Will FC Barcelona win the UEFA Champions League in 2010 part 1

They won it in 2006 after two seasons with high spending on the transfer market on Ronaldinho at first and then to build the team around him that managed to also win the Primera Division twice.



What really impressing though was the quality of football they managed to play. It's the kind of football a team manages to achieve after buying the kind of players that it really needs, for FC Barcelona these were the players bought to complete the team around the smiling Brazilian, a period of accommodation for the core of the player with each other plus, let's not forget, a good manager that knew from the beginning how his team will look like and how he want's it to play.



With 70 mil € spent in 2007 and 91 mil € in 2008 they sure seem on the same path they were a few years back. Let's give them a year to grow together and see if they can know do it again under a different manager and with a face lift on the teams first eleven.



Now let's see how they did it under the Rijkaard era.

2004 Making the plan



Ronaldinho 32.250.000 € according to transfermarkt.de from PSG then 24 years old attacking midfielder on which it all was centered on in the next 2-3 years of the clubs history. The star, shinning even brighter than the Catalan captain of the team Carles Puyol.



Rafa Marquez 5.250.000 € from AS Monaco 25 year old center back that established himself as a first team center back.





2005 Building onto Ronaldinho



Samuel Eto'o 27.000.000 € from Mallorca a striker ready to bag all the passes coming from his team mates, very fast.



Deco 21.000.000 € from FC Porto fresh winner of the Champions League and the star of the team, will become the man with the last pass at Barca.



Ludovic Giuly 8.500.000 € from AS Monaco, the other finalist of the UCL final, good fast attacking midfielder player.



Giovanni van Bronckhorst free from Arsenal, quality center midfielder, the kind of player you don't really see on the pitch, but has to do his role well for the team to work at full speed.



These are only a few of the transfers that after another year of playing together and with minor additions made the play the best football in the world and win the biggest competition they could win, along with the Primera, what could be better?

Well after that glorious period there followed the inevitable period of decline with a place 2 in the Primera after Real, and a place 3 last season. Frank Rijkaard had to leave and as new manager and ex player with really no managing experience took his place, Josep Guardiola (in the picture along with Luis Enrique), coming from managing the second team of Barca.



Also another ex star player took the spot at the second team , Luis Enrique, stating on his signing:

"I have returned home!...I know that I may not have any experience, because I am just starting out, but I have been in plenty of dressing rooms with players of so many levels before. What I can guarantee is hard work, determination and total dedication."

Well, the only thing that his team will be doing is train players for the big team, so no real reason to hire a high payed coach, better to let an ex get experience and maybe one day, like Guardiola, he will take charge of the first team.



Part two of this post will come soon with some interesting topics like:

• key players that left
  
  


• transfers and players that form the current team


• chances for the new season


• tactics Guardiola will probably use


• youngsters coming up

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