The height of El Clásico, Ronaldo v Messi and arguably the two most dominant teams of the last decade or so. However which team was more successful during this time period.
I think I lean towards Madrid barely
Talking about Europe specifically, it’s been Real Madrid. They’ve been much more dominant than Barça. But if we’re talking about overall display, it’s Barça. They outplayed Real Madrid in Laliga plus domestic competitions. They’ve been the better magnet to attract great players. Most of the footballing world agrees that Barça 2011 is the greatest team of all time. They’ve won the most individual awards. Barça’s La Masia has proven itself to be a lot better than La Fabrica.
Real Madrid will always be better as an overall team historically. But 2009-19 was Barça’s decade.
Its close but its Real Madrid. Winning CL even a single time is a dream from many players and clubs. Winning it 3 times in a row and 4 times in 5 years is humongous. Imagine the mental fortitude and consistency at the highest level required to accomplish this feat. This has to be the biggest sporting achievement ever by any club/group of players (although ofc RM itself also won it 5 times in a row during the 50s).
Barcelona
Champions League: 08-09, 10-11, 14-15 (3x)
La Liga: 08-09, 09-10, 10-11, 12-13, 14-15, 15-16, 17-18, 18-19 (8x)
Real Madrid
Champions League: 13-14, 15-16, 16-17, 17-18 (4x)
La Liga: 11-12, 16-17 (2x)Barcelona had national dominance during this period, while Real Madrid won one more CL. I would say it was Barcelona because they had a more entertaining and stable playstyle. In many cases, Real Madrid were well below Barcelona in some seasons, but they masked this instability with a CL title during their second part of the season. Don’t get me wrong, but I wouldn’t trade 6 national titles for one single more CL
I found Real Madrid more entertaining with a fast football.
Fair enough. Would you say the same when talking about MSN? They somehow abolished some of their principles, going towards a more direct playstyle in MSN period, during 14-17.
That seems like an oversimplification though.
It’s not just that they won 1 more UCL, they won it 3 times in a row. That’s absolutely a far more impressive feat than winning the series a few extra times.
The mental fortitude required to win it the 3rd time alone is astonishing. UCL is the WC of club football. Imagine how easy it would be to choke that last final. Christ, I’m getting nervous just thinking about taking to the pitch under those conditions.
A FEW extra times? We are talking about EIGHT against two national titles during really tough matchups that were waaay beyond football by itself. And I am not even going to include Copa del Rey here.
Don’t get me wrong, but Real Madrid was not as consistent as Barcelona in this period. Real is the biggest club in football history and this is enough for them to be considered favorites in the Champions League, but if you look at their performances and the best teams in those times, they were not supposed to be the ones with most odds to win it because they lacked top tier consistency during the year.
Number of times in which they’ve won both La Liga and Champions League in the same season:
Barcelona: 3 out of 3 (08-09, 10-11, 14-15)
Real Madrid: 1 out of 4 (16-17)
Barca undoubtedly played some amazing football. However, claiming that winning La Liga is the same as winning UCL just doesn’t sit right with me. It can’t even be compared.
AM, RM and Barca were the only contenders at that point. RM rested their players, especially with injuries in mind, during LL matches, and focused on UCL.
I’m torn between who was the best during this period, and personally, the result of the Negreira case, will be the deciding factor for me.
3x UCL you just have to worry about not losing the yearly tournament. it’s not that hard on a player whatsoever
winning trebles and sextuples in a single season is incredibly hard. You have to perform in every competition you see in There’s a reason only pep guardiola has won multiple in his career.
and Madrid a supposed “powerhouse” has never registered a single sextuple or treble win in 125 years of existence.
Multiple teams won trebles, even sextuples. Nobody repeated an UCL (since all the best teams play it), let alone get 3 in a row.
That’s why man city is simply the best team now. Outclassed la liga by a mile
I’ve always said that a domestic league title will always be worth more than the Champions League
Playing 35 plus games against everyone home and away will always be a bigger achievement than 13 games with luck of the draw