Records mean nothing to Luis Enrique's insatiable Barcelona

Getty
Records mean nothing to Luis Enrique's insatiable Barcelona - Barcelona are the best and the best are getting better. Luis Enrique's men won it all in 2014-15 and have already added two more trophies since. Now they are closing in on La Liga and breaking records along the way. At this rate, they may even be unstoppable.

No club had won the treble twice until Barca achieved the feat for the second time last season. With 50 wins in 60 games, Luis Enrique described the campaign as the best in the team's history. It is a hard act to follow, yet the players appear determined to improve once again.

Sunday's 2-1 win over Sevilla saw the Catalans come from behind to claim all three points and remain eight clear of Atletico at the top of the table with 12 games left. Unai Emery's side had been the last to beat Barca (back in early October), but the Andalusians are the only team in La Liga without an away victory and another win appeared unlikely in this one.

However, Barca went behind after 20 minutes as Vitolo volleyed the visitors in front and Luis Enrique's side were not playing well. Not that they need to these days, though, because they have so many resources at their disposal. And Lionel Messi showed just that by stepping up to curl home a wonderful free-kick (his sixth this term) to make it 1-1.

And Gerard Pique, who always fancies himself as a centre-forward, poked home the winner just three minutes into the second half. Luis Suarez should have added another later on as Barca missed chances, but they had done enough to extend their unbeaten run to 34 matches in all competitions.

The Catalans are attempting to become the first team to win the Champions League in back-to back seasons since AC Milan managed that achievement in the old European Cup in 1989 and 1990. And this latest result equals the unbeaten streak set by Leo Beenhakker's Real Madrid in 1988 and 1989.

Long-standing records are being broken at will by this tremendous team and on current form, it is difficult to see anyone stopping the Blaugrana from making more history at the end of the current campaign.

"Sevilla are the best team that have come to Camp Nou this season," Luis Enrique said after the game. And he added: "Titles are won by squads. There are no reserves here. All of my players are key."

It is that policy of rotating and resting players that served Barca so well in 2014-15 and the Asturian coach is repeating the pattern in 2015-16 as the games come thick and fast for the Catalan club.

But the Barca boss, true to his discourse, claimed he is not bothered at all by this latest record. "It means nothing," he said. "If we win titles, it will mean a lot. If we don't win anything, then it will mean very little."

It is a sensible outlook. Carlo Ancelotti led Real Madrid to 22 victories in a row at the end of 2014 in a run that was the best in the club's entire history. Six months later, however, Los Blancos missed out on the major trophies at the season's end and the Italian was out of a job.

That is football. Things can change quickly and Luis Enrique knows it is winning trophies that really matters, not breaking records. The way things are going, however, there seems absolutely no reason why Barcelona cannot go on to break this mark (they will do so on Thursday night by avoiding defeat at Rayo Vallecano) and also end the season with more silverware to add to their impressive collection in recent seasons.

After yet another win on Sunday, record-breaking Barca are now cruising to their sixth Liga title in eight seasons and there is still much more to come from this team over the next three months. Records, these days, are merely anecdotic.

0 Response to "Records mean nothing to Luis Enrique's insatiable Barcelona"