FCBARCELONA.CAT

13.03.2007 12:48

League and cup double the immediate objective

After going out of the Champions League, Barça’s aim this season is to win the league for the third time in the row, and also to capture the league and cup double. But history shows that these are not easy things to do.

After crashing out of Europe on away goals to Liverpool, Frank Rijkaard’s side needs to bounce back from that disappointment and win the two trophies they are still in the hunt for – the Spanish ‘Liga’ and ‘Copa del Rey’.

Four doubles

League and cup doubles are a rare achievement in Spain. Since the league began in 1928/29, FC Barcelona have only done it four times (1951/52, 1952/53, 1958/59 and 1997/98), the same as Real Madrid, while the champions in this respect are Athletic Bilbao, with five.

Since both trophies have been on offer, teams winning the league have only been able to also win the cup in the same season on 18% of occasions.

Cup final to end the season

The most immediate objective, however, is the league, as the Copa del Rey final won’t take place until June 23, being the final official match of the Spanish season. Barça are still waiting to find out who they will play in the semi finals (it could be any of Sevilla, Betis, Getafe or Deportivo), while they are top of the league and have every intention of still being there when they face Nàstic on the final day.

Third league in a row

That would be Barcelona’s third league title in as many years, something the club has not managed to do since the days of Johan Cruyff and his Dream Team, who set a club record of four consecutive championships. Apart from that, Barcelona have never managed a run of more than two league titles, which all goes to show just what a difficult challenge it is.

The following are the years when Barcelona have won more than one league in a row:

- 1947/48 and 1948/49
- 1951/52 and 1952/53
- 1958/59 and 1959/60
- 1990/91, 1991/92, 1992/93 and 1993/94
- 1997/98 and 1998/99
- 2004/05 and 2005/06