11 years to the day since the 6-2 away win against Real Madrid
Barça and Real Madrid met 11 years ago today, 2 May 2009, in the Santiago Bernabéu for a game that would pass into blaugrana folklore. The visitors, coached by Pep Guardiola, came into the game top of the table i the league, for points ahead of their biggest rivals. The blaugranes had already booked their place in the Copa del Rey final and were only 90 minutes away from the Champions League final so the league Clásico was a chance to set up a possible historic treble.
The game is often held up as an example of the great football played by Barça at the time yet the game did not start off well for Pep Guardiola's side as Gonzalo Higuaín gave Real Madrid an early lead. Nevertheless, a cool finish from Thierry Henry and a trademark Carles Puyol head gave the blaugranes the lead in the space of just five minutes. Since that day, Barça have won seven of their last 11 games at Real Madrid's ground.
The 6-2 win also saw Gerard Piqué score his first goal as a Barça player, grabbing the final goal in the rout at the Bernabéu. The famous win saw thousands come out on to the streets in the city of Barcelona to celebrate and just four days later Guardiola's Barça team sealed their place in the Champions League final with Andrés Iniesta's legendary injury time goal at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea.
Barça went on to beat Athletic Club de Bilbao 4-1 in the Copa del Rey final in Mestalla and then sealed the 19th league title in their history. The treble was claimed in style with a 2-0 win over Manchester United in the Olympic Stadium in Rome in the Champions League final, the first time that the club had ever won Europe's top club competition, the league and the cup in the same season.