The football pantheon does an outstanding methodological and objective ranking of the top 50 sides in the history of european football. Even though I don't agree with arsenals ranking for many reasons, I thought I'd share the stand out ones.
4. Barcelona 2008-11
Points: 1280
As often as this Barcelona have transcended modern football, it is probably their performances against their oldest rivals that have best defined them.
Most impressively, the 5-0 win over Real Madrid in November 2010 illustrated the true potential of a team sport. It was a carnival of technique, a kaleidoscope of cohesion.
In the same season’s Champions League semi-final first leg, then, Leo Messi emphasised the individual excellence that comprises the team with his coruscating solo run. And that was complemented in the second leg by Pedro’s precise finish to another dizzying passing move.
Such performances, of course, have lead to talk of the greatest team of all time.
Certainly, it is highly possible that Pep Guardiola’s stewardship represents the highest possible peak of club football. As reflected by their play on the pitch, the club is perfectly synchronised with the former captain i charge. He represents the top of a seamless pyramid; an institution that’s almost organic rather than organised.
Because, at present, La Masia produces prototype players that perfectly fit the team’s approach. But then Guardiola has also enhanced that approach. He’s evolved their inherent passing philosophy with a vigorously implemented pressing game. In the rare periods of a match when Barcelona don’t have the ball, they work harder than any team to win it back. That stats show that no side in history has reclaimed the ball as often in the opposition half. And, obviously, no side in history has had such insane possession stats.
The end result, of course, is that the side play virtually every game on their own terms. And that has produced some extraordinary achievements. As well as winning Spain’s first ever treble, Guardiola’s Barcelona have won a three-in-a-row and two Champions Leagues in three short years. Along the way, they’ve also been Spain’s most emphatic league winners in terms of points per game and provided the division’s best ever defence.
And for those that say that was down to the poverty of the Spanish league, they’ve beaten every Champions League knock-out opponent except Chelsea by more than two goals.
But such dynamism comes with extraordinary demands. For a start, the pressure on the obsessive Guardiola. Then there’s the fact that their unique philosophy makes it difficult for players to adapt. That has left them with a necessarily short squad and – occasionally – an overstretched one. Indeed, it was arguably that, above all, which cost them the 2010 Champions League – a trophy that would undoubtedly have put them top of this list. Unlike their rivals though, they still have time to rectify it.
Trophies won: Champions League 2009, 2011; Spanish league 2009, 2010, 2011; Spanish cup 2009
Managers: Pep Guardiola
Best XI: Valdes; Dani Alves, Abidal, Pique, Puyol; Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta; Pedro, Messi, Eto’o
10. Torino 1945-49
Points: 1110
It’s not the tragedy of the Superga air disaster that brought this team such tributes. It was the scale of the triumphs. Torino won four successive titles in utterly emphatic manner, claiming still-unbroken scoring records. Their totals of 104 goals in 1946-47 and 125 in 1947-48 were astonishing even for the time.
One of the most memorable performances came in April 1946 when they were 6-0 up away to Roma after 19 minutes. Having eased off to win only 7-0, they were eventually applauded off the pitch by the home fans. It seemed only the beginning for a team that was going to win so much more. But, despite their premature demise, it is testament that all of their stats still stand up alongside the greatest of all time.
Trophies won: Serie A 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949
Managers: Luigi Ferrero, Mario Sperone, Egri Erbstein
Best XI: Bacigalupo, Ballarin, Maroso, Grezar, Rigamonti, Castigliano, Menti, Loik, Gabetto, Mazzola, Ossola
11. Manchester United 2006-09
Points: 1095
The culmination of Alex Ferguson’s career at Manchester United. The manager drew on many of the disparate strands of his time at the club to arguably produce his greatest team.
First of all, Ferguson summoned his famed resolve to respond to Jose Mourinho’s raising of the bar. United unexpectedly dislodged Chelsea from the top of the Premier League with points hauls around the 90 mark.
To do that, his inherent sense of adventure had created the most prolific attacking trio Old Trafford had ever seen. The manner in which Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and Louis Saha/Carlos Tevez interchanged and exchanged positions also placed Ferguson as a tactical pioneer for the first time in his career.
But, by then, the acumen he had tortuously acquired over so many seasons in Europe helped set one of England’s meanest defences.
It all added up to a finely balanced team and – with three consecutive league titles, a Champions League as well another final – the most concentrated period of success in United’s history.
Ultimately, their span was ended by Spain. Real Madrid lured Cristiano Ronaldo away while Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona lifted continental football to another level with the 2-0 win in Rome.
Trophies won: Champions League 2008; English league 2007, 2008, 2009; League Cup 2009; Champions League runners-up 2009
Managers: Alex Ferguson
Best XI: Van der Sar; Brown, Evra, Vidic, Ferdinand, Hargreaves, Carrick, Giggs; Rooney, Tevez, Ronaldo
47. Arsenal 2001-05
Points: 780
Always irresistible, sometimes incisive and – for a season – invincible. Arsenal’s unbeaten 2003-04 campaign ensures their place in history, with the difficulty of that feat a perfect complement to the occasionally unbelievable angles of their passing. It was also Arsene Wenger’s undoubted career high-point. Appropriately though, it emphasised his extremes as a manager too. For a start, the team’s cycle was bookended by two very contrasting summers. In 2001, Wenger embarked on an untypical spending spree. In 2005, Patrick Vieira departed while complaining of a dearth of world-class signings.
In between, Arsenal’s exquisite football regularly reached that status – most of all Thierry Henry. They were particularly brilliant in the 2001-02 run-in that secured a double as well as the start of the 2002-03 campaign, with the team’s own climax coming in the 5-1 win at Inter Milan in the 2003-04 Champions League. That should have signalled a successful assault on the Champions League. Instead, it only highlights the greatest mark against them: that nucleus of players never got beyond the quarter-finals.
What’s worse, they were eliminated by a team they had routinely dismissed at home. Throughout the 2003-04 campaign, Arsenal had beaten Chelsea 2-1 three times across the league and FA Cup. At Highbury and in the competition that has always eluded Wenger, however, they were undone by that same score. And that failure to beat an English team again spoke of another major flaw: they never retained the title.
A divine team, but never a truly dominant one.
Trophies won: English league 2002, 2004; FA Cup 2002, 2003, 2005
Manager: Arsene Wenger
Best XI: Lehmann; Lauren, Cole, Campbell, Toure; Gilberto, Vieira, Ljungberg, Pires; Bergkamp, Henry