FCBARCELONA.CAT

16.05.2009 23:53

Exceptional double

Manel Tomàs / Jordi Clos

Prior to this season Barça had done the Cup and League double four times, in 1951/52, 1952/53, 1958/59 and 1997/98. The 2008/09 campaign will be remembered for being the fifth.

Barça hasn’t done the Cup and League double very often. It had previously happened only four times, and three of those were in the 1950s.

First the ‘Five Cups’ (1951/52)

The 1951/52 season was the club’s best ever, as it won the League, the Spanish Cup, the Latin Cup, the Eva Duarte Cup and the Martini-Rossi trophy. The team made up of Ramallets, Seguer, Biosca, Segarra, Gonzalvo III, Bosch, Basora, César, Vila, Kubala and Manchón is known as ‘the 5 Cups team'.

With Ladislau Kubala leading the line – he scored 26 goals – the team finished ahead of Bilbao to take the League title and defeated Valencia 4-2 in the Cup Final.

Back to back (1952/53)

In the 1952/53 season Barça once again did the double. Even though Kubala missed 18 games with tuberculosis, Ferdinand Daucik’s men won the League ending two points ahead of Valencia.

The Catalans then beat Bilbao 2-1 in the Cup Final.

Helenio Herrera’s magic (1958/59)

In the summer of 1958, the arrival of the legendary Helenio Herrera and the Hungarians Kocsis and Czibor helped Barça to do the double again.

Their form in the League was impressive, breaking records for points (51), goals (96) and wins (24, with just 3 draws and 3 defeats). But Madrid kept hard on their heels and the League wasn’t won until two games from the end. The season was rounded off by a 4-1 win over Granada in the Cup Final.

Double 40 years later (1997/98)

Barça had to wait nearly 40 years to do the double again. In 1997/98, Louis Van Gaal was in the dugout and Rivaldo was the star player.

A fabulous second half of the season meant Barça became League champions with four games still to go. Then they won the Cup, beating Mallorca in a penalty shoot-out. The icing on the cake was the European Super Cup where they beat Borussia Dortmund over two legs.