Last night FC Barcelona tied Levante 1 - 1 to secure the final point it needed to officially win the Spanish League Championship, it's third consecutive La Liga title. Seydou Keita's first-half header goal was all that was needed to secure the tied score and the championship, surely a memorable goal in Keita's career. With this championship, Pep Guardiola's side has now won 11 titles in three seasons, an amazing tour de force of professional football, the likes of which has never been seen in the history of the sport.
In Spain, the daily Sport newspaper summarized this achievement, saying that this was 'A title that rewards soccer in capital letters, practiced by a generation of players that continue to extend their legend with a voracious appetite,' and that Barcelona is 'a squad based on the youth system and that wagers on an attacking brand of soccer against any opponent and in any stadium.'
All true. And so the comparisons with Johan Cruyff's 'Dream Team' of the past, now begin. For his part, Pep Guardiola has downplayed the comparison-- perhaps in deference to the pivitol role he played on that team-- saying, 'We cannot match the Dream Team because that was a pioneering generation. For all the titles that we win, they will always be at the top and that's the most important thing.'
But with all due respect to Sr. Guardiola, we here at Jedi Soccer beg to differ. During his tenure as the manager of FC Barcelona, the brilliant Johan Cruyff led the club to 11 titles in seven years, and now Sr. Guardiola has matched that achievement in three years. With all due and well-earned respect to Johan Cruyff, this current incarnation of FC Barcelona surpasses the achievements even of the famed Dream Team of FC Barcelona history, and is now the Greatest Team not only in the history of this club, but perhaps in the history of Association Football.
If Barca wins the Champions League title later this month against Manchester United, it will be Pep Guardiola's 12th championship in three seasons. Surely that would settle the matter, beyond any reasonable argument?
But regardless of that outcome, it is now clear even to casual observers of the sport, that this current generation of FC Barcelona is now in the historical realm of the greatest sides ever to play the sport. Their football is not just Soccer from Another Planet, it is Soccer from Outer Space.
It's Jedi Soccer! And FC Barcelona are the Jedi Knights of Football.
“LIKE A JEDI KNIGHT— no, better than that— A TEMPLAR KNIGHT. This is a FLASH OF PURE INSPIRATION, and let me tip my hat to the genesis of this goal: Ibarra. Lionel only absolutely LIGHTS IT UP here, he LIFTS OFF IT, FLAMETHROWERS IT PAST poor Reny Vega. It’s just as well Reny didn’t get a hand to that because it would have TAKEN IT OFF HIS WRIST. Superlative football and an out of this world BERNINI SCULPTURE of a finish." GOL TV Commentator Ray Hudson
