How Barcelona could do a treble of trebles across men's, women's, youth teams
'Triplete' is the Spanish word for a treble of major trophies — and in Barcelona, it is being repeated a lot.
While most players do not want to talk about winning a clean sweep of trophies, the possibility hangs in the air.
'When you're at La Masia (Barca's famed youth academy), you always dream of winning the triplete,' midfielder Gavi said at the news conference before the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Borussia Dortmund.
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On Saturday, Barca lifted the Copa del Rey after a 3-2 win against Real Madrid. During the celebrations, there was a subtle reference to the treble when the Coldplay song Viva la Vida played over the loudspeakers of the La Cartuja stadium — the soundtrack to the club's first treble under Pep Guardiola in 2008-09.
Barcelona hold a four-point lead over Madrid in La Liga, with a Clasico at their temporary Montjuic home ground to come, and drew 3-3 in a madcap first leg of their Champions League semi-final against Inter. Winning all three competitions would give Barca the third treble in the club's history after Guardiola's first and another under Luis Enrique in 2014-15.
Only eight men's teams have won their nation's league, domestic cup and the European Cup/Champions League in a single season and Barca could become the only team to do it three times (they and Bayern Munich are the only teams to have done it twice).
But it is not just Hansi Flick's team who could lift a treble for Barcelona this season.
The club's women's team are on course to achieve that feat for the second time in their history. And Barca's Juvenil A under-19s completed theirs on Monday when they beat Turkish side Trabzonspor in the UEFA Youth League final in Switzerland, adding the youth equivalent of the Champions League to league and cup finals already sewn up this campaign.
It could even be a hat-trick of quadruples for Barca. The men's and women's teams have won their respective Supercopas de Espana — Spain's equivalent of England's Community Shield — and the Juvenil A team are aiming to claim the Copa de Campeones, where the winners of each regional league at that level meet in May to decide an overall champion.
In any case, it is turning out to be a historic season for Barcelona. Here, we talk you through how each team got here, what stands in their way and the links between the sides.
League position: 1st
Closest challengers: Real Madrid (four points behind)
Domestic cup: Won 3-2 after extra time vs Real Madrid (April 26)
Champions League: Semi-final vs Inter (drew first leg 3-3 on April 30, second leg on May 6)
This season was supposed to be a transitional one for Barca's men's team. Financial problems hang over the club, their squad is full of young players, the team are still playing away from the Camp Nou and they had to contend with the traumatic exit of club legend Xavi as coach at the end of last term.
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But Flick has given the team a clear idea of how to play, with pressing from the front and an extremely high defensive line. Practically all the players have returned to form, with Raphinha, Ferran Torres, Frenkie de Jong and Jules Kounde transformed from the previous campaign. The other stars have been Pedri, Inigo Martinez and youngsters Pau Cubarsi and Lamine Yamal.
Barca are four points ahead of second-placed Real Madrid in La Liga and have scored 12 goals in three games against them this season, across the league and the Supercopa de Espana and Copa del Rey finals. They meet again in La Liga at Montjuic on Sunday, May 11 and hold the head-to-head advantage over Madrid after their 4-0 win at the Bernabeu earlier in the season (if teams are tied on points, La Liga separates teams based on their results against each other rather than goal difference).
That Clasico is crucial. Beating Madrid would virtually confirm Barca as champions: assuming they win their fixtures this weekend against Celta Vigo and Real Valladolid respectively, a win for the Catalans would put them seven points clear with three games left to play. That would mean a win in their following game against local rivals Espanyol on May 15 would make them champions.
The Copa is already in the bag with that win against Madrid after extra time in Seville on Saturday, secured thanks to Kounde's last-gasp effort. 'If they (Madrid) score one or two goals, it doesn't matter,' Yamal told official club channel Barca One after that match. 'This season, they can't beat us.' He was asked about those comments in his first press conference for Barca on Tuesday, before the Inter game.
'While I keep winning, they can't say much,' he said. 'When they beat me, they will be able to.'
It all seems to come down to the Champions League, then, where the semi-final is finely poised. Barca travel to Milan for the second leg on Tuesday, hoping to reach the final at Munich's Allianz Arena on May 31. They are looking to win the Champions League for the first time since 2015. In fact, this is the first time since Lionel Messi left the club that they have even reached the semi-finals.
League position: 1st
Closest challengers: Real Madrid (four points behind)
Domestic cup: Final vs Atletico Madrid on June 8
Champions League: Final vs Arsenal on May 24
Barcelona Femeni have dominated women's football but this Liga F season has been one of the most evenly matched in recent years. Pere Romeu's team have lost two games in the league, against UD Levante and Real Madrid – the latter their only defeat to the club's arch-rivals in 19 attempts.
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They have three league games left — against Deportivo La Coruna, Real Betis and Athletic Club. If they and Real Madrid win on the weekend, Barca could secure the league against Betis on May 11.
Barca thrashed Chelsea 8-2 on aggregate in the semi-finals and will face Arsenal in the final in Lisbon on May 24. They will be looking to lift the title for the fourth time in five seasons, having reached the final five years in a row.
If they have won the other two trophies, they could seal the treble on June 7 when facing Real Madrid in the Copa de la Reina final. Romeu's team are still considered strong favourites despite that recent loss to Madrid.
Yamal and Gavi have been seen attending women's games this season. Yamal gets on very well with Vicky Lopez, the 18-year-old attacking midfielder with whom he shares a sponsor.
Double Ballon d'Or-winning midfielder Aitana Bonmati regularly watches the men's Champions League matches in the Catalan town of Sant Pere de Ribes with a supporters group named after her, the Penya Barcelonista Aitana Bonmati. Bonmati has been one of Barca's star players again but Patri Guijarro, fellow two-time Ballon d'Or winner Alexia Putellas, Ewa Pajor and Claudia Pina have been key in this final stretch of the season.
League position: Winners
Domestic cup: Beat Real Zaragoza 5-0 in the final (March 16)
Youth League: Beat Trabzonspor 4-1 in the final (April 28)
Barca's under-19 team — coached by Juliano Belletti, the former Chelsea and Brazil right-back who scored the winner in Barca's 2006 Champions League final against Arsenal — have already won their treble.
They were crowned youth Copa del Rey champions on March 16 after their rout of Zaragoza in the final, with striker Hugo Alba and winger Juan Hernandez both scoring twice. They secured the Division de Honor Juvenil league title on April 12 (they are 11 points ahead of second- and third-placed Mallorca and Catalan side Damm in their group) and lifted the Youth League title this week, inspired by 18-year-old Mali star Ibrahim Diarra.
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The Juvenil A team — which is the age group below Barca's 'B' team, Barca Atletic — is where Cubarsi, Yamal and first-team midfielder Marc Bernal could be playing, given they were born in 2007, and there are plenty of links with the first team. Pau Victor's brother, Guillem, plays for them and the Barca backup striker is also good friends with Quim Junyent, a midfielder who has impressed for Belletti's team in the Youth League this season.
Junyent and winger Jan Virgili have stood out. Belletti's team will play the Copa de Campeones quarter-finals against Valencia next month, with the tournament's final four taking place from May 26-June 1 in Ponferrada. They will be hoping to turn a treble into a quadruple.
(Top photos: Getty Images)
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