4 reasons why another treble may be on the cards for FC Barcelona
After an early season wobble where FC Barcelona dropped seven points in three games in La Liga in September, it looked like things were about to get complicated as Barcelona were handed a tough run of fixtures in October.
Starting with Tottenham and Valencia away, followed by three home games against the then league leaders Sevilla, Inter Milan in the Champions League and then the Clasico against rivals Real Madrid, Valverde's side had their work cut out.
After a convincing 4-2 win against Spurs, Barcelona stumbled to a 1-1 draw against Valencia, but the signs looked promising as they dominated for large spells of the match. After a bright start against Sevilla, Barcelona lost their talisman Lionel Messi to an arm injury for three weeks. But their performances against Inter and Madrid without Messi showed that their poor results in September was just an early season slip and they mean business this season.
Winning the treble is an achievement every club desires. Only seven European clubs have achieved this feat since 1967 when Celtic won the first ever treble in European football. Barcelona will be looking to be the first club in history to win the treble for the third time as no club has won it more than once, let alone twice.
Here are 4 reasons why another treble may be on the cards for them:
4. Motivation to win the Champions League
Last season's league and cup double was an impressive achievement, but the disappointing loss to Roma put a major dent in the club's confidence and watching arch-rivals Real Madrid winning it for the third consecutive time made matters even worse for the Catalan giants.
Messi delivered a rousing speech to the fans and promised that the club would try to do everything to bring the Champions League back to the Camp Nou. Pique had also mentioned that prioritising the UCL over the league is like committing suicide, indicating that the club are looking to compete on all fronts. After a good start in October, where the club have had some tough fixtures, Barcelona look motivated to go and win it all.