Barcelona head into international break dreaming of another Treble

Andy West 21:28 19/03/2018
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  • Barcelona could win a third Treble since 2009 this season.

    When Ernesto Valverde waved goodbye to his Barcelona players as they headed away on international duty, he could reflect that his first season in charge of the club really could not have gone any better so far.

    The stats speak for themselves: firstly, Valverde’s team are 11 points clear at the top of La Liga after remaining unbeaten to date, putting themselves on track to become the only team in Spanish top-flight history to go through an entire season without defeat.

    Even if they don’t manage that achievement, Barca now only need a maximum of 16 points from their remaining nine games – five wins and a draw – to ensure they finish the campaign as champions, so it’s virtually a foregone conclusion that the Blaugrana will regain the title after ‘lending’ it to Real Madrid for a season.

    There has been more domestic success in the Copa del Rey, with Valverde’s men marching through to the final, where they will face Sevilla a month from now.

    And on the European stage, of course, Barca have also made serene progress into the last eight of the Champions League, rewarded for an ultimately comfortable victory over Chelsea by being handed a quarter-final tie with Roma, which on paper seems to be the easiest draw they could have wished for.

    On an individual level, the Camp Nou club are also looking in great shape. Most importantly, they have no long-term injury concerns, with the loss of Sergio Busquets to a foot injury for a couple of weeks their only real problem.

    Other than that, all the key players are fit and playing well: Luis Suarez has overcome early-season injury problems to score 17 goals in his last 20 games, Ivan Rakitic is perhaps in his best-ever form in midfield, Gerard Pique and Samuel Umtiti have been outstanding at the back, Sergi Roberto and Jordi Alba are excelling at full-back and Marc-Andre ter Stegen has been flawless in goal.

    Furthermore, new signings Philippe Coutinho and Ousmane Dembele are also starting to settle, giving Valverde a far greater variety of quality attacking options than he had at the start of the season (the days of Gerard Deulofeu in the starting XI already feel a very long time ago).

    Oh yes … and there’s also that chap called Messi, who isn’t having too shabby a season either.

    All told, then, this has been pretty much the perfect season for Valverde so far, and even if everything goes horribly wrong over the next couple of months it’s 99 per cent certain that he will finish his first campaign in charge with the league title at the very least.

    However, what an opportunity they now have to achieve so much more, with Valverde just a few more big wins away from emulating his predecessors Luis Enrique and Pep Guardiola by leading the team to a league, cup and European treble.

    It won’t be easy, of course. Sevilla showed with their richly deserved Champions League victory at Manchester United they are more than capable of causing an upset in the Copa del Rey final, and Roma’s recent 4-2 victory at Serie A title-chasers Napoli was a reminder they cannot be taken lightly.

    The biggest tests will lie further ahead, though, with Barca most likely set the task (with apologies to Liverpool and Sevilla) of beating two of Real Madrid, Juventus, Manchester City and Bayern Munich if they are to claim the Champions League title for the fifth time in 12 years.

    That will be a tough challenge, and the prospect of a showpiece final between Barca and City – led of course by former boss Guardiola – would be one to really set the watching world’s pulses racing.

    Kevin De Bruyne, Sergio Aguero, David Silva and co would give Barca a far tougher defensive examination than anything they have faced so far this season, with Valverde’s side fortunate to have undertaken their away trips to face Atletico and Real Madrid at a time when the two clubs from the capital were at a low ebb.

    But turn the situation around: would you fancy being in City’s shoes knowing that your first-ever European final is against a well-organised Barcelona team spearheaded by Lionel Messi at the climax of arguably the best season of his career?

    Barca will have to overcome some major tests if their treble dreams are to be realised, but with two months of the season remaining one thing is pretty clear: they are the team to beat.

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