If Barça can make it six wins out of six in Seville, they will equal their best ever starts to a domestic campaign in the 2009/10, 1997/98, 1990/91 and 1929/30 seasons
Tito Vilanova has the led the first team to one of its most spectacular starts ever, with five wins out of five against Real Sociedad (5-1), Osasuna (1-2), Valencia (1-0), Getafe (1-4) and Granada (2-0). On Saturday they are away to Sevilla, and a win there would equal the club’s record start of six wins in a row.
Barça got off to a six-match winning start in 2009/10, 1997/98 1990/91 and 1929/30. In all but one of those cases, they went on to win the championship.
99 point season
The most recent was two years ago, the second season under Pep Guardiola and the year of the six titles. In 2009/10, Barça got off to a flying start in La Liga with wins against Sporting (3-0), Getafe (0-2), Atlético Madrid (5-2), Racing Santander (1-4), Malaga (0-2) and Almeria. In game seven they drew at Valencia (0-0), and ended the championship with a record 99 points.
Winning start for Van Gaal
Fifteen years ago, Louis Van Gaal was in charge as another league campaign started with six wins. The Dutchman was new to the club, and couldn’t have wished for a better series of results than three points against all of Real Sociedad (3-0), Valencia (0-3), Deportivo (2-1), Sporting (1-4), Tenerife (3-2) and Mallorca (0-1). Barça ended up winning the title in emphatic fashion.
Dream Team wins first Liga
The other time in recent history that Barça started so convincingly was in 1990/91. Johan Cruyff was on the bench as FCB defeated Espanyol (0-1), Valencia (3-1), Betis (2-3), Valladolid (1-0), Tenerife (0-1) and Athletic Bilbao (4-1). That was only the beginning of what would be four consecutive title-winning seasons for what came to be known as the Dream Team.
Unrewarded streak 83 years ago
We have to go all the way back to the second ever edition of the Spanish Championship in 1929 to find a Barcelona team capable of equalling the tally that Tito Vilanova is just one match short of equalling. The victims that year were Real Sociedad (3-0), Arenas de Getxo (1-3), Europa (2-1), Racing Santander (5-0), Real Unión de Irun (1-3) and Atlético Madrid (4-2). But not even that wonderful start was enough for Englishman James Bellamy to lead the club to the championship, which eventually ended up in the hands of Athletic Bilbao.