Starting 11:
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Goalkeeper: Victor Valdes
Centre backs: Gerard Pique, Carles Puyol
Full backs: Eric Abidal (Left), Dani Alves(Right)
Midfielders: Yaya Toure ( Centre)
Xavi (Left)
Andres Initesta (right)
Strikers: Samuel Eto'o
Wingers: Thiery Henry (Left)
Lionel Messi (Right)
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Substitutes (With more than 5 appearance):
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Jose Pinto
M.Caceres
R.Marquez
Sylvinho
V.Sanchez
S.Keita
A.Hleb
S.Busquest
E.Gudjohnsen
P.Rodriguez
B.Krkic
Formation: 4-3-3
Barcelona
2008/09
Tiki-Taka.
433 was the main formation they used throughout the whole year, and there are not much variations. Their tactics were the famous Tiki-taka.
Tiki-taka is a football playstyle where players do short passes and move around.Possessions are also important in this tactics and the team will try build up their play by short passing. They usually stand close to each other but not making risky runs.
Under the coaching of Guardiola, Barcelona perform Tiki-taka perfectly. But how did Barcelona perform it to its best?
High defensive line:
Rather than staying really back , their defensive line are usually pushed up really far. It provides the midfielder more option to pass to, and they can keep possession easier. As seen in the pic barcelona’s defensive player are all over the front court, which makes passing around easy. There area more options to pass to, and a shorter distance between players so that they can use their strength, which is short passing.
As seen in this pic, the defensive line of Barcelona is pushed up, even higher than the mid line of the football field.
Switching positions:
When attacking, their right back, which is usually Dani Alves will push ups, letting the right winger Messi cut inside and helps attacking in the middle. Therefore their striker can either switch position with Messi or keep staying central. When the midfield or full backs are both pushed up, their defensive midfield Busquets or Toure will stay back while attacking, just like a third centre back and helps defence.
Barcelona players stand close to each other. After every pass they will move to another positions, creating space to provide passing option for teammates
An example of Tiki Taka play by Barcelona.You can see players moving around fast and changing position after passing.
New Manager:
Pep Guardiola
Manager​
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became the manager of the Barcelona Senior team in the 2008-2009 season.He was managing the Barcelona B team, so he can adapt to the A team really quick.
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He is brave enough to get rid of some dressing room leaders that had been in the team for a long time such as Ronaldinho.It shows players his authority.
Break out of - Lionel Messi
A picture of Barcelona players celebrating with Guardiola after winning the Champions league.Shows his status in the team and the relationship between him and the players.
Player
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He joined the barcelona youth academy when he was 13, and played for the first team for more than 10 years and as a captain for 4 years.
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He was one of the members of the 1990 Barcelona “dream team” under Cruyff. He learned a lot of different ideas and concept from him during the time.
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He grew up learning the style of barcelona, that is why he knows how to bring the best out of every players when he became the coach of the team.
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He understand how the tactics works deep from his heart, and he can bring his knowledge from being a player to a manager.
Picture of him playing for Barcelona as the captain in the 90s.
Under Guardiola, Lionel Messi can finally shows his full potential. After the 08/09 season, Messi won the Ball d'or (Golden Ball), which is known as European player of the year, beating C.Ronaldo.
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2008-2009 was the season that Lionel Messi starts to prove to others that he is the best player in the world. He only scores 16 goals the season before that but in 2008-2009 he scores 38 goals which is 22 more.
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He found his best position (false 9) and that bump up his performance by a lot.
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At the start of the season, he still plays at right wing, the position he always played. But on May, he played as "false 9" for the first time against Real Madrid, in the famous "El Clasico". He ends up scoring 2 goals, and lead Barcelona to a win of 6-2, biggest win ever against Real Madrid at their home stadium.
Messi now held the most goal scored in "El Clasico" with 23 goals scored in total.