Barca- The Making of the Greatest Team in the World – Graham Hunter

Book Review: Barca – The Making of the Greatest Team in the World

 

It’s that time of the season again when football mania hits fans like a wave around the world. It’s a brief respite for players, no matter which domestic league you belong to. And then it’s back to the “grind” again…

 

European football remains one of my greatest (and yet dormant) passions for many years until I chanced upon a bunch of Barca fans in 2012.

 

What can I say? There’s very little excitement in watching football by yourself can bring but all that has changed, thanks to Facebook.

 

I’m old school. Proudly so. Yes, we’re called cules – Barca fans, and an arrogant bunch, if you will. And we take pride in knowing our football be it positions, tactics, substitutions and even the latest news. But if there’s something you must know about every cule, our first love will always be Catalunya – a state that wants freedom for centuries from Spain.

 

And since sport is war, the dominance of Barca over Spain’s beloved football club Real Madrid brings out the worst in both sides. But it also has brought out the best in each other, and which has been documented best by Graham Hunter’s book, Barca – The Making of the Greatest (Football, not Soccer) Team in the World.

 

The Year of the ‘Sextuple’

 

The 2008-09 season was a magical year for the Barca brigade. We won six trophies that year – it’s that result that every manager, player and fan dreams of. We took it all, three trophies in the domestic league, Champions’ League trophy as well as the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup.

 

Graham Hunter’s book travels through time, giving us, the reader, a peek into the lives of each player of the first team that made this historical moment possible with flashbacks cutting back to the team’s victories – while never failing to emphasize how disciplined and uncharacteristically humble they were as they made this moment in history theirs.

 

The language used to tell the story is simple, as it should be but what stands out, for me, in the book is the story of a simple boy from Rosario, now conspicuously known as Lionel Messi – Maradona’s successor.

 

It also discusses the genius of Rinus Michels who invented “Total Football”, Johan Cruyff and their contribution to the legacy of FC Barcelona. Frankly, you’re a fake if you don’t know who these two individuals are, in the history of football.

Last but not the least, it discusses the life and work of Pep Guardiola who has won a staggering 14 trophies in four seasons with Barca.

 

Even till this day, his quote, reverberates among Barca fans both old and new, in saying, “Gentlemen, if you lose today you will continue to be the best team in the world – but if you win you will be eternal.”

 

It was the day when they made history. It’s a day that some of us will never forget – for a lifetime. Much better than the 6-2 routing of their arch-enemies, Real Madrid but just as sweet as Iniesta’s equalizer in the semi-final with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

 

In Closing

To sum it up, this book is a must-read for diehard Barca fans and Catalonians. Don’t miss if you eat, sleep and breathe football. It’s worth your time!