FC Barcelona is presently one of the best teams in the world, with a trophy cupboard that's bursting with the silverware won over the course of the previous few years. While Bara could be very popular right now, they have been through kind of a alteration of the previous few years.
Actually it might be right to say they've experienced a renaissance ever since Joan Laporta became president in 2003, and after him his former friend and now sour enemy, Sandro Rossell.
When Laporta arrived at the club they had not won a major title since 1999 and the self-esteem of the squad had plunged. He brought on board Frank Rijkaard as team coach, who after a slow start started winning matches; and his right hand man (at the time, till they slipped out and he resigned from the Barça board) Sandro Rossell used his contacts to sign Ronaldinho.
While the Brazilian player certainly had talent[**] he had not always done much with it. Nevertheless he probably did show a large amount of flare with FC Barcelona even when they were never making the turnabout required.
That turnaround happened when Barça signed Edgar Davids for the second 1/2 the season. Whether it was his arrival at the club, or whether his arrival coincided with everything coming together is most unlikely to claim. What's certain though is that the club started winning game after game. And at last the downtrodden Barcelona rose up again and started to become the team it is today.
The club went from strength to strength after that, although Davids decided to revisit his old club after the half season loan. While he might have been missed, the fortunes of the club continued to boost and Barcelona won the second season under Laporta. After that the team has continued to go ever upwards and unde Pep Guardiola were the first tea, to win the treble – la liga, Champions League and Copa del Rey.
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