Praise throughout Spain for Barca

Posted Friday, May 13, 2011 by Supersport.com

Barcelona received fulsome praise throughout the Spanish media on Thursday after clinching a third straight Liga title the previous day.

Barca finished the job off with a 1-1 draw on Wednesday at midtable Levante, and the final whistle produced noisy celebrations throughout Catalonia.

Pep Guardiola's talented team then flew quickly back to Barcelona, and went to their Camp Nou stadium in a special bus to celebrate with the fans.

Around 100 000 fans celebrated by the Camp Nou and in the famous Ramblas de Canaletas until the early hours of Thursday in a civilized manner, without the kind of public order problems and vandalism that have marred Barca celebrations in recent years.

Club president Sandro Rosell said early on Thursday that the official celebrations will take place on Friday evening, with Guardiola and his players driving through the city's streets. The party will culminate in the Camp Nou, which will be open to all of the club's members.

Angel Maria Villar, the president of the Spanish football federation, will hand over the Liga trophy to Rosell at a brief ceremony before Sunday's home game against struggling Deportivo Coruna.

Against Deportivo, Guardiola will field a team of reserves and juniors, because his plan is to rest his weary first-teamers ahead of the May 28 Champions League final against Manchester United at Wembley.

On Thursday the media agreed that Lionel Messi and company have looked a little weary of late.

Guardiola attributed to this to most of his players not having had "a proper break" since helping Spain to win the 2010 World Cup - and to four physically and emotionally exhausting clashes with Real Madrid between April 16 and May 3.

Madrid papers AS and Marca accepted that Barca had been the best team this season, though both expressed the hope that Real Madrid will get closer to them next year.

Real are currently six points behind Messi and company, who thrashed them 5-0 at the Camp Nou in November then knocked them out of the Champions League at the semifinal stage.

This is Barca's 21st league title, 10 behind the historic rivals Real, but confirming Barca's recent domination in La Liga.

Since 1991, Barca have won 11 leagues and Real just six. Moreover, it is the ninth overall trophy since Guardiola was surprisingly given the job of coach in 2008.

That decision to appoint Guardiola was made by former club president Joan Laporta. Wednesday's triumph was the first one achieved under Rosell, who took over from Laporta in June 2010.

Catalan radio station RAC-1 said that "this league triumph will help Rosell to escape from the shadow of Laporta ... and will give him more self-confidence."

Laporta and Rosell were formerly close friends but fell out in 2005. Rosell started his presidency by filing a civil lawsuit against Laporta for serious financial misdemeanours.

Rosell praised Guardiola on Thursday as "the best coach in history" and said that he was "very pleased" that Guardiola had agreed to continue for at least one more season, until June 2012.

Rosell also pointed out that most of Guardiola's players come from the club's famed youth sections.

"This team is an example to everyone of fair play and the values of our club," he said.

He then won praise for himself by dedicating the triumph to the victims of Wednesday's earthquake which hit Lorca in Murcia province, causing at least eight deaths.