11.11.2009 13:02
A fantastic Cup record
Jesús Carrillo
The Barça first team have really taken to the Cup under manager Pep Guardiola. They’ve won five ties and a final and are unbeaten in the competition.
The 5-0 defeat of
Cultural Leonesa
was Barça’s ninth Cup win under
Pep Guardiola
. Of the eleven games played, FC Barcelona has won nine and drawn two, with 24 goals in favour
and 5 against. An almost perfect record.
The first title
The Spanish Cup was the first title of the treble –winning season.
In Valencia’s Mestalla stadium, Barça completed a great Cup run - in which they beat
Benidorm, Atletico Madrid, Espanyol and Mallorca – with a fine performance against Athletic
Club Bilbao. Nine matches, seven wins, two draws, 17 goals scored and 4 conceded.
More of the same
The players needed to maintain their concentration against Cultural
– as is always the case when playing teams from the lower divisions. The Cup is a competition
that doesn’t pardon mistakes and once again the Barça players stayed focussed and achieved a
well-deserved 7-0 aggregate victory.
Undefeated over two legs
It’s no coincidence that Pep Guardiola has yet to suffer elimination in a two-leg tie. As
manager of the reserve team, he took his players through the promotion playoffs against Castillo
and Barbastro and then, with the first team, the Champions League knockout ties against Wisla
Krakow, Olympique Lyon, Bayern Munich and Chelsea.
Of all these two-leg contests, Guardiola's team has only lost once, against Wisla in last
season’s Champions League qualifying phase.