Barcelona: Can they retain their dominance?

Barcelona FC has enjoyed unprecedented success in the Spanish La Liga in recent years. The emergence of players like Messi, Xavi, Busquets, Villa and Iniesta has yielded a glut of trophies and calls that the current Barca side may not only be the best in the world today, but potentially the best side ever.

In 2009 Barca won an unprecedented sextuple of trophies: the World Club Cup, the European Super Cup, the Champions League, the Copa Del Ray, the Supercopa de Espana, and La Liga. Since then they have dominated La Liga and won the Champions League again in 2011 amongst others.

Barca’s success has been built on that of the national side and vice versa. There has been a host of home-grown Spanish players who have built the spine of either side, and Barca’s total football style was naturally adopted by the successful Spanish national team. Tito Vilanova has been the torch bearer of Barcelona’s recent success, replacing its mastermind- Pep Guardiola.

Tito Vilanova has constantly signalled his intentions of strengthening the job and now that Real Madrid looks to have regained a foothold in La Liga, Tito may see the time to make a mark.

Under the guidance of Jose Mourinho, it looks as though Real may be about to force a swing in the balance of power. Players like Di Maria and Ronaldo certainly have the potential to propel Real back to being the best team in La Liga.

Whatever comes of Tito Vilanova’s willingness to commit his future to Barca, he is on his way to achieving greatness in reinstalling the Catalan giants as the world’s number one team for now, and possibly the greatest team that ever played the game.