pinto, Martín Cáceres, Marc Muniesa, Seydou Keita, Eiður Guðjohnsen, Bojan Krkić and Pedro Rodríguez Ledesma.