One thing about Milan's record run that often gets lost and could have made a difference (not saying it would have but who knows): As far as their unbeaten season of '91-'92 goes they were not involved in Europe. They were suspended following their protest over a stanchion of lights that had gone out in the closing seconds of their European Cup quarterfinal tie in Marseille. They walked off the pitch hoping for the full 90 minutes to be replayed as they were about to get knocked out of the tournament. UEFA banned them from Europe for that 91-92 campaign (they would have played in the UEFA Cup) so Milan entered each Serie A match without having to recover from the riggers of European play. Not a knock against them because that era of Milan proved their worth, but it does seem a bit interesting that the one season they didn't play in Europe they went unbeaten in the league.
Yeah but with Tito out, I will more likely lose both than win both now unless he comes back and we are still in both tournaments Unless I am being to hard on our team, also I hope RM goes out of the copa against the team who beat them 2-1 first. Also if RM go our against Man United in the champions league, then Man United stand in our way then
Interesting wrinkle there, usox. Do you happen to know if there were any international duty games back then that saw Milan players having to travel far? Cos the international flu seems to bother this era of Barça a lot more than European midweek games. In fact it's been one of the staples over the last few years that this Barça has been consistently excellent faced with short-rest weeks except after international duty. And volcanoes.
Juventus went unbeaten last season with no involvement in Europe at all, either. They've already lost twice in Serie A this season now that they're playing in the Champions League as well.
15 draws in 38 games, whilst winning 23. That 91-92 Milan had 12 draws and won 22, but they only played 34 games. Not that much of a difference really all things considered. Still very similar records.
There was also the "Invincibles" Arsenal side of 2003-04 that went 49 games unbeaten (36 wins, 13 draws, 0 losses--which I think is a better win/match ratio than either Milan's or Juve's streaks). Of course, now that we're talking about unbeaten records, we might as well prepare for our first defeat...
Karim Benzema... Karim Benzema... Karim Benzema, he shoot the ball and the post goes thwack! Happy Holidays everybody!
And the Invincibles of Arsenal won only 26 of 38 with 12 draws, they were involved in Europe but were not so invincible there. They were also unbeaten in FA cup. 2003-04.
Nice food for thought and comments - grades for the 10 of the Barca players wearing #s 1-10, would've preferred if it rated all the first teamers who have been healthy (all but Muniesa, Cuenca) and remained (no Fontas or Affelay), course JDS and Bartra might also miss out with "incompletes". http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/opin...tmas-holiday-report-cards-part-1/#more-124761 Happy Holidays everyone!
Afaik, 1994/95 Ajax is the only time a club went unbeaten in the league (won 27, drew 7, scored 106, conceded 28) while also lifting a trophy in Europe, in this case the Champions League where they had also gone unbeaten. They were knocked out of the Dutch Cup at the quarterfinal stage. Lost 1-0 to Manchester United in the semifinals.
OK, just saw the "(Part 1)" in the headline, don't think there was any other mention of it in the article but makes perfect sense to do another part next week while no games are played.
Great info on Ajax. I did not think that Arsenal had won anything else that season but as I was quickly double-checking the year and record I found this wikipedia article and confused them with Preston North End of all sides, the only English double champs to go undefeated in both: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Invincibles_(football). Arsenal did not win anything beyond the FA Premier League in 2003/04.
For Christmas I asked for more popcorn because I went through all I had while reading the LPB forum in recent weeks.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/datablog/2012/dec/24/world-best-footballers-top-100-list Everyone listed Messi first (all 11 voters): Barcelona is the best represented club with 12 players on the list followed by Bayern Munich and Real Madrid with 10 each. Chelsea and Manchester City each have eight players on the list. So how does the list break down by nationality? 16 of the players are Spanish, 12 Brazilian and 10 German. There are 8 Argentinian players on the list and both Italy and France have seven footballers on the top 100. If you're wondering which position is the most common amongst the top 100 players then we've also broken that down too: 36 are midfielders, 29 forward, 19 defenders. The full breakdown by nationality, club and position can be found in the downloadable spreadsheet.
Glad to see Busquets get recognition slotted in the top 15. Maybe only Messi plays his position better (IMO). Alba also placed higher than I would have figured given that he just joined the squad, but his play and work rate are truly phenomenal!
Alba just made L'Equipe's team of the season, first time for him, he also made the all Euros team and could have pipped Iniesta for player of that tournament. Messi, Iniesta and Xavi are repeat members of their team of the year, Alba a first timer. 4 barca, 4 real, 1 each for 3 other teams: The full 11 is: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid) ; Philip Lahm (Bayern Munich), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Vincent Kompany (Manchester City), Jordi Alba (FC Barcelona) ; Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid) ; Ramires (Chelsea), Xavi (FC Barcelona), Andrés Iniesta (FC Barcelona) ; Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona). Remarkable stat: It's been 982 days since Barcelona lost their last game with both Pique and Puyol in the starting line-up #fcblive [via @fiazhamsath]