I would have thought it was pretty obviously Real Madrid 3 peat.
Greatest Club Side 2010s - ***Mods please make a poll***
- Thread starter Jaae
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Barca 2011. I don't recall a CL final where the outcome was that inevitable and the game (barring the Rooney goal) turned out exactly how everyone had imagined
Cristiano and Ramos's Real Madrid. They annihilated, or scarped through every and any team, big team, small team, in form team, underdogs, favourites, everybody got a spanking in the CL. You couldnt plan for them, they'd play on the counter, play crosses, overload one side, play long balls, play dirty, depending on the situation of the match at that moment. A great underrated team, because it didn't have the "darlings" of footballs as it's biggest stars. Freaking Juggernauts.
2010/11 Barcelona was a machine. Absolutely tore us to shreds in the Champions League final. We didn’t even get a kick of the ball. One of the only times I’ve watched us lose a major cup final and wasn’t really disappointed because Barcelona deserved the victory.
Would go for Madrid for the fact they won 4 CL titles in 5 seasons. There was no weakness in that team.
The 2011 Barca team was special too, and a close call. Xavi and Iniesta in their peak put them ahead of 2015 Barca with Messi, Suarez and Neymar for me.
If my life depended on one game and I had to pick one team, it would probably be that Madrid team though. Star quality in every position.
The 2011 Barca team was special too, and a close call. Xavi and Iniesta in their peak put them ahead of 2015 Barca with Messi, Suarez and Neymar for me.
If my life depended on one game and I had to pick one team, it would probably be that Madrid team though. Star quality in every position.
Team of the decade is Madrid.
Barcelona were a much stronger team. They played on a level that I don’t think can even be fully comprehended. 99% of teams changed their entire game plan, strategy and style to try and stop them. No other team has seen that level of fear. They made teams like Madrid look non-league.
You get players like Messi and Ronaldo who are generational talents. When can you say a team changed a generation? Madrid were great but beatable. Barcelona were just a level above that.
Barcelona were a much stronger team. They played on a level that I don’t think can even be fully comprehended. 99% of teams changed their entire game plan, strategy and style to try and stop them. No other team has seen that level of fear. They made teams like Madrid look non-league.
You get players like Messi and Ronaldo who are generational talents. When can you say a team changed a generation? Madrid were great but beatable. Barcelona were just a level above that.
Barcelona under Pep is the best team I've ever seen and comfortably so. They were absurdly good which is something I didn't feel about the other teams like Bayern and Madrid.
Also what's the actual criteria of this thread? We can pick a team that spanned 3-5 years? Would Barcelona 09-12 or whatever it was, make it? For me it has to be a single season surely if we want consistency of comparison.
Anyhoo I see Madrid are getting a lot of votes but they were consistently second best over the course of a season. For me, league dominance comes first then cup success which has a lot of luck involved.
Also what's the actual criteria of this thread? We can pick a team that spanned 3-5 years? Would Barcelona 09-12 or whatever it was, make it? For me it has to be a single season surely if we want consistency of comparison.
Anyhoo I see Madrid are getting a lot of votes but they were consistently second best over the course of a season. For me, league dominance comes first then cup success which has a lot of luck involved.
Total nonsense
I remember thinking in 2015 that if Juve can just resist the urge to push forward they can beat Madrid, and once they kept coming forward at 1-1 I bet on Barca. So I definitely think 2015 was more beatable than most CL teams if they'd played a team not in a diamond and just a straightforward end of the decade Real Madrid side.
Also will add that the 2013 Bayerns team took 89 minutes to win their CL final against a Dortmund side that looked great but also started some guys like Weidenfeller and Grosskeutz that did jobs but weren't exactly world class players, so I think that hurts them for me.
If my life depended on one game I would doubt.
Barça 2011 caused dread before starting the game. I think teams sometimes went out on the pitch defeated.
I think that even the most resistant and competitive Madrid would suffer from this syndrome.
The 2011 midfield with all 3 at their best, would suffocate the other one, with Rakitic replacing Xavi and Iniesta dropping a level. 2011 had a slightly better defence (younger Alves, Puyol for Mascherano, Abidal for Alba), but 2015 had stronger forwards plus Alba to compensate for Alves getting older.
If the 2015 version wasn't working at 100% effort, they could get squeezed like in the 5-0 clasico. If the 2011 version was off from their best, they could get picked off on the counter like Bayern 3-0. Would be such a great match to watch..
Still think, as a collective, the 2011 version is better.
Are you referring to the game when RvP was shown a 2nd yellow for kicking the ball after ref whistled for offside?
It is a matter of taste what kind of football someone thinks of as exciting or boring. Calling it nonsense is a bit harsh I think.
Fair, there’s no accounting for taste. But objectively, millions of people around the world became fans of that team and started wearing the shirt. That generally doesn’t happen with boring teams. Also, conflating Spain and Barca just cos they had some of the same players is lazy, they were very different. Barca scored a lot more goals for starters. Mainly because of Messi I know, but for me, the combo of Alves and Messi on the right (with Messi also ghosting into central positions) gave them a different dynamic.
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The thing with the Barca 2011 team, was that as good as it was it was probably the weakest champions League field of the last decade. We were the best premier League side but this was after losing Ronaldo and tevez, berbatov barely able to get into the side at the end of the season, and really suffering from the glazer's lack of investment. It was only fergies genius and a strong defense that helped us win the premier League.
Bayern still weren't particularly strong after being beaten by inter the year before in the final, that inter team were a shadow of what they were under mourinho, city weren't fully built as a good team then, in fact schalke made it to the semi finals that year, really there were only two top sides in the world, Madrid and Barca, and Barca only won the semi finals in the 15 minute period after Madrid were down to ten men.
Yes, they were dominant and you usually expected them to win against other traditional top teams, but they were up against a really weak field. I'd say the 2015 team was up against a much stronger champions League than the 2011 team
Edit: for the same reason I don't rate Bayern 19/20 as high as others, real and Barca had hugely declined by this point, juventus and atletico weren't as strong as their teams in the middle of the decade, city and Liverpool were strong in the premier League, and psg were a good side. But compared to the team's Madrid 14 and 16-18 beat as well as Barca 15 and probably even Bayern 13, the 19/20 field was just nowhere near as strong. This season with 4 very strong premier League sides, the best psg side ever, strong Bayern and atletico teams should be the best field in about 4 or so years.
I do feel in this debate the overall quality of teams in Europe is often left out as a factor but 10/11(especially) and 19/20 were not strong fields at all
Bayern still weren't particularly strong after being beaten by inter the year before in the final, that inter team were a shadow of what they were under mourinho, city weren't fully built as a good team then, in fact schalke made it to the semi finals that year, really there were only two top sides in the world, Madrid and Barca, and Barca only won the semi finals in the 15 minute period after Madrid were down to ten men.
Yes, they were dominant and you usually expected them to win against other traditional top teams, but they were up against a really weak field. I'd say the 2015 team was up against a much stronger champions League than the 2011 team
Edit: for the same reason I don't rate Bayern 19/20 as high as others, real and Barca had hugely declined by this point, juventus and atletico weren't as strong as their teams in the middle of the decade, city and Liverpool were strong in the premier League, and psg were a good side. But compared to the team's Madrid 14 and 16-18 beat as well as Barca 15 and probably even Bayern 13, the 19/20 field was just nowhere near as strong. This season with 4 very strong premier League sides, the best psg side ever, strong Bayern and atletico teams should be the best field in about 4 or so years.
I do feel in this debate the overall quality of teams in Europe is often left out as a factor but 10/11(especially) and 19/20 were not strong fields at all
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Barcelona got worse and won the league in 2016 and 2018 ahead of the 3peat Real Madrid team. That excludes the latter for me. They were 17 points behind in 2018!
that’s the problem with using a cup competition to pick the “best” team, there’s too much luck involved.
Also if Juve are in for 2011-2020 should Bayern not be in for 2012-2020? They won the league every year since Dortmund won it in 2012, won two Champions Leagues in that time, and their 15-16 team was a great side who should have won the CL that year. Not saying that’s the team of the decade but if Juve qualify Bayern should too?
For me 2011 Barcelona are the best. Probably put 2013 Bayern next. 2015 Barca winning the treble and beating the Champions of England, France, Germany, and Italy on the way to winning the Champions League is basically the perfect season on paper so that deserves a mention too, but they were a better, more transformative team in 2011.
that’s the problem with using a cup competition to pick the “best” team, there’s too much luck involved.
Also if Juve are in for 2011-2020 should Bayern not be in for 2012-2020? They won the league every year since Dortmund won it in 2012, won two Champions Leagues in that time, and their 15-16 team was a great side who should have won the CL that year. Not saying that’s the team of the decade but if Juve qualify Bayern should too?
For me 2011 Barcelona are the best. Probably put 2013 Bayern next. 2015 Barca winning the treble and beating the Champions of England, France, Germany, and Italy on the way to winning the Champions League is basically the perfect season on paper so that deserves a mention too, but they were a better, more transformative team in 2011.
Wouldn't say Barcelona got worse in 15/16, they just had one bad month following the death of Johan Cruyff. 17/18 sure, it really was a weird season in general but yeah, we were definitely not the best team by far and won it mostly through a great deal of luck and incredible resilience.
Still, 4 CL in 5 years, 3 in a row, doesn't happen by accident. Maybe we never hit the peak of '11/'15 Barcelona or 12/13-19/20 Bayern, but we were at least very, very close, and quite simply better able to keep that edge in terms of mentality over time
Agree about Bayern being either the second or third club of the decade. Change 2 or 3 missed penalties and they also end the decade with 4 CL to their name
It's not a some random local cup competition. Winning cl is pinnacle of football in calender year saying lucky is ridiculous statement especially in cl.
Still city and psg for all their star studded squad they struggle to win once. Let alone four in five years.
Real madrid team amongst greatest in my opinion. Modern era that real madrid team looked greatest because no one achieved that
Barcelona from 09-11 best club side i've ever seen, I think it should be noticed when they lost to Inter in that first leg they travelled to the game by bus for 14 hours because of the Icelandic ash cloud. still won champions league either side and were so dominant and suffocated teams like iv never seen before. Every team can be beaten of course but I think they were better than Ream Madrid three in a row.
Just to note I hated that Barcelona side, so boring and wanted them to get beat, the 2015 side was excellent too and more entertaining.
Just to note I hated that Barcelona side, so boring and wanted them to get beat, the 2015 side was excellent too and more entertaining.
That Madrid team was great. They won the league comprehensively as well, so they WERE really good. But CL wins carry with them a significant amount of fortune - is a fact. What I would say is that , out of Real's 4 CL wins, 2 were guaranteed and the other 2 happened due to a good slice of fortune as well and could have gone either way. The finals attest to this - 2 finals they dominated and other 2 they did it with a bit of fortune. Real's 4 wins is a case of efficiency AND luck coming together.
Celtic quadruple treble winners surely no other club in world football has ever done that, least give us a mention??
Got absolutely pumped in Europe and zero competition in their league.
No mate winning cl is not luck. Withstand adversary and courage made you win even single cl. Let alone four in five attempts. You simply can't call it luck. It's not luck or their fault if other teams failed to beat them.If cl is luck then I would call winning league is nothing compared to cl despite luck.
I'd say Celtic were the best Scottish team of the decade.
though that era was special and you are right to point out the volcano and how it could have affected them, it's also fair to point out THAT Chelsea game as well. That reffing all but assured them a CL spot in the final. Still, that was '09 and not a part of 2010's decade so they it shouldn't be considered for consideration when determining which team was team of the decade. 2010-11 Barca was special but for my money I'd bet on 2012-13 Bayern as the best of the decade. As great as though Madrid teams that won 4 of 5 Champions leagues I don't think any single one of those squads beats the barca 11 or Bayern 13 squads. I would say Bayern is the best team since not only were they treble winners, but they killed the Barca style. Sometimes styles make matchups and tiki taka played into Bayerns game. One game to play, 2012-13 Bayern for me.
Barcelona - 2011. That's the peak Barcelona and Spain in that period. Both teams won everything from league title, CL, world cup to European championship.
Attributing an amount of luck in winning is not exclusive to CL. It's natural to any football game. Matches taken individually will inevitably involve incidents and factors that are beyond either team's capability or dominance. These incidents which may turn out to be beneficial to one team, is what we call luck. CL and other knockout tournaments are composed of much smaller number of games than the league - which objectively means that luck is a much larger factor in knockout tournaments than in the league. Also, even though penalty shootouts are useful to determine winners in a practical way, one cannot deny that they constitute fortune as well.
So, it would be foolish to regard CL above League for comparison in quality of teams.
For a single season I would agree. However we are talking about three wins in a row. That consists of more games than a league season and I think you can safely say that this can not be done due to luck, but can be used to really compare the quality of the teams in that timeframe.
If it is a one off game. The 2011 barca team wins against all these other teams 9/10. If they lost it always just felt like pure luck. I've never seen a team dominate football like that.
Real Madrid 11/12 for me with CR7 at the absolute zenith of his powers and Mourinho at the tail end of his prime. They had a precociously talented team and played the best counter-attacking football I’ve ever seen. They were blowing teams for fun weekly. Every game I could expect at least 4 goals from them and they went on to score 121 goals alone in league play which is a European record.
I think that team would’ve gotten more recognition if they had won the CL as they beat Pep’s Barca to la liga that season. They were so unlucky against an inferior Bayern in the semis.
I think that team would’ve gotten more recognition if they had won the CL as they beat Pep’s Barca to la liga that season. They were so unlucky against an inferior Bayern in the semis.
Real Madrid matched up well against them in the semis. Mourinho’s anti-tiki taka set-up was working perfectly until Pepe’s red card midway through the 2nd half. And Madrid were actually the better team in the 2nd leg and had a goal unfairly disallowed.
Each and every league there was example of teams win in four out of five campaigns which is very easy as proved.
But despite all these dominance in their league winning cl once last decade for teams like juventus, city,psg became nightmare.All went to finals once that's all they could do. Yeah cl was lucky. Get into reality.
Liverpool in their lifetime won 6 times man Utd 3 times just three Chelsea only twice and you call real Madrid s 4 in five attempts not a grand achievement.
We played barcelona 6 times that season, lost 3, drew 2 and won 1. And we weren't unlucky against bayern, we were badly outplayed for the entire tie
The goal was correctly disallowed, we were not in fact the better team in that game, and Pepe's red card was very much a direct consequence of Mourinho's gameplan
The loss at home in the league was unlucky. Madrid created enough chances to put that game away long before Xavi and Fabregas scored and even after that. The away loss in the copa del rey was even more unlucky. You guys dominated the game from start to finish and even with a man down. I felt Madrid had caught up with Barca that season without a doubt. As for the Bayern tie, I’d put that down to Mourinho’s tactics. In the opening minutes of the 2nd leg Bayern were all over the place and conceded 2 before Mourinho decided to sit back. I didn’t see how you were dominated for the rest of the game. It was a pretty even encounter after that.
Mascherano dived from what I remember. That goal should’ve stood and Pepe’s red card was harsh. No way was that a direct red.
Not really. We had a good start but after 10 minutes it was one way traffic
The supercup games, those were unlucky as we were the better team in both
We had, but that had as much to do with barcelona not being as good as in the previous two seasons as with our own improvements. I wouldn't take that madrid side over any of the 13/14-16/17 period
It agree it was Mourinho's fault. Mourinho was the manager, if he comes up with losing gameplans in the biggest games, that's a serious problem.
The first leg was a battering
Cristiano fell on his ankle. Pepe's red card was harsh, but fine. It was definitely worthy of a red card
Funny how your points strengthen mine. CL win is rare for many exactly because luck plays a huge role. In the league, there is time for the luck factor to even out. Hypothetically, if the champions league were to be played in a league format we would see teams with more quality eventually dominating the competition. Take Real's 4 wins as an example : What are the odds of a team winning a shootout? Or the odds of a team scoring an injury time goal from a corner? These are chance occurrences and normally involve luck. Whereas in 2017 they sort of won it comprehensively.
Next what hypothetically world cup should be played in league format so that England could win more than onceLeagues can be easily won but CL not. That's what I am saying. Real Madrid did that in the current format. No president of that record for past three decades especially after changes in cl format. That's why I termed them greatest for last decade.
Three peat Madrid teams are not beating Barcelona. They struggled in the league and somehow managed to avoid Barcelona all three times. There is a reason they struggled to win the league.
Regarding Barca being ugly to watch.. forget Messi and all the other stars they had. Watching Iniesta play football, with his smooth dribbling and killer passes was beautiful. Especially in Barcelona.
Regarding Barca being ugly to watch.. forget Messi and all the other stars they had. Watching Iniesta play football, with his smooth dribbling and killer passes was beautiful. Especially in Barcelona.