Despite the pedigree of our illustrious opponent, this Barcelona match is winnable | OneFootball

Our opponent on Thursday evening is one of the best-known club sides in the world, fans of Newcastle United will of course fondly remember that Tino Asprilla inspired 3-2 win against the Catalans in September 1997, the Colombian scoring a hat-trick at St James Park.

Since that raucous evening, we have played FC Barcelona on a further three occasions (home and away), all in the UEFA Champions league, losing each time.

Commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barca, the club was founded in 1899 by a group of Swiss, Catalan, German, and English footballers led by Joan Gamper.

More than a century and a quarter later, they can boast a trophy haul that includes 28 La Liga titles, 32 Copa del Reys, five European Champions Leagues, a record four European Cup Winners’ Cups, a record three Inter-Cities Fairs Cups, and three FIFA Club World Cups.

It is the supporters that own FC Barcelona, a model that Gamper established during his reign as President, with membership increasing to over 20,000 by 1922.

It was during its fledgling years that the club changed its official language from Castilian to Catalan and gradually evolved into an important symbol of Catalan identity. For many fans, participating in the club had less to do with the game itself and more with being a part of the club’s collective identity, hence the motto “Més que un club” (“More than a club”).

In the 1930s, both the city and the football club were hugely affected by the Spanish Civil War. As the city was subjected to aerial bombardments and came under occupation, several players from Barcelona enlisted in the ranks of those who fought against the military uprising, whilst others sought asylum when the club participated in a tour of Mexico and the USA in the summer of 1937.

As a result, FC Barcelona’s fortunes waned, although with the suspension of La Liga because of the war, it did win the Mediterranean League in 1937, pipping city rivals RCD Espanyol to a title which is still disputed, the Royal Spanish Football Federation to this day refusing to acknowledge the title as the equivalent of La Liga.

The occupation of Catalonia led to several restrictions, with all signs of regional nationalism, including language, flag and other signs of separatism banned, and the club were prohibited from using non-Spanish names, forcing the club to change its name to Club de Fútbol Barcelona and to remove the Catalan flag from its crest.

Despite this immensely difficult era, CF Barcelona enjoyed considerable success during the 1940s and 1950s, winning La Liga in 1945 for the first time since 1929, before winning back-to-back titles in 1948 and 1949, 1952 and 1953 and 1959 and 1960. It was during this period that CF Barcelona also plundered six Copa del Reys.

The 1960s were less successful as Real Madrid monopolised La Liga and the completion of Camp Nou meant the club had little money to spend on new players, although three European titles in the shape of the Fairs Cup were won.

In 1968, six years before the end of Spain’s dictatorship, coached by Salvador Artigas, a former Republican pilot in the Civil War, CF Barcelona won the Copa del Generalísimo at the Santiago Bernabéu with General Franco in attendance.

The end of Franco’s dictatorship in 1974, saw the club change its official name back to Futbol Club Barcelona before also reverting the club crest to its original design, including the original letters.

In the modern era, the club can boast some of the most recognisable players on the planet, from Johan Cruyff who was bought for a then world record £920,000 from Ajax in 1973, to the likes of Diego Maradona – another world record signing in 1982, who cost £5 million from Boca Juniors, as well as the Brazilian quartet of Romario, Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho.

Domestically, only two La Liga titles were won in the 1970s and 1980s, this being a rather unremarkable period for such a remarkable club, although after winning La Liga in 1985, Barcelona went close to landing the European Cup the following season, losing a penalty shootout against the Romanians, Steaua Bucharest, after a drab goalless draw in Seville, Barcelona conspiring to somehow miss all four of their penalties.

In the lesser European competition, the Cup Winners Cup, Barcelona enjoyed success in 1979, 1982 and 1989. By the time they won this competition for a record fourth time, in 1997, it was of course former Newcastle United manager Sir Bobby Robson who was at the helm, a Ronaldo penalty in Rotterdam seeing the Catalans edge past PSG by a goal to nil.

Barcelona finally managed to land the European Cup in 1992, when Ronald Koeman’s free-kick settled matters against Italian side Sampdoria at Wembley.

Since then, they’ve managed to lift the prestigious trophy on another four occasions, in 2006 when they defeated Arsenal in Paris, in 2009 and 2011 when they beat Manchester United at Wembley and in Rome and then in 2015 in Berlin, when they dismantled Juventus.

Those first two victories came under the stewardship of new president Joan Laporta, whilst the two victories against the Manchester club came during the time that Pep Guardiola, now manager of Manchester City, was in charge at Camp Nou.

Not many will argue that Lionel Messi was the undisputed star of the show, but those that do will point to Guardiola’s team having an abundance of talent, a fair proportion of which was homegrown. In 2010 when Spain won the World Cup for the first time against Holland, no fewer than seven players that had graduated from the Barcelona Academy participated in the final, six of whom were current Barcelona players, with Andres Iniesta scoring the winning goal.

Lionel Messi is perhaps the most prominent of all of FC Barcelona players, the Argentine scoring a remarkable 672 goals for the club in 778 appearances.

Whilst ‘El Classico’ rivals Real Madrid have won the Champions League five times since Barcelona’s last triumph in 2015, Barcelona have eclipsed Real’s La Liga titles since then, winning it on five occasions to Real’s four, with Barcelona’s most recent success being last season when they won their 28th title with two matches to spare following a 2–0 win against city rivals Espanyol.

This latest title has been under the stewardship of Laporta, whose second reign as president began in 2021, but has coincided with the Catalans struggling to comply with La Liga’s Financial Fair Play requirements. This led to the sale of Messi to PSG together with the imposition of transfer restrictions, although the acquisition of talent such as Robert Lewandowski from Bayern, Raphinha from Leeds and Dani Olmo from Leipzig has still been possible in recent years.

As FC Barcelona head to St James Park this week, they do so almost certainly without their latest prodigious talent, Lamine Yamal and for me, whilst it would have been great to see him in action on Thursday, if he’s missing it can only boost Newcastle United’s chances.

Whilst Nick Woltemade made a debut appearance on Saturday with the winning goal against Wolves. On Sunday, Barcelona put six past Valencia with Fermin Lopez bagging two, before Raphinha and Lewandowski each got a brace from the bench.

Looking at that result, we should be under no illusion that this will be a big test for Eddie Howe’s Newcastle United, but as was the case almost 28 years to the day, and despite the pedigree of our illustrious opponent, this Barcelona match is winnable.