The 2014–15 season was Futbol Club Barcelona's 116th in existence and the club's 84th consecutive season in the top flight of Spanish football. This was the first of the three seasons under head coach Luis Enrique.
The season was one of the most successful ones in the club's history, as Barcelona clinched its second continental treble after winning La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the UEFA Champions League. The league title was won in a closely fought title race with Real Madrid, while the Copa victory was achieved with a brilliant 3–1 victory over Athletic Bilbao at Camp Nou in the final. In the Champions League, Barcelona overcame Bayern Munich (3–0 home, 2–3 away) to set up the final against Juventus in Berlin, where Barça triumphed 3–1. Barcelona's success may be in large part attributed to their formidable attacking trio composed of Lionel Messi, Neymar, and summer signing Luis Suárez, who scored a record 122 goals in all competitions to become the trio with most goals in a single season in Spanish football history.
The season was the first since 1998–99 without former captain Carles Puyol, who retired at the end of last season, 2001–02, and 2006–07 without goalkeepers Víctor Valdés and José Manuel Pinto. Valdés joined Manchester United in January 2015; whereas Pinto announced his retirement.
Season overview May At the end of the 2013–14 FC Barcelona season, goalkeepers José Manuel Pinto and Víctor Valdés expired contracts were not renewed. Barcelona quickly signed Marc-André ter Stegen from Bundesliga club Borussia Mönchengladbach, and Claudio Bravo from fellow La Liga outfit Real Sociedad. On 15 May, long-time captain Carles Puyol announced his retirement from football after a 15-year career on the first team. Puyol was subsequently named Assistant to Sports Management under Director of football Andoni Zubizarreta. On 19 May, Luis Enrique was named the new manager after it was announced that Gerardo Martino would step down at the end of the season. Luis Enrique returned to Barça after being the B Team manager from 2008 to 2011.
June On 12 June, Barcelona and Premier League club Chelsea reached an agreement for the transfer of midfielder Cesc Fàbregas for a reported fee of €33 million. With the move, Fàbregas returned to London where he started his first team career as an Arsenal player. On 16 June, Barcelona signed Croatian midfielder Ivan Rakitić from Sevilla for €18 million along with the loan of Barcelona B midfielder Denis Suárez for the next two seasons. Rakitić joins after leading Sevilla to the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League title, where he was named man of the match in the final.
July On 9 July, Barcelona announced the transfer of Jonathan dos Santos to Villarreal for a fee of €2 million. Most of his last season with the club was spent recovering from an ACL tear which he suffered in training on 23 October 2013. With the move, Jonathan reunited with his older brother Giovani dos Santos, since both players shared time on the Barcelona youth team. On 10 July, Barcelona announced it had rescinded the contract of forward Isaac Cuenca. Cuenca then made the move to Deportivo de La Coruña, where he signed for one season to join the Galician club. Later in the day, Barcelona completed the transfer of Alexis Sánchez to Arsenal for €42 million. Sánchez left after three years when he had played 141 matches and scored 47 goals, including a season personal best of 21 goals during the 2013–14 season.
On 11 July, Barcelona and English club Liverpool announced the transfer of Uruguayan international forward Luis Suárez for a reported fee of £75 million. The reigning European Golden Shoe winner joined after spending four seasons with the Merseyside club in which he scored 82 goals in 133 appearances. Barcelona were without Suárez's services after the FIFA Disciplinary Committee banned the player for four months of any football-related activity after he was found guilty of biting Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini during Uruguay's final World Cup group stage match. The suspension meant Suárez was unable to play for Barcelona until 26 October. Later in the day, goalkeeper Oier moved to Granada on a free transfer to the Andalusian club. The transfer, however, included the caveat that "Barcelona reserves the economic rights to any future transfer of the player".
On 16 July, Barcelona announced that Spanish winger Cristian Tello would be moving on a two-year loan deal to Portuguese club Porto for a loan fee of €2 million. The deal included a purchase option for Porto of €8 million. Barcelona also informed that left back Adriano would be out four-to-six weeks with an abnormal heart rhythm discovered during his return medical. On 19 July, Barcelona played their first friendly of the pre-season against Recreativo de Huelva at the Nuevo Colombino in Huelva. The match ended 0–1 with the only goal coming from Barcelona B winger Joan Àngel Román in the 66th minute that gave Barça the Trofeo Colombino for the first time.
On 22 July, Barcelona parted ways with La Masia graduate and youth system all-time leading scorer Bojan. Bojan moved to English club Stoke City where he joined fellow La Masia graduate Marc Muniesa and ex-Barça striker and current manager Mark Hughes. On 23 July, Barcelona announced the transfer of French international central defender Jérémy Mathieu from Valencia for a transfer fee of €20 million. Mathieu signed a contract for four seasons, with an optional season, and a buyout fee of €50 million. With the move, Mathieu became the most expensive defender over 30 years old to be transferred.
August On 9 August, Barcelona announced the signing of Belgium international defender Thomas Vermaelen from Arsenal for a fee of €19 million. The next day, Barcelona also announced that Ibrahim Afellay would be headed to Olympiacos in the Super League Greece for a season-long loan. On 14 August, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) confirmed the ban imposed by FIFA against Suárez, who remains suspended from football for four months, as well as a nine international match ban. However, the CAS removed the player's "football-related activities" ban, and was allowed to train with Barcelona. Barcelona also announced it had reached an agreement with Sevilla for the loan of forward Gerard Deulofeu for the 2014–15 season.
On 19 August, the FIFA Appeal Committee upheld its transfer ban on Barcelona in regards to "breaches relating to the international transfer and registration of players under the age of 18." Barcelona will be unable to transfer players during both the 2015 winter and summer transfer windows. Barcelona released a statement stating "that it shall continue defending its interests before the highest sporting authority, in this case the CAS". On 24 August, Barcelona started the season campaign with a 3-0 victory over Elche at the Camp Nou. A brace by Lionel Messi and a third by youth player Munir sealed the win for the Blaugrana. On 27 August, Barcelona announced it had reached an agreement with Brazilian club São Paulo for the transfer of right-back Douglas.
On 30 August, Barcelona and West Ham United announced the loan for Cameroonian international Alex Song for the remainder of the season to the Premier League club. The next day, Barcelona won their first away match at El Madrigal 0–1 versus Villarreal with the lone goal scored by Barça B forward Sandro.
September
On 13 September, Barcelona played their first match after the FIFA international break and for the first time in their history, wore their Senyera shirts from the previous season in a home game. The Senyera was used to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the Siege of Barcelona in 1714. The match finished 2–0 victory against Athletic Bilbao with two second half goals from Neymar. On 17 September, Barcelona played their first match in the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League edition against Cypriot champions APOEL. It was the official debut of youngster Sergi Samper for the first team and the 300th match for Dani Alves at Barcelona. Barça won the match 1–0 with Lionel Messi heading the winning goal in 28th minute. Piqué was named Man of the Match.
On 21 September, Barcelona played against Levante. Goals from Neymar, Ivan Rakitić, Sandro, Pedro and Messi ensured that Barcelona had maintained their perfect record. On 24 September, Barcelona took on Málaga at La Rosaleda. It was the debut match for Douglas. Barcelona dropped first point of the season in La Liga as the game ended as a goalless draw. On 27 September, Barcelona played against Granada at Camp Nou. Barcelona kept up home form with a big win thanks to Neymar's first hat-trick of the season and a brace from Messi; the other goal came from Rakitić. On 30 September, Barcelona played its second match in the Champions League, against Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc des Princes. It was the first defeat of the season and also the first time in the season Barça conceded a goal; PSG won 3–2, were goals from Messi and Neymar were not enough to escape defeat.
October On 4 October, Barcelona played Rayo Vallecano at the Campo de Vallecas. In an eventual 0–2 win with goals from Messi and Neymar, goalkeeper Claudio Bravo made La Liga history by going 630 minutes without conceding a goal, surpassing former Barça goalkeeper Pedro María Artola's record of 560 minutes, set in 1978. After an international break, Barcelona faced Eibar at Camp Nou on 18 October. Barça won the match 3–0, with late goals from Messi, Neymar and Xavi. On 21 October, Barcelona hosted Ajax at Camp Nou. Goals from Messi and Neymar and a late goal from youngster Sandro gave Barcelona a comfortable 3–1 win. On 25 October, Barcelona played the first Clásico of the season at the Santiago Bernabéu. This was the official debut match of star forward Luis Suárez due to his ban for biting Italy defender Giorgio Chellini during the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Neymar gave Barcelona an early lead but Barcelona could not further capitalize on the lead; a converted penalty from Cristiano Ronaldo and goals from Pepe and Karim Benzema resulted in a 3–1 defeat. This was the first defeat for Barcelona in their 2014–15 Liga campaign. Claudio Bravo's clean sheet run ended at 754 minutes..
November On 1 November, Barcelona played against Celta de Vigo. Barcelona's losing streak continued as they experienced their first home defeat of the season at Camp Nou; a single goal from Joaquín Larrivey decided the outcome of the match. Barça were down to the fourth position in the league table with the loss. On 5 November, Barca played against Ajax at Amsterdam Arena; Messi scored a brace as Barcelona won the match 0–2. With these two goals, Messi equalized the Raúl's record as the all-time top scorer in the UEFA Champions League.
On 8 November, Barcelona visited Juegos Mediterráneos to play against Almería. Barcelona earned a hard-fought win thanks to late goals from Neymar and Jordi Alba as Thievy Bifouma gave Almería the lead after 37 minutes. This win brought Barcelona to second in the table. After the last international break of the year, Barça took on Sevilla at Camp Nou, winning 5–1 off goals by Neymar and Rakitić and a hat-trick from Messi, with Alba scoring an own goal. With his second goal, Messi broke the record of Telmo Zarra to become the all-time top scorer of La Liga.