My favorite version of Real Madrid has to be 2016/2017 version of the team. Inter de Milan and Bayern Munich were also teams I liked because of how strong they were and how they played.
Greatest Club Side 2010s - ***Mods please make a poll***
- Thread starter Jaae
- Start date
Barcelona under Pep
I used to hate them at the time due to the 2009 final and I have to say watching them through that biased lense has to be the more hopeless exercise as a football fan. It's not just the trophies or the victories, they actually gave you little/no hope whatsoever. You'd have to wait for feck knows how long to get the ball off them but rabid pressing meant that you were always at a disadvantage when trying to build attacks. With other teams I didn't like, like City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea, or even Madrid, they never took absolutely control over football matches like that. It was madness. It's only years later that I've come to appreciate their brilliance.
Barcelona between 2010-2015. 3 league titles, 2 CL titles, and 2 Copa titles.
League + CL + Copa in 2014/15
League + CL in 2010/11
League in 2012/13
Copa in 2011/12
Real Madrid's three CL wins are not as impressive since they only one the league once during that period.
This recent trend of valuing CL wins over league wins is a bit weird. CL alone should not be a barometer of a team's greatness IMO.
League + CL + Copa in 2014/15
League + CL in 2010/11
League in 2012/13
Copa in 2011/12
Real Madrid's three CL wins are not as impressive since they only one the league once during that period.
This recent trend of valuing CL wins over league wins is a bit weird. CL alone should not be a barometer of a team's greatness IMO.
I think this is one of the few football debates where there is only one right answer, when talking about the greatest, you can only talk about a team that dominated the highest competition for half the decade. Madrid winning 4 out of 5 UCL's is incredible, the team was so flexible, they had two world cup winning centre backs, two maestros in the middle and arguably the GOAT leading the line.
Why would you not consider the fact that the same team were not as impressive in the league? Any proper reasoning? On the other hand, Barca absolutely dominated every competition they played. It was sort of guaranteed that they would dominate any game and create more chances. Teams dominating them was abnormal. Whereas Real could not even dominate Liverpool before the Salah going off.
Yeah because Mourinho basically gave up trying to beat them. His entire plan in the CL was a 0-0 home draw and a 1-1 away draw. We surprised them in the first half in the cup final, the rest of the time our gameplan boiled down to "make this thing anything but a game of football"
Also, all the people talking about 2009 version being better than the 10/11 one either have very poor memory, or didn't actually watch them during those years...
08/09 barcelona was arguably the weakest of the Guardiola era ffs
they went up a level the following season, and then 10/11 was their peakAnyways. Best team, Bayern Munich 12/13
Greatest side of the decade, real madrid 13/18
If talking of the decade as a whole, I doubt anybody will match Real Madrid's 4 CLs in a decade.
For a more focused best team in a season, I would give it to Bayern 12/13.
For a more focused best team in a season, I would give it to Bayern 12/13.
Was going to say Mourinho’s United but I think Mourinho’s Spurs were better
2010s were when football really started becoming about individual players (Messi v Ronaldo the most obvious one) rather than comparing teams. It hasn't done football any favours.
yep. They said it’s hard to retain the CL. These bastards did 3 in a row
- Greatest Club Team of the Decade: Real Madrid. Only three teams had won back-to-back-to-back European Cup titles before them (Madrid with Di Stéfano, Ajax with Cruyff, Bayern with Beckenbauer), only one team had won four (or more) European Cup titles in a half-decade stretch before them (Madrid with Di Stéfano), and none had managed to do what they did in the Champions League era. That caliber of success is impossible to ignore, methinks.
- Club Team I would pay to watch, and most influential club team of the decade: Barcelona, particularly the early 2010s variant with Messi and Xaviesta operating at a close to ideal level under Guardiola. No point waxing lyrical about them as their historic significance is well documented.
- Best Club Team over the course of a single campaign in the 2010s: 2012/13 Bayern Munich. Tons of quality with Robben, Ribéry, Müller, Schweinsteiger, Alaba, Lahm and Neuer, Heynckes was a top man-manager and perfectly in step with the little tactical innovations of the period to create a progressive collective; and none could match their relentlessness as they had previously lost the Champions League final vs. Chelsea (at the Allianz Arena no less), and surrendered the Bundesliga + Pokal titles to Klopp's Dortmund.
Argentina: Boca Juniors.
Brazil: Corinthians, followed by others.
England: Manchester City.
France: Paris Saint-Germain.
Germany: Bayern Munich.
Italy: Juventus.
Netherlands: Ajax.
Portugal: Benfica, closely followed by Porto.
Scotland: Celtic.
Spain: Barcelona.
Uruguay: Nacional, closely followed by Peñarol.
Brazil: Corinthians, followed by others.
England: Manchester City.
France: Paris Saint-Germain.
Germany: Bayern Munich.
Italy: Juventus.
Netherlands: Ajax.
Portugal: Benfica, closely followed by Porto.
Scotland: Celtic.
Spain: Barcelona.
Uruguay: Nacional, closely followed by Peñarol.
1.Real Madrid 3-peat - 2016-2018
2.Inter Milan Treble Winners - 2010
3.Bayerns Treble Winners - 2013
Real feat was just amazing winning 3 in a row. Probably won't happen again in the forseeable future. I love Zidane.
Inters treble was fun, some new stars were born, it came as a surprise, had some good drama and a 10 man remontada and Eto'o was fantastic. Brazil contributes to that treble were great.
Bayern played a very straightforward fast attacking football, just fun to watch, they thrashed some fierce opposition on the way there.
I didn't much fancy the tiki taka sideways games much, for me it's not enjoyable football and didn't make my list.
2.Inter Milan Treble Winners - 2010
3.Bayerns Treble Winners - 2013
Real feat was just amazing winning 3 in a row. Probably won't happen again in the forseeable future. I love Zidane.
Inters treble was fun, some new stars were born, it came as a surprise, had some good drama and a 10 man remontada and Eto'o was fantastic. Brazil contributes to that treble were great.
Bayern played a very straightforward fast attacking football, just fun to watch, they thrashed some fierce opposition on the way there.
I didn't much fancy the tiki taka sideways games much, for me it's not enjoyable football and didn't make my list.
Of all the inter players to single out, Eto'o????
Barcelona 2011 and it’s not close.
Barcelona 2011 hit the highest heights.
Over the span of a decade it's between Barcelona and Real Madrid. For a single season I'd choose Barcelona 2011.
In terms of achievements, Madrid, no question about it.
In terms of style of play, Barca 2011, jesus, what a team.
In terms of absolute peak in a period/game, Madrid in the supercup final vs Barcelona where all of their players seemed to turn into prime Messi and they tiki taka'd Barca out of their minds.
In terms of underdog achievement, Inter vs Leicester is hard to pick.
In terms of style of play, Barca 2011, jesus, what a team.
In terms of absolute peak in a period/game, Madrid in the supercup final vs Barcelona where all of their players seemed to turn into prime Messi and they tiki taka'd Barca out of their minds.
In terms of underdog achievement, Inter vs Leicester is hard to pick.
I liked Eto'o, what can I say. That team was overall so good, I still think it was criminal the way Wesley Sneijder was overlooked in terms of personal awards.
Even though they didn’t win the CL I think the best Madrid side was Mourinho’s in 2012.
Best counter attacking I’ve ever seen, just didn’t get the luck a CL winner needs. Unlucky to go out to another great Bayern side on penalties.
Best counter attacking I’ve ever seen, just didn’t get the luck a CL winner needs. Unlucky to go out to another great Bayern side on penalties.
Not quite. They finished 3rd, but tied in points with Barcelona and 3 points behind the Champions, Atletico. They also won the Copa del Rey with that Bale solo goal.
Correct. Also, I'm not sure it's necessary to make a distinction between the 2014 side and the 2016-18 one.
I sometimes wonder how 2010 would have gone if that volcano I shall not spell didn't go off.
Yeah, in a single game I'd back them against any other team from the decade in question. Bayern 12-13 would probably be their toughest opposition.
Tougher than Barca's MSN team or we're discounting that team since it has some of the same players?
If we are, then I agree.
2011 Barca are the most fearsome team I’ve ever seen. Never felt so hopeless during a game as that champions league final.
I say it every time one of these threads comes up but that Bayern team in 13 blew me away, I’ve never seen anything like it.
I think the main reasoning is that Real Madrid were quite good in La Liga.
In 2013-2014 they finished 3rd in the league, 3 points behind Atletico and tied in points with Barcelona. They also won the Copa del Rey and the Champions League. I don't have a problem saying that, overall, they were the best team in Spain that season, even if they finished 3rd. The league 'difference' is 1 game out of 38 with Atletico and head-to-head against Barcelona (who they beat in the CdR final).
In 2014-2015 they began amazingly well, but injuries derailed their season starting from early 2015, and they ended up losing their sizeable advantage over Barcelona. Without those injuries (especially Modric, who was out a big chunk of the season), Barcelona wins the CL and CdR but I don't know that they're able to catch up in La Liga (they finished 2 points ahead of RM, although drew their last meaningless game, so it's really more like 4 points).
After that, they fired Ancelotti and their bad form continued for the rest of 2015, which seemingly killed their league campaign. However, they fired Benitez and hired Zidane in 2016, and their performances improved. They ended up coming close to catching up to Barcelona, who had their own collapse, but finished 1 point behind them. Zidane technically got more points than Luis Enrique during the period of the season he managed.
So over three seasons you have a three point difference between RM and Barcelona (but really five). Then in 2016-2017 RM won La Liga with a three-point margin. So over four seasons the difference between them is tiny.
It was really only Zidane's last season in which they underperformed. They were not great in La Liga and finished miles behind Barcelona, and were not great in the CL but managed the narrow victories they needed.
Luck always plays a part, even in long samples like these, since titles end up depending on small margins. Real Madrid had a bad calendar year (2015), which cost them two league titles; if they'd had a bad football year (August to May) maybe they only lose 1 league title. Maybe they finish with 3 CLs instead of 4 and 2 Ligas instead of 1. If Barcelona don't have an inexplicable run of terrible form in 2016, they don't crash out of the CL and they, not RM, win two in a row. Or if their inexplicable run of bad form extends for 1 more game, they lose the league title too and RM do a league-CL double in Zidane's first half-season of management. Little details like that.
We can probably say that the MSN Barcelona deserved a little more international success and the BBC RM deserved a little more domestic success. Maybe the 'fair' trophy distribution looks different, but luck and random events play a part too.
Let me make an additional point: comparison between Pep's Barcelona and 4CL RM in the CL.
Barcelona:
2008-2009: 8 wins. 3 wins in knockout stage. (won title)
2009-2010: 6 wins. 3 wins in knockout stage.
2010-2011: 9 wins. 5 wins in knockout stage. (won title)
2011-2012: 8 wins. 3 wins in knockout stage.
Compare to Real Madrid:
2013-2014: 11 wins. 6 wins in knockout stage. (won title)
2014-2015: 8 wins. 2 wins in knockout stage.
2015-2016: 9 wins. 5 wins in knockout stage. (won title)
2016-2017: 9 wins. 6 wins in knockout stage. (won title)
2017-2018: 9 wins. 5 wins in knockout stage. (won title)
Although Barcelona did well in the CL (2 wins in 4 is excellent), their incredible dominance in play did not translate to overwhelming victory, for whatever reason. Real Madrid were not as "dominant" in play but they were apparently better at winning games, and therefore ties.
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@Solius make a poll for the lad
He hasn't made it clear enough in the thread title.
Barcelona
Barcelona 2010/11 simply because they were just ridiculous. I don't think much can be said about that team, that team basically took the piss. So much so that Jose's Madrid which was scoring goals for fun and was the second best team in the world during that period, whenever they met Barcelona played anything but football.
Even though I personally prefer the MSN version to watch, simply because Messi had started his playmaker-forward phase during that time, after the false 9(Pep era) and forward who can pass phase. Plus the unreal chemistry between Messi, Suarez and Neymar. People forget that Iniesta during that season was also ridiculous in some of the games. Also some of the counter attacking from that team, it was truly a unique period for Barcelona.
Bayern 2012/13 is another contender and would have been the first in my list, had they beaten prime Barcelona. But the Barcelona in 2012/13 was not same, with no proper coach, lack of good forwards(Sanchez was supremely wasteful, Villa was no longer the same player he was in 2010/11), especially with Messi playing despite being unfit. Messi got injured and everything got derailed. It was the peak of Messidependecia.
Zidane's Real Madrid had possibly the greatest decade in terms of achievements. While Barcelona in 2010/11+MSN treble winners and Bayern's two treble winners seasons individually were great, but both team had quite underwhelming follow ups in UCL due to injury reasons or otherwise. But Real kept going and going. It was quite unreal, I mean winning three titles in a row is just ridiculous. While domestically they could never get ahead of Messi's Barcelona, but they still won one and where close enough in few others.
Liverpool in their CL/PL winning time frame had a great team too but they are a level or two below the above mentioned sides, but they won the CL basically because Barcelona(recently in CL) and Spurs are basically chokers. I don't think them beating Barcelona 4-0 was anything more special than what Roma did a season ago.
Man City had been great in PL, but them not doing much in CL, means they are no way a contender.
United in Fergie era just pushed itself because of his aura and smart buys like Persie and Berbatov (people really forget that he had a very good 2010/11 in PL). Post him we are going nowhere.
Chelsea turned up in CL, but at the same time, we could get it was knockout football format rather than being absolutely dominating.
Inter 2009/10 was another great side, but for me, a level below Barcelona, Bayern and Madrid.
Also shoutout to Atletico Madrid under Diego Simeone, winning the league against Messi's Barcelona and Ronaldo's Madrid, is no easy feat. While also reaching a final, which they should have won, if not the clutch performance of Di Maria, Bale and Ramos in the final moments.
Even though I personally prefer the MSN version to watch, simply because Messi had started his playmaker-forward phase during that time, after the false 9(Pep era) and forward who can pass phase. Plus the unreal chemistry between Messi, Suarez and Neymar. People forget that Iniesta during that season was also ridiculous in some of the games. Also some of the counter attacking from that team, it was truly a unique period for Barcelona.
Bayern 2012/13 is another contender and would have been the first in my list, had they beaten prime Barcelona. But the Barcelona in 2012/13 was not same, with no proper coach, lack of good forwards(Sanchez was supremely wasteful, Villa was no longer the same player he was in 2010/11), especially with Messi playing despite being unfit. Messi got injured and everything got derailed. It was the peak of Messidependecia.
Zidane's Real Madrid had possibly the greatest decade in terms of achievements. While Barcelona in 2010/11+MSN treble winners and Bayern's two treble winners seasons individually were great, but both team had quite underwhelming follow ups in UCL due to injury reasons or otherwise. But Real kept going and going. It was quite unreal, I mean winning three titles in a row is just ridiculous. While domestically they could never get ahead of Messi's Barcelona, but they still won one and where close enough in few others.
Liverpool in their CL/PL winning time frame had a great team too but they are a level or two below the above mentioned sides, but they won the CL basically because Barcelona(recently in CL) and Spurs are basically chokers. I don't think them beating Barcelona 4-0 was anything more special than what Roma did a season ago.
Man City had been great in PL, but them not doing much in CL, means they are no way a contender.
United in Fergie era just pushed itself because of his aura and smart buys like Persie and Berbatov (people really forget that he had a very good 2010/11 in PL). Post him we are going nowhere.
Chelsea turned up in CL, but at the same time, we could get it was knockout football format rather than being absolutely dominating.
Inter 2009/10 was another great side, but for me, a level below Barcelona, Bayern and Madrid.
Also shoutout to Atletico Madrid under Diego Simeone, winning the league against Messi's Barcelona and Ronaldo's Madrid, is no easy feat. While also reaching a final, which they should have won, if not the clutch performance of Di Maria, Bale and Ramos in the final moments.
Just a quick note, Zidane's Madrid won two leagues and finished second twice one point behind the winners, competing some of those years against two of the strongest clubs in Europe. So, it can be said that domestically his team was also very consistent and got ahead of Messi's Barcelona in at least 3 occassions.
Zidane's team didn't win the League during the peak seasons of threepeat though. He won his second in his second stint, after Cristiano was gone and Barcelona were basically a joke carried by Messi. Barcelona went near undefeated in one of those three seasons in La Liga, just losing one match, while Real Madrid was behind even Atletico. While they were consistent, they didn't overwhelmed Barcelona in the way Barcelona overwhelmed them.
Zidane had the better record in the Clasicos during those seasons and got the biggest amount of points of all teams his first season while he was there. So when you think about Zidane in his first season you are including Benitez's negative contribution.
Ah ok fair enough, I stand corrected. Must have mixed up my seasons as they all tend to blur in to one at a certain point.
That goal though.....wow.
Wait, its public opinion here that Barcelona 08/09 was better than 10/11 now? Really?
Barcelona 10/11 is better for me, by a decent margin.
Barcelona 10/11 is better for me, by a decent margin.
The comparison is between great teams at their peak - it is a given they'll be good and the margins will be fine. My argument is that the 3 peat RM's League performance were not as good as those of pep's Barca, not that RM were miserable in the league. A poll among neutrals will surely place that Barca above RM because the way they dominated matches was simply too good. Real were effective and good, but not as good. One solid metric that reveals this is the El Clasicos over that period. Looked up the league stats over their supposed peak periods and Barca dominated both.
Period | Barca Win | Real Win | Barca Goals | Real Goals |
| | | | |
08’ -18’ | 12 | 4 | 47 | 25 |
08’ – 12’ | 6 | 1 | 21 | 6 |
13’ – 18’ | 6 | 2 | 23 | 15 |
15’ – 18’ | 3 | 1 | 14 | 7 |
Madrid three in a row.