Second anniversary of 2019 league title
It was on Saturday 27 April 2019, two years ago today, that a Barça team coached by Ernesto Valverde and captained by Leo Messi won the club’s 26th Liga title with a 1-0 win over Levante at Camp Nou. Hopefully, the 27th is just a few weeks away…
Messi winner
Barça’s team that day was: Ter Stegen, Semedo, Lenglet, Piqué, Jordi Alba, Arturo Vidal, Arthur (Busquets), Rakitć, Coutinho (Messi), Dembélé (Sergi Roberto) and Luis Suárez.
Arturo Vidal battled to get the ball into the right spot and some pure Messi magic did the rest to score the only goal of the game:
Celebrations ensued, and although there was no further scoring, the result was enough to clinch the trophy with three games to spare. Curiously, against the same team that Barça had beaten to confirm their championships in 2005 and 2011, although this time it happened on home turf.
Barça still have to go Levante this season. Could history be repeated?
Games in hand
That was the earliest title victory for any team this century. Nobody was mathematically confirmed champions earlier than April 27.
It was the eighth league title for the blaugrana in just eleven years, and Messi became the first player in club history to win the competition ten times – but this was the first time that, as captain, he was the man who went to lift the trophy. An image we would love to see repeated in the next few weeks!
Celebrations
Unfortunately, of course, if 2021 does bring another title, it will not be quite the same. In 2019 the stadium was packed for a fiesta, awash with the Barça colours, fireworks and with celebrations on the pitch with family and friends.
Because of Covid-19, no such scenes will be possible for the league champions this time round – but that doesn’t make anyone less eager for it to happen. There are seven games to go (for Barça) and no fewer than four teams that are still in contention.
Following last weekend’s results, Barça are now better poised than anyone to be the team that takes the trophy. A win on Thursday in the game in hand against Granada and we’re back on top of the table … Bring it on!