“The great fallacy is that the game is first and foremost about winning. It’s nothing of the kind. The game is about glory. It’s about doing things in style, with a flourish, about going out and beating the other lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom”

-Danny Blanchflower’s immortal sermon from 1972

The Camp Nou flood lights were turned off, leaving only fire works, blue/red lights and camera flashes to paint the field. Players and staff each waited for his name to be called, as all of the bits and pieces of the Blaugrana composed the complete picture of the club; the club who made its name well known and will continue to make history.

FC Barcelona won the La Liga in style; they did not wait for a gift from other teams to stop the vicious chase of Real Madrid. However, they knew their task very well and were up to complete the race and rank first in the table.

The season was tough for sure, numerous injuries and the disqualifications of Copa del Rey and the Champions League, however despite all of that they eventually came out victorious. The victory came after the Blaugrana displayed a marvelous match against Valladolid on Sunday night.

The tension could be felt through the air, because it did not matter whether Valladolid were the second or the twentieth in the ranking, they could have still caused troubles and the La Liga could have been lost.

The first ten minutes almost proved Guardiola’s worry about the game; one silly mistake could have cost Barcelona an early goal, yet Puyol was there to save the ball, keeping it from making its way to the net! Valladolid completely dominated the opening and left no chance for Barcelona to focus again.

After the critical ten minutes Barcelona players realized they had to win the game, they could not just bet on Malaga to beat Real Madrid, even though they were already ahead by one goal lead.

It seemed as though without the Maestro Xavi, who was suspended, they needed some more time to reshape their lines, but they soon found their footing. The Barcelona chances started outpouring on Jacobo, Valladolid’s goalkeeper. Bojan, Messi, and Toure’s shots from outside the box only missed the goal by inches. The whole team was dynamic, each player constantly moving, constantly taking his place expecting a fast short pass to keep the ball moving.

The continuous chances thus made Valladolid’s defense helpless. Pedro was the one to exploit the defensive players instability as he received the pass from Abidal and made his way into the penalty area; his pass became an own goal when Prieto caused the ball to be deflected into the net! Pedro scored the second goal as well. It was a magical master piece which included a series of short, fast passes between Alves, Toure, Messi, and Pedro. Toure, with his back heel, passed the ball to Messi who in turn assisted Pedro to score the second goal of the night.

The team seemed to be willing to win its last game with style, passion, and a Messi-merizing performance! They only needed not to commit silly mistakes, like last week against Sevilla, and everything would be alright – so it was.

The Blaugrana came out stronger in the second half. Toure playing as a right midfielder proved to be a skillful player on the offence as well. Despite his strong physical presence, he showed great acrobatic skills, which resulted in assisting the third goal. Throughout the game he took an important role on the offensive side; on the 62^nd minute he easily went past two defenders into the box and played the cross pass, which Pedro left for Messi to score his 33^rd goal of the season. The Argentine was one goal away of equalizing  Ronaldo’s record of 34 goals in one season.

Fourteen minutes later, the outstanding Toure  played the assist to Messi, who went across two defenders before putting the ball to the goalie’s left scoring Barca’s fourth goal of the night, his 34^th of the La Liga, and his 47^th of the whole season!

Winning in style means: The best goalkeeper, the best defense, the best scorer, the best offense, 99 points, one away loss, and not a single loss at home. It means the team is the ultimate goal and not the individuals. It means playing with passion, for the beautiful game. It means not getting caught up in winnings, but continuously working harder in order to develop and improve. It means to be mes que un club!

It is the time for celebrations, as the curtains are down announcing the end of an incredible season that made everybody breathless until the last second of the last games of the last week.

It was yet again a wonderful season by the best team in the world; the second league title in a row for Pep Guardiola, the coach who injected a new spark into the team breaking almost all the records; and they will continue to prosper even more!

Above all, thank you Laporta for a wonderful team that you built, thank you Guardiola for the amazing work you did throughout the season, and thank you Barcelona players for being the reason of why millions of people around the globe continue to enjoy watching you play the beautiful game!

At last but not least, thanks to all the Barcelona fans for their loyalty to the club whether they win or lose, we will always be supportive of FC Barcelona!

Share your celebrations with us! Viva, Visca, Go, Allez, Barcelonaaaa!