The 2010–11 season was FC Barcelona's 112th in existence and the club's 80th consecutive season in the top flight of Spanish football. Barcelona started the season with a new president after Joan Laporta reached his term limit on 30 June, leaving behind a very successful club tenure.
Sandro Rosell was elected president on 13 June by securing a record total of 35,021 votes (61.35%), more than the 27,138 achieved by Laporta in 2003. Rosell began his tenure on 1 July as the 39th president in Barcelona's history.
This team, being described by commentators and former players, is widely considered to be one of the greatest club sides of all time. Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has described this squad as the best he had ever faced.
Season overview
June Barcelona started their transfer window only three days after the end of the 2009–10 season, by reaching an agreement with Valencia for Spanish international David Villa worth €40 million.
On 30 June, Xavier Sala-i-Martin, treasurer and director in charge of the economic area, announced that Barcelona earned a record €445.5 million in revenue during the 2009–10 season. According to Xavier, "that's the highest revenues achieved by any club, in any sport including the U.S." This means FC Barcelona is the richest club in the world in terms of revenue.
Coach Pep Guardiola later expressed disapproval of the transfer of Ukrainian centre-back Dmytro Chyhrynskyi, indicating he was pressed to let him go. Speaking at a press-conference, Guardiola said, "My opinion counts, but the needs of the club go above that and that's why he was sold, I would like to have kept him." Speaking on the departing Yaya Touré, Guardiola said he would have preferred him to stay, but the player was set on moving.
On 14 July, Thierry Henry and Barcelona agreed to rescind his contract in order for Henry to become a free agent, where he subsequently signed a new four-and-a-half-year contract with Major League Soccer's New York Red Bulls. He stated, "This is a new and exciting chapter in my career." The club also agreed with Pep Guardiola on a one-year extension to stay as coach of the first team, along with long-time assistant Tito Vilanova.
August On 27 August, Barcelona reached an agreement with English club Liverpool for the services of Argentine international Javier Mascherano. The deal was worth €24 million and was reached "after considerable effort from the club [Barcelona] over the last few hours and the willingness and desire of the player to make the move". On the same day, Barcelona's executive committee of the board of directors publicly "denounced the conduct over the last few days of the agent of our player Zlatan Ibrahimović, Mino Raiola, whose declarations have put into question the honour and moral integrity of our coach Pep Guardiola". The club's legal department considered the possibility of rescinding the contract and the cessation of the annual payment Raiola's company receives from the club as part of their agreement. The next day, Barcelona and Italian club Milan agreed to a one-year loan for the Swedish international, with Milan paying all his earnings for the 2010–11 season and including in the agreement the option for Milan to make the move permanent next summer for a fee of €24 million.
September Coach Guardiola stated, "It will cost us a lot. We expect a difficult year in which things have to be won by ourselves. Right now, the team is not at full strength at this point in the season."
On 19 September, Lionel Messi suffered an ankle injury due to an ill-advised tackle by Atlético Madrid defender Tomáš Ujfaluši in the 92nd minute of their Round Three match at the Vicente Calderón Stadium. At first sight, it was feared that Messi suffered a broken ankle that could have kept the star player away from the pitch for a minimum of six months, but MRIs performed the next day in Barcelona showed he suffered a sprain in the internal and external ligaments of his right ankle. Teammate David Villa stated "the tackle on Messi was brutal" after watching the video of the play and also added that he believed the Atlético defender "didn't go into the tackle to hurt". The incident caused widespread media attention because of Messi's high profile in the football world and brought up the debate of equality in protecting all players in the game. Debates whether the fact that Messi's status prompted the intensive media and fans scrutiny of Ujfaluši and subsequent two match ban by the Competition Committee appeared all over the internet, television, and print in the days following the incident.
October Due to the findings of the audit, Barcelona compromisarios (commissioners) voted to enforce the social action of responsibility against the club's previous board with 468 in favour, 439 against and 113 abstaining. Ex-president Laporta's board will be called upon to respond in court due to €48.7 million that went missing during his presidency.
On 18 October, Laporta defended his presidency in front of the media by stating that, "We just want them to give us the documentation regarding the biased and demagogic statement made by the representative of KPMG." He also stated, "The board has not had the courage to explain things", and, "We have nothing to hide, everything has its explanation and justification." Laporta did not hold back and branded the new president "envious, resentful and jealous" and "I have a very clear conscience and the truth on my side". He continue to berate the new board by stating, "My greatest desire after spending a few years of my life at Barça and the results we got was to become a socio, go back to my seat, go to football games with my kids and enjoy this club. They do not let me. Ad not only do they not let me, but I see some attempts to ridicule, dishonor the reputation we have. No way I'm left alone. After the assembly of delegates, I understand that there was an indecent maneuver with the exposure of the 'due diligence'... It was sectarian, demagogic and an interest to scorn against me and create an alarm among the social mass."
November On 29 November, one of the most eagerly-awaited Clásico in recent times was scheduled on a Monday due to the elections to the Parliament of Catalonia, which was held on the day before. The match featured 13 of the 23 winning players on Spain's 2010 FIFA World Cup squad and currently the two most successful managers in football, with Pep Guardiola and Real Madrid's José Mourinho. The match itself was a complete domination by Barcelona, with an emphatic 5–0 trashing of their eternal rival. The game showcased Barça's mastering of the tiki-taka in combination with the Total Football philosophy and the superb team-work of whom many consider the top three players in the world: Messi, Xavi and Andrés Iniesta. The international press hailed Barcelona's impressive win and their football as currently the best in the game, while some questioned whether the Real Madrid squad was "ready" for the magnitude of this match.
Guardiola stated, "it was a spectacle" and "how we did it – that makes us proud. Now just let us sit back and enjoy that win – we'll reflect and look at the whole game, but now it would be wrong not to revel in the win. Games like that happen very rarely indeed". In regards to Madrid, Pep stated, "This match isn't representative of the difference between the two teams. They are a very good team, they came here unbeaten and as league leaders. Today all of our players played well and that was the difference."
After the victory, Barcelona took over first place in La Liga's table, ahead of Madrid by two points with 25 rounds left to play.
December On 6 December, the finalists for the FIFA Ballon d'Or were announced. Barcelona players (Messi, Xavi and Iniesta) took all three spots, with the results to be declared on 10 January in Zürich. This was a monumental moment for Barcelona, as the three best players in the world were not only from the club, but all three came from Barcelona's youth system at La Masia.
On 13 December, president Rosell made final the signing of a five-and-a-half-year, €170 million shirt sponsorship with the Qatar Foundation, thus ending Barça's tradition of not having paid sponsors on their shirt. The deal made it the highest paid shirt sponsorship in the world, beating both Manchester United's deal with Aon and Liverpool's deal with Standard Chartered reached the prior year.
January On 10 January, Lionel Messi was crowned the 2010 FIFA Ballon d'Or winner. His teammates Andrés Iniesta and Xavi finished second and third respectively. Messi became the first player to win the new prize after the FIFA World Player of the Year and Ballon d'Or merged to become the FIFA Ballon d'Or. He also became the first player since Marco van Basten to win the Ballon d'Or and Ronaldinho the FIFA World Player of the Year in consecutive years after an impressive year in which he tallied 60 goals in 64 games.
On 19 January, Barça's team record of 28 matches unbeaten was ended after being defeated 3–1 by Real Betis of the Segunda División in the second leg of their quarter-finals tie of the Copa del Rey. Barcelona, however, advanced to the semi-finals on a 6–3 aggregate score after winning the first leg at the Camp Nou 5–0.
On 29 January, Barça defeated Hércules 0–3 to match the record for most consecutive league wins in a La Liga season, at 15. The record was previously set by Real Madrid during the 1960–61 season.
February On 2 February, both Barcelona and Real Madrid advanced to the Final of the Copa del Rey by defeating Almería (8–0 on aggregate) and Sevilla (0–3 on aggregate), respectively. This was the first final between the Spanish giants after 21 years in the making when the clubs last faced in 1990 with Barça winning 2–0 at the Mestalla Stadium in Valencia.
On 5 February, Barcelona broke the record for most consecutive league wins with 16 victories after they defeated Atlético Madrid 3–0 at Camp Nou. Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick to ensure the victory for his side and after the match stated, "It's an honor to be able to pass a record set by a great like Di Stéfano" and, "If the record has been around for so long is because it's very complicated to achieve and we have reached it by defeating a very difficult team who's going through a bad situation, which makes it even more difficult."
March On 2 March, Adriano assisted Lionel Messi to score a late goal and give Barcelona a 0–1 away win against Valencia. Messi now tallied 27 goals in La Liga for the season, keeping him in the running for the Pichichi Trophy as top scorer.
On 8 March, Barça eliminated Arsenal from the Champions League in a 3–1 win at the Camp Nou with a 4–3 aggregate score. Barcelona dominated all offensive categories and limited Arsenal to zero shots for the whole match, with their lone goal coming off an own goal by Sergio Busquets. But the match was not without controversy after Arsenal forward Robin van Persie was sent off for a second yellow card for what referee Massimo Busacca interpreted as "time wasting" after the player kicked the ball towards goal after the referee had blown the whistle on him for being called offside by the linesman.