2011 in review

2011 has been an incredible year for Barcelona and it's squad. Numerous trophies, individual awards and putting the Barcelona style of football on display for the world to watch and be in awe of.

January began with Lionel Messi beating out teammates Xavi and Andres Iniesta for the FIFA Balon D'or award. January also saw a club record streak of 28 consecutive unbeaten matches come to an end in the second leg of the Copa Del Ray quarterfinals, but tied a La Liga record with 15 straight league wins. They would set the new record at 16 consecutive wins, part of a 32 game unbeaten streak, another La Liga record.

In February Barca set a date with Real Madrid in the Copa Del Rey finals, easing past Almeria 8-0 on aggregate. However, it also saw Barcelona lose 2-1 at the Emirates in London to Arsenal, their first knock out round opponent in the UEFA Champions League.

In March came the second leg of the Champions League match up at the Nou Camp and saw Barcelona overturn the first leg deficit with a 3-1 win, but not without controversy. Arsenal striker Robin Van Persie was shown a second yellow for delay after kicking the ball away mere moments after an offside call in which RVP didn't hear the whistle (which is debatable, if he didn't hear the whistle, he was clear on goal, why boot it from 30 yards out?). Even though Barcelona was dominating every aspect of the game to that point, it was 1-1 at the time and effectively ended Arsenals European season. Defender Eric Abidal was also diagnosed with a tumor in the middle of March and while many thought his career may be cut short, he would make a remarkable recovery and return for the Champions League final in May.

As Barcelona turned the corner into April, many of their competitions were headed towards their climax. Barcelona eliminated Shaktar Donetsk in the Champions League, and set up a semi final match up with Real Madrid in what would turn out to be four Classico's in a span of barely two weeks, meeting Madrid in league play, the Copa Del Ray final, and both legs of the Champions League semi-final. Their league tilt ended in a 1-1 draw at the Bernabeu, marking the first time since he was hired that Pep Guaridola failed to defeat Real Madrid. Four days later would mark Guardiola's first defeat to Madrid as they lost the Copa Del Rey final 1-0 after a extra time header from Ronaldo. Barca would take their revenge in the Champions League semi-final, taking the first leg at the Bernabeu 2-0. Their last match in April, a 1-2 loss to Sociedad would end their 32 game league unbeaten streak which had begun all the way back at week 2 of the season.

May would begin with Barcelona punching their ticket to Wembley after a 1-1 draw against Madrid in Barcelona sent them to a finals match against Manchester United in a repeat of the 2009 UEFA Champions League final. Despite their record league streaks Barcelona did not clinch the league title until two weeks left in the season, and then finished their Liga campagin with a win away at Malaga, their 14th away victory of the season, also a new club record. In their last competitive match of the 2010-2011 season Barcelona saw off Manchester United 3-1 winning their 2nd trophy of the calendar year.

The summer transfer window was busy for Barcelona, as May and June saw them part ways with Martin Caceres, Victor Sanchez, Jeffren, Gabi Milito, and Bojan, as well as finalizing the sale of Zlatan Ibrahimovic to AC Milan. However, they made two huge moves, bringing in Udinese's speedy Chilean winger Alexis Sanchez and finally ending the years long transfer drama in bring Cesc Fabregas back to Barcelona after eight years at Arsenal. July saw the players return to the pitch with a few friendlies against Bayern Munich.

August saw a return to competitive play for Barcelona and they began by playing the Copa Del Ray champions Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup. After a 2-2 draw in the first leg, a thrilling, dramatic, vicious second leg saw Barcelona win another trophy with a 3-2 win at the Nou Camp in which punches were thrown and red cards dealt out, all beginning with a tackle on Fabregas by Marcelo and ending with Jose Mourihno poking Barcelona assistant Tito Villanova in the eye. Later in August, Barcelona would meet the Europa League winners Porto in the UEFA Super Cup, adding another trophy to the cabinet after a 2-0 victory.

September marked the early stages of both the Champions League group stage and early tilts in La Liga. Barcelona would stutter in the first weeks of the season, before tearing apart Osasuna 8-0. September also saw the beginnings of the Barcelona injury bug begin to pop up, losing Alexis Sanchez for nearly two months to a torn hamstring, and Iniesta for nearly a month.

October was business as usual for the Catalans, pulling themselves into first place in the league, and the to the top of their group in the Champions League with a draw against AC Milan, and wins against Viktoria Plzen and BATE Borisov.

November saw 8 Barcelona players names to the Balon D'or shortlist, and also saw Barca cement the top spot in their group heading into the Champions League knockout rounds. However, their first league loss of the season to Getafe leaves them 6 points behind Madrid heading into the first Classico of the season.

So here we are in December. Barcelona dominates Real Madrid in the first Classico, winning 3-1 coming back from a early Benzema strike. The injury bug would return, this time claiming David Villa with a broken leg suffered in the FIFA Club World Cup. This devastating injury may take up to 6 months to heal and puts him at risk to compete in the 2012 Euros. Barcelona would round off 2011 by winning the FIFA Club World Cup against Brazilian giants Santos, and then in Copa Del Ray action run out a mixed team of veterans and youth club members and roll C.E. L'Hospitalet 9-0 in their Copa Del Ray match up.

Barcelona finished 2011 with countless highlights, four trophies, while setting new records for individuals and clubs. What will 2012 bring to FC Barcelona and it's fans? Wither it is up or down nobody can tell (although, down doesn't seem to be a direction Pep Guardiola knows about). But i can tell you that wherever Barcelona go in 2012, they will go there playing the tiki-taka football the world has fallen in love with.