FC Barcelona took a giant step towards the Champions League quarter-finals in London. On top of that, the 2-0 victory at the Emirates put the Catalans on the brink of equalling the longest unbeaten streak in Spanish football history, which Luis Enrique's men can draw level with this weekend.
Dutch coach Beenhakker's Real Madrid side of the 1988-89 season,
with the famous ‘Quinta del Buitre’ at their heart, went 34 consecutive
competitive fixtures undefeated. Following their win over Arsenal, FC Barcelona
are just one away on 33. The Catalans will have the opportunity to match this
historic mark at home to Sevilla on Sunday.
Although they have yet to reach Real Madrid's tally, the breakdown of
Barcelona's run already makes for more impressive reading than the sequence of
results put together by Beenhakker's side. Luis Enrique's charges have chalked
up 27 wins and six draws in 33 games, while that Real Madrid team managed 25
victories and nine draws in 34.
On the other hand, Lionel Messi's second
goal against Arsenal in the first leg of the Champions
League round of 16 was important for his club's current European aims, but also
because it was in fact the 10,000th goal that the Catalan giants have scored in
competitive games since their very beginnings.
These 10,000 strikes have been garnered from 4,375 matches, making for
an average of 2.28 goals per game. This is a record that kicked off back in
1901 with the Copa Macaya.
Since then, the Catalan club has managed to win 126 trophies. The first
was the aforementioned Copa Macaya (1901-02) and the last the Club World Cup
that was captured in Japan upon beating River Plate in the final.
With 440 goals under his
belt, Leo Messi is the greatest goalscorer that 'Los Azulgranas' have ever had,
way ahead of the likes of César Rodríguez (232), Ladislao Kubala (194), Josep
Samitier (184), Josep Escolà (167) and Paulino Alcántara (143).
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