The season after selling Neymar, Barcelona romped home to the La Liga title with a massive 93-point haul, ending up 14 points ahead of runners-up Atletico Madrid. It’s a season that has to go down as one of Lionel Messi’s best.
But you look back at Ernesto Valverde’s team now and you wonder how on earth they won a league title so comfortably, only losing one game on the penultimate weekend.
This XI from a late-season 2-2 draw away to Celta Vigo has recently gone viral on social media. In fairness, there were some quality players who missed out that day (Sergio Busquets, Gerard Pique, Andres Iniesta, Ivan Rakitic, Luis Suarez) but flaws within the wider squad are clear to see – especially in hindsight.
We’ve revisited every player that featured for Barcelona that day.
GK: Marc-Andre ter Stegen
The German ‘keeper is the only name on Valverde’s teamsheet that remains at Barcelona today.
He’s now into his 11th season in Catalonia, a stint that’s seen him win five La Liga titles and five Copa del Rey, as well as the Champions League in his debut 2014-15 campaign.
Ter Stegen enjoyed a particularly hot streak of form between the sticks in Barca’s last title victory under Xavi a couple of years back, but he’s had his fair share of critics in recent years. There’s certainly a case to be made that they’ve looked more solid since he was sidelined with a knee injury in September.
RB: Nelson Semedo
The Portugal international made over 100 appearances for Barcelona across three seasons, but it became clear he wasn’t their long-term right-back since the infamous shocker he suffered up against Alphonso Davies in the 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich.
A short while later he was sold to Wolves, and he remains at Molineux five years later. He’s proven himself a capable Premier League footballer but it’s also fair to assume a return to an elite European club isn’t on the cards.
CB: Yerry Mina
This was actually one of only five La Liga appearances that Mina made during his short and sweet stint at the Camp Nou. The imposing Colombian defender was promptly moved on to Everton, where he had his moments over the years but never fully convinced.
After six months struggling for opportunities at Fiorentina, Mina is now marshalling the defence for Serie A relegation-battlers Cagliari.
CB: Thomas Vermaelen
After falling out of favour, Belgian centre-back Vermaelen made an eyebrow-raising move to Barcelona in 2014. His debut season in Spain ended with a historic treble, but he played just once that year amid his time on the treatment table.
Vermaelen somehow stayed on Barca’s books for five years, broken up with a loan away to Roma. He returned from the Olimpico to feature semi-regularly as a squad option in 2017-18, with 20 appearances in all competitions.
He saw out his career alongside Iniesta at Japanese outfit Vissel Kobe, and remained a regular Belgium international up until his retirement in 2021. He then went on to serve as an assistant coach to Roberto Martinez at the 2018 World Cup.
LB: Lucas Digne
The left-back never quite usurped Jordi Alba during his two years at the club, having joined from PSG in the summer of 2016.
Like Semedo, he’s gone on to become a decent Premier League full-back with over a hundred matches in the English top flight for both Everton and current club Aston Villa.
CM: Paulinho
The Brazilian’s one and only season at Barcelona sticks out like a sore thumb in his career.
He was signed from Guangzhou Evergrande and swiftly returned to the Chinese Super League club, while he was actually understatedly pretty brilliant for Barcelona for that year in between. Feels like a fever dream now.
Paulinho saw out his career back at Corinthians, from whom Tottenham signed him way back when. The 36-year-old officially announced his retirement back in September after a summer without a club.
arcelona midfielder Paulinho celebrates scoring during the match against Deportivo Coruna at Camp Nou Stadium on 17th December 2017 in Barcelona, Spain.
QUIZ: Can you name every Brazilian to play for Barcelona since 1990?
CM: Andre Gomes (Sergi Roberto, ’60)
You might’ve been surprised to see Gomes featuring in a Champions League knockout game after his wilderness years warming the bench at Everton. He’s now at Lille, having joined the Ligue 1 outfit permanently after a successful loan in 2022-23.
Another Jorge Mendes-represented signing from the Josep Maria Bartomeu era that never quite worked out, Gomes has done well to bounce back after successive career setbacks.
La Masia graduate Roberto was introduced on the hour mark against Celta Vigo but was sent off 10 minutes later. The utility man joined Cesc Fabregas’ Como in the summer after 14 years and 373 appearances for his boyhood club.
FWR: Ousmane Dembele (Aleix Vidal, ’78)
In fairness, there’s no questioning that Dembele is one of the very best players in world football on current form. But allowing ourselves to be churlish, it’s only taken him seven years to reach the potential Barcelona thought they were buying from Borussia Dortmund after the Neymar sale.
Dembele managed just four goals in his injury-hit debut campaign at Barcelona and only averaged six a season across his six years with the club. Now he’s absolutely tearing it up for Luis Enrique’s PSG, up to 29 and counting for the treble-chasing side this season.
Jordi Alba and Ousmane Dembele
READ: Where are they now? The 7 players Barcelona sold alongside Ousmane Dembele in 2023
AMC: Denis Suarez
Suarez was the one name on the teamsheet we held our hands up to say fair enough. Then we looked a bit closer.
Denis Suarez has had a perplexing career since his days as a much-hyped wonderkid developing his skills in the youth ranks at Manchester City and Barcelona. He’s had one settled spell at home province club Celta Vigo, but otherwise moved about frequently without ever really impressing.
Now 31 (god, we’re old), Suarez is at Villarreal. He’s made just four starts in La Liga for the Yellow Submarine this season.
FWL: Philippe Coutinho (Lionel Messi, ’60)
Coutinho’s big-money sale to Barcelona in January 2018 funded Liverpool’s transformation under Jurgen Klopp, with Virgil Van Dijk and Alisson following in the other direction. We all know what Jurgen Klopp’s team ended up doing to Barcelona the following year.
The Brazilian playmaker could never replace Neymar or Iniesta, let alone the two of them. But he actually showed promise in his early months for the La Liga champions-elect. Things went downhill fast from there, though, and Barcelona made an eye-watering loss in the region of €120milion when he was sold to Aston Villa.
He remains on Villa’s books today, out on loan to Brazilian side Vasco da Gama.
If you’re ever wondering how this team won a La Liga title, Messi is the answer to that question. The Argentinian was at the peak of his powers back then; he notched 34 goals and 12 assists in 36 La Liga appearances that year. Barcelona lost 5-4 to Levante in one of the only two games he missed entirely.
You’re no doubt well aware that Messi is out enjoying the Florida sunshine in the final years of his playing career. And who could begrudge him that?
ST: Paco Alcacer
Bizarrely enough, Alcacer enjoyed a sensational run of goalscoring form when Barcelona loaned him out to Borussia Dortmund in 2018-19.
The Spanish striker scored 12 goals in 14 appearances in the Bundesliga before joining the club permanently, going on to score a similarly decent tally 11 in 23 in his one full season there. A record of 12 in 19 at international level for La Roja is pretty handy, too.
He wasn’t quite so prolific on his return to La Liga with Villarreal, and he’s spent the last few years off the mainstream football radar with Sharjah and Emirates FC out in the UAE Pro League.
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