La Liga News 24/7
With all due respect to the spine of the World Champs, and the triple-finalists for the Ballon D'or, and the La Liga champs over the last two years, but this isn't the best club side in history, and it isn't even close.
Remember: memory is fleeting, and football's memory is even more tenuous. Disregard the differences in time-period, training methods, equipment and so on, and gauge them in relationship to their peer group and the greatest club-side of all-time is still DiStefano's Real Madrid squad of the late 50's. Can we say that Rinus Michel's Ajax side of the late 60's and early 70's is one of the most influential, followed closely by Sacchi's Milan? Are we still feeling the legacies of two Scots giants on English football? Shankly and Ferguson have both stamped their places in history, over decades of competitions and the changing landscapes of world football. Even Beckenbauer's Bayern and Maradona's Napoli deserve honorable mentions over Pep Guardiola's Barça. They both pioneered their positions and their tactics, serving their clubs and country over time.
Guardiola even agrees with me. They will be judged over time and over how much influence they spread to the game as a whole. Right now though, they are a shining beacon over a desolate arena, one of the few clubs willing, able and capable of playing beautiful football at that high level. With so many sides built on stability rather than grace, fortitude rather than skill, and reliabilty rather than genius, it is no wonder that a club like Barcelona shines. They have no peers like Real Madrid, Ajax, AC Milan, Bayern or Napoli did.
I'll enjoy them and the way they play their game, but I'll always wonder what they might have done if pushed against other great sides like themselves.
Share This
Subscribe Here
Posts
