COMMENT: Luis Enrique's side have eclipsed even Pep Guardiola's great team of 2009, with their star man a more complete footballer than ever before
By Ben Hayward at the Olympiastadion

Luis Enrique could have had the last laugh. Face to face with many of his fiercest critics from earlier on in the season, the Barcelona coach spoke seriously and almost without emotion after leading the Catalan club to a historic treble that culminated with the Champions League crown in Berlin on Saturday.

The Asturian coach led Barca to La Liga after edging out rivals Real Madrid by two points, before seeing his side claim the Copa del Rey by beating Athletic Club at Camp Nou last weekend and add Europe's elite trophy to their haul as they overcame Juventus in a hard-fought final on Saturday.

But there was no grinning, no gloating and no milking the moment from the Barca boss. Asked how he would define his side's season, the 44-year-old said: "We have played 60 games, won 50, drawn four and lost six. Those are the best numbers of any season in the history of the club."

And not only that. En route to the treble, Barca beat the best teams around. Champions League success came after eliminating the champions of England (Manchester City), France (Paris Saint-Germain), Germany (Bayern Munich) and Italy (Juventus). The Catalans, without doubt, were worthy winners of Europe's premier club competition.

Last season's Primera Division champions Atletico were also swept aside on four occasions in Liga and Copa, while Barca defeated Real Madrid at Camp Nou in March after losing to Carlo Ancelotti's side at the Bernabeu back in October.


So Luis Enrique was right. As he said, Barca's season in 2014-15 was the finest in the team's history. But it is in fact the greatest club campaign of all time. No side can boast better numbers than this Blaugrana outfit and it is hard to imagine any of the previous treble winners (including Bayern in 2012-13, Inter in 2009-10 or Manchester United in 1998-99) coming close to the Catalans' current crop.

Barca become the first team in history to achieve a treble twice. Pep Guardiola's great side won all three titles in 2008-09 and there have been constant comparisons between the two teams in the build-up to this final.

"Don't compare me with Pep," Luis Enrique joked at his Barca unveiling last summer, before adding: "I suppose if you compare me with Pep, it will mean I am doing something right."

Little did he know. As Madrid led La Liga in the winter months, Lionel Messi began 2015 on the bench after an argument with his coach and performances remained unconvincing. A treble triumph looked a million miles away, but through it all Luis Enrique stuck to his guns.

Behind the scenes, his staff said the team would be stronger in the second part of the season. A fitness freak and obsessive when it comes to conditioning, the Barca boss and his colleagues tailored a programme that would see the players finish the season strongly as their rivals faded.

That plan also included rotation in the first half of the season and brought criticism, yet Barca finished fresher and without as many injuries as Madrid, Bayern and others all suffered serious physical problems later in the campaign. Luis Enrique, it turned out, knew what he was doing all along.

His relationship with the players remains distant. There is no real affection like there had been in the earlier days with Guardiola, yet there is respect and positive results in the second half of the season that have helped to smooth over the problems from the first few months of the campaign.


And Messi's move back to the right - which Luis Suarez said had been a decision made initially by the players themselves on the pitch - was key to Barca's improvement as well.

Messi started slowly in 2014-15, but put World Cup disappointment behind him and ended up playing the finest football of his career this term. Some way short of the 73 goals he scored in Guardiola's last season in charge, the new version of Leo was a much more generous player, dropping deep to create chances as well as putting them away. The Argentine attacker is now more complete than ever and his role in this Barca team remains vital.

However, the new mature Messi took something of a secondary role in Barca's 3-1 over Juventus on Saturday. The 27-year-old floated a wonderful forward ball in the build-up to the first goal, while his saved shot brought about Barca's second. And that goal arrived amid a spell of Juventus dominance following their equaliser. So even though he was quieter than usual, the Argentine still intervened when it mattered most.

Perhaps fittingly, though, the three goals in Berlin were scored by Ivan Rakitic, Suarez and Neymar. Those three players were not at the club during the Guardiola era and symbolise the change in style between the two teams.

Without Pep's superb side, this treble would not have been possible, but Barca have evolved, adding set-piece strength, solidity in midfield through Rakitic and a formidable foward line to help Messi, allowing the Argentine to adopt a more selfless role in 2014-15.

When Guardiola left the club in 2012, it was hard to see how his team could get better. But this season's side sets a benchmark with the greatest season of any team ever, backed by the finest footballer in the history of club football.

It doesn't get much better than this.
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