ANALYSIS: Can Barcelona launch a new era? "It's already doing so"

By Daniel Garcia Marco May 28, 2009, 18:00 GMT

Rome - With three titles in just one season, a star like Lionel Messi, a young team and beautiful, attacking play, Barcelona appears to be well on its way to launching a new era in European football, like Ajax Amsterdam did in the 1970s and like Arrigo Sacchi's Milan in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Can they make history?

'Three titles in one season is already history,' right-back Dani Alves noted after the Champions League final.

With the prestigious continental title added to the titles in La Liga and the King's Cup in recent weeks, Barcelona sealed an historic treble. It was the first Spanish club ever to manage such a feat, and only the fifth club to do it in total.

Alves' lights up when he is reminded that the next Champions League final, in 2010, is set to be played at the Santiago Bernabeu, the stadium of Barça arch-rival Real Madrid.

He would give almost anything to get the chance to play that final, after missing Wednesday's in Rome through a suspension.

Can the current streak last?

'If we keep up the excitement and we are ambitious, yes, because we have enough football for a long time to come,' said Alves.

Three years ago, the same question was asked about the Barcelona team around Ronaldinho, which died of conformism and indifference and melted away after their European title in 2006.

'It's already launching a new era,' euphoric veteran Sylvinho said.

However, legends are made over time. Since Milan achieved it in 1989 and 1990, no European team has reaped back-to-back continental titles.

That is a sign of just how short cycles are in the world of football, far from Real Madrid's five consecutive European Cups in the late 1950s, or the three of Ajax's total football and Franz Beckenbauer's Bayern Munich in the 1970s.

No team has managed to defend its title in the Champions League, and the last to fail in the effort was Manchester United Wednesday in Rome.

'Let us hope we win many more titles,' said the young centre-back Gerard Pique.

To do so, Barcelona is set to strengthen its squad even more, by bracing its few weak points: the left-back position, and the need for understudies for Messi and Alves down the right.

Josep Guardiola is set to keep coaching the team. But he will not be able to beat his debut season - at best he can equal it.

There is talk about him emulating long-term manager Alex Ferguson at United. However, some say that Guardiola's obsessive character and his full dedication to his job will prevent a long career.

At 38, the coach has a young squad. Among regular starters, only captain Carles Puyol, Mexican Rafael Marquez and the Frenchman Thierry Henry are around 30. Team brains Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta, particularly the latter at 25, are at the top of their careers.

And Barça's great star, the Argentine Messi, will turn just 22 in June.

'We should not say anything bad about (former Barcelona coach Frank) Rijkaard, who did a lot for these players. But we a few changes, things could improve,' said Johan Cruyff.

The Dutch football legend is the theoretician behind this Barcelona side, as well as Guardiola's master.

Based on ball control and attacking football, Guardiola has improved the model with a defence and ball-recovery system built on the commitment of all his players.

The idea reaped applause, and Cruyff is proud of it.

'This Barça has imposed a style of play that has obtained praise from millions in every corner of the world, and I am happy about that. And it has written in large, golden letters the most repeated message of 2009: you can win by playing pretty, by putting on a show. Copy this proposal. If you dare,' Cruyff said Thursday in his column in the daily El Periodico de Catalunya.

Since Sacchi's Milan, no single team had got such unanimous praise.