Barcelona: The Picture of Team Football.

They’re brilliant. Everybody knows it. You know, I know it, they know it. As far as slick, ball on the floor footballing goes, they have no equal – even with their recent, now long forgotten, hiccup. On their day, Barcelona are simply above and beyond.

After soundly thumping Lyon to announce they’d awoken, they displayed it against Almeria on the weekend just to confirm matters. A 2-0 away win is pedestrian by their standards, but it was how the second goal which went in that’s now making noise after the fact. Not because Bojan’s second took a deflection on its way into the net, but because Barcelona had strung together 35 – thirty-five, that’s not a typo – passes before so casually putting it into the back of the net.

And while a simple tap in on a simple pass would’ve sufficed to cap their moment of brilliance, Dani Alves, Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta combined the genius of quick feet and quicker thinking for Bojan’s silver platter service. The first video is a bit grainy, so check out the HQ:

I’m pretty sure Ray just did man and wife stuff.

Anyway, according to Barca’s official site, it went down like this:

In the 53rd minute with Barça ahead by 0-1, Xavi picked up the ball in midfield and passed to Messi. It was to be the first of 37 passes before Bojan stuck the ball past Diego Alves exactly 1 minute and 49 seconds later.

All the Barça players except central defender Rafa Márquez and keeper Víctor Valdés took part in the move: Alves (6 times), Piqué (5), Sylvinho (5), Xavi (5), Keita (5), Bojan (4), Iniesta (3), Messi (3) and Touré (1).

They claim 37 passes while the video offers 35. I don’t think two passes matter in the grand scheme – it’s pretty genius any way you count.

Some Related Stories:

Category: World Football