The year began with a global tribute to the Masia. Leo Messi, Andrés Iniesta and Xavi Hernández, three players brought up in the Barcelona youth system, were on the podium for the FIFA Balon d'Or. The Argentinian became the first player to win the title two years in a row. Josep Guardiola, meanwhile, was third in the ranking of the best managers of 2010. On the day Barça beat Betis in the cup (5-0), three award winners presented their trophies to the fans.

On 20 February 2011 Josep Guardiola was on the first team bench for his 100th league match, with an amazing  79 wins, 14 draws and just 7 defeats behind him, the best record ever for an FC Barcelona manager. In the games, Guardiola used a total of 40 different players, of which 56% were locally produced, and he had spent 68 weeks on top of the table. Incredible stats.

The team received some dreadful news midway through the season. Éric Abidal had a liver tumour. The Frenchman, who eventually recovered in record time, was able to rejoin the team before the season was out, and proved a huge inspiration to his colleagues. The fans showed all their support through social networks and numerous banners all around the Camp Nou. Abidal's illness only served to strengthen the squad, who were in search of yet more titles.

April brought a marathon of clásicos. The team was running away with the league, and a draw at the Bernabéu (1-1) as good as sealed the championship. But Madrid won the cup final in Valencia (0-1). However, there were two more meetings to come in the Champions League, with FC Barcelona winning the semi final 3-1 on aggregate. The 2-0 win in Madrid was especially memorable, with two cracking goals from Leo Messi. Wembley awaited, and a potential fourth European crown.

The fifth month of the year was unforgettable. On the 11th, FCB drew 1-1 at Levante to mathematically clinch their third league title in a row. 17 days later it was off to London, where FC Barcelona taught Manchester United a lesson in football, with goals from Pedro, Messi and Villa (3-1). That was the fourth Champions League title for Barça, the second in three years and the third in six. Captain Puyol, in a memorable gesture, let Abidal collect the trophy at Wembley.

In the first month without competition, Puyol underwent knee surgery. It was time to take in the successes. Josep Guardiola had won 10 out of a possible 13 titles, playing football that was enchanting the world. In three years, Barcelona goals had been scored by as many as 29 different players. Four products of the Masia (Montoya, Thiago, Jeffren and Bojan) helped Spain to the European U21 Championship. The rest of the players were already thinking about the next season.

Three days after Chile went out of the Copa America, Alexis Sánchez was presented as the first signing of the 2011/12 season. He was still on holiday when Barça played Hajduk Split, Internacional de Porto Alegre and Bayern Munich, and also the American tour, having arrived from Udinese for a fixed 26 million euros plus 11.5 in variables. "It has been my dream since a child to play for Barça" said the first ever Chilean to don the famous FCB jersey.

After two months of holidays and friendlies, the season officially started. FC Barcelona beat Real Madrid in the Spanish Supercup 5-4 on aggregate, performing brilliantly in both matches, with Messi getting three of the goals. A week later, Barça added the European Supercup by beating Porto (2-0) with goals from Messi and the other big summer signing, Cesc Fàbregas. That made it 12 out of 15 titles for Guardiola. Astounding.

Now recovered from his knee injury, Carles Puyol returned to action in September. This was a month in which the team posted some extraordinary wins: Osasuna (8-0), Atlético Madrid (5-0) and BATE Borisov (0-5) but was also held to draws by Real Sociedad, AC Milan and Valencia, all 2-2. The month also saw Andrés Iniesta fall foul to a hamstring injury against AC Milan, which saw him sidelined for a month.

One person who'll never forget this month is Isaac Cuenca. He made his first team debut against Viktoria Pilsen (2-0) and was in the starting line-up a few days later to face Granada (0-1), and played the 90 minutes. The Barça B player made the most of injuries to Alexis and Pedro to show his worth as another option for the team going forward. He also scored his first goal for FC Barcelona this month in the win against Mallorca (5-0).

The team assured top spot in its Champions League group with a win at the San Siro, where Guardiola risked playing just three men at the back, the kind of thing rarely seen at such a high level these days. FC Barcelona won 3-2 with goals from Van Bommel (og), Messi and Xavi, thus meaning they'll play the second leg at home against Bayer Leverkusen in the next round. But the team also suffered its first defeat of the season, 1-0 at Getafe.

2011 ended in incredible fashion with yet another convincing win at the Santiago Bernabéu (3-1), where Guardiola has yet to lose as a manager. Then the club won the Clubs World Cup in Japan, winning both games 4-0 against Al-Sadd of Qatar and Santos of Brazil. But the joy was confounded by the dreadful news that David Villa had fractured his tibia in the semi final, and would be out for 4 to 5 months.