INTRODUCTION A MUTUAL UNADMIRATION SOCIETY MEMORABLE MATCHES TIMELINE May 13 1906 v Madrid October 26 1958 v Real Madrid February 19 1974 v Real Madrid December 28 1975 v Real Madrid May 20 1992 v Sampdoria May 2 2009 v Real Madrid THE GOLDEN AGE EMERGING FROM CHAOS FAMOUS FOOTBALLERS Paulino Alcántara Ferenc Platko Josep Samitier Johan Cruyff Enrique Quini Castro Lionel Messi BARCELONA GETS A DUTCH TREAT TWICE FC Barcelona Titles 44 Selected Bibliography 46 Websites 47 Index 48 THE MESSI ERA
Jator foundation Midfielder Alexis Sánchez
INTRODUCTION Soccer or football as it is known almost everywhere else in the world is truly a universal game Nowhere is the play more competitive than in Europe Almost every European country has its own league and generally that league has several divisions A typical season lasts eight or nine months from late summer to mid spring Every team in each level plays all other teams in its level twice once at home and once on the other team's pitch At the end of the season the bottommost teams in one division are relegated moved down to the next lower division with the same number of topmost teams from that lower division promoted to replace them Such a system ensures that a high level of competition is maintained and that late season games between teams with losing records remain important as they seek to avoid relegation Individual countries also feature their own tournaments such as England's FA Cup and Spain's Copa del Rey In theory these tournaments allow almost any team the opportunity to win the championship but in reality the best clubs dominate the competition An assortment of European wide tournaments complement individual nations league and cup play The most prestigious is the Union of European Football Associations UEFA Champions League Known as the European Cup until Uniceff CET vnice
unicef g unicef Spain's FC Barcelona has proven itself to be one of the world's most competitive football
