Lisbon: Whatever you achieve as a club team in Europe, winning a treble would always put you in the history books. Only four clubs have achieved this till date: Manchester United, Inter Milan, FC Barcelona and Bayern Munich. Treble winning means winning the domestic doubles i.e League and the league cup with the Champions league. FC Barcelona and Bayern Munich were being the most successful by winning the treble twice.
Manchester United, 1998/1999 :
Red Devils were the first side to achieve it under the guidance of Sir Alex Ferguson. This United team was a balance of youth and experience. Dwight Yorke with 29 goals was the top scorer for them and Alex Ferguson was awarded knighthood after winning the first ever treble. After losing 0-3 in F.A community shield on August to Arsenal, United had a rough start to the season but ending the league campaign by winning it on a single point to Arsenal. They finished with 79 points to Arsenals 78. They won the F.A cup against 2-0 against Newcastle United. With veteran Teddy Sheringham and youth academy graduate Paul Scholes scoring the brace for them in the final. The Champions League final was about drama. The Manchester United fans still claims it to be ‘The great night in Barcelona.’ Manchester was in a tough group with the likes of eventual finalist Bayern Munich and FC Barcelona with them. But still managed to finish second behind Bayern Munich and qualified for the Quarter Finals. Their they faced the strong challenge of Inter Milan. But came up trumps by beating them 2-0 at home and 1-1 at the San Siro thus making through to the Semi Finals. In the Semis they faced Juventus. It was a tough game yet United with brilliant performance in both the legs with 1-1 draw and 3-2 victory helping them to reach the finals of the Champions League. In the final they were down by a goal till the 90th minute. Two corners from David Beckham in the 91st minute and in the 93rd minute secured them their first Champions glory since the introduction of the new format. Teddy Sheringham and current United Manager Ole Gunner Solskjer respectively, scored pass Oliver Kahn and creating a historical come back performance in a Champions League Final. They were the first English club since Liverpool of ’84 to lift the Champions League. Post winning the Champions league the club became a worldwide brand which they carry till date.
FC Barcelona 2008/2009 and 2014/2015
“Beginning is the End and End is the beginning.” This famous quote is from the Netflix original series DARK. Why we have mentioned it? Let’s explore. Beginning is the end – The reign of Real Madrid came to an end in Spanish Football as they were the dominating side of the first half of the new millennium but 2008/09 season showed the world the end of their reign and the rise of FC Barcelona. Rise of Lionel Messi, Rise of Tiki Taka football, rise of a master tactician Pep Guardiola and the most deadliest midfield duo of this decade Xavi and Iniesta.
End is the Beginning – Two of the Barcelona superstar Ronaldinho and Deco left the club in the summer of 2008. They were the main players who helped Frank Rijkaard’s side to win the 2006 Champions League. Not the biggest Real Madrid fan expected that Barca would let Ronaldinho go. But it happened. Fresh from the youth coaching team former Barcelona midfielder Pep Guardiola was appointed as the manager who replaced Frank Rijkaard. The revolution happened. Pep bought in Dani Alves from Sevilla, Sergio Busqets from the youth team, a 22 year old Gerad Pique from Manchester United and signed a 30 year old Thierry Henry from Arsenal. He was their marque signing. Pep brought a style of play in Catalonia, i.e tiki taka. Where you pass and pass and pass to score goals. Possession was the key in that style of play. Based On which Spain national team was successful to win the 2010 World Cup and the 2012 Euro. Thus beginning of a new era of dominance in football in Europe.
They won the league with 87 points, nine points more than their arch rivals Real Madrid. They just humiliated Madrid 6-2 at the Santiago Bernabeu to win the league in style. They won the Copa Del Rey 4-1 against Athletic Bilbao Club thus completing their regin in Spain. In the Champions League Barcelona had to play the third qualifying round to qualify for the group stage as they finished third the previous season in La Liga. In the Group stage they finished top of the group with 13 points. In the round of 16 they faced Lyon. It was 1-1 in France before battering them 5-2 at the Camp Nou, thus winning the tie 6-3 on aggregate. In the Quarter Finals they faced Bayern Munich. Barca humiliated Bayern 4-0 at the Camp Nou, just to draw 1-1 at the Allianz Arena. Semi Final was against last years runner up Chelsea. It was 0-0 at the Camp Nou. At the Bridge it was difficult for Barcelona but it was that invincible Barcelona side after all. After an Early Michael Essien blow, Andres Iniesta made it count on the 90th minute, thus winning the tie on away goal advantage. There was lot of controversy with that match and the referring decision but that’s some other story. So in the Final it was the two best teams of Europe that time came face to face. FC Barcelona and Manchester United. It was clash of young brain and the old tactian. Lionel Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo. And Barcelona again made the it happen against another English club. They won 2-0 in the final and the goals were scored by Samuel Eto and Lionel Messi. Barca was the second team to enter the history books after Manchester United. It was the rise of total football again after 34 years since Johan Cruyff’s legacy and Barcelona still prefers that game as they are now a successful European side. And it started in 2008.
In 2014/15 things were bit different in Barcelona. No more Pep Guardiola no more Henry or Eto. No more Carles Puyol. It was almost a newly formed side with some players of 08-09 campaign in it. Barcelona had the Brazilian wonder kid Neymar Jnr in the side and bought fresh from a ‘biting controversy’ a Luis Suarez from Liverpool. The manager was Pep’s old teammate Luis Enrique this time with a possible Xavi replacement, Ivan Rakitic was bought from Sevilla. They won the league with 92 points two points clear to their Arch rivals Real Madrid. They won the Copa Del Rey final against Athletic Bilbao 3-1 with Lionel Messi scoring twice and a goal by Neymar. Champions League was totally a different ball game as they came up trumps again the group. They faced Manchester City in the Round of 16 which they won 2-1 and 1-0 respectively thus securing their place in the Quarter Finals. Then they faced PSG in the Quarter Finals which they won 3-1 and 2-0 respectively with 5-1 on aggregate. Then came the stiff challenge of Bayern Munich, which they won 3-0 at the Camp Nou and lost 2-3 at the Allianz Arena thus securing the spot in the final with a 5-3 lead on the aggregate. In the final it was Juventus. And as clear favourites Barcelona won the final 3-1, thanks to Rakitic, Suarez and Neymar scoring for the club. This was the their second treble in six years and they entered the history books as the first team to win two trebles in Europe. The trio of Messi-Suarez-Neymar was so strong that they scored 122 goals in total in a single calendar year. It was estatic and the new era of Barcelona began from that season.
Inter Milan 2009/2010
Inter Milan was the powerhouse of Italian football back in that time. They were coached by the special one Jose Mourinho and never believed in loosing. He swapped a deal with Barcelona. As they took Zlatan Ibrahimovic from Inter and they gave their main forward Samuel Eto. The season began with a 2-1 loss against Lazio but the team was under the hands of the Special one. It was his way which made them come up trumps and win the league with 82 points two points clear of runner up Roma. In the Copa Italia Final they won against Roma 2-0 with goals scored by their top scorer of the season Diego Milito. The Champions League was another hurdle for Inter, they came second against Barcelona in the group stage. So at the knockout stage Jose and his men were determined to win it. They won 2-1 and 1-0 against Chelsea in the Round of 16. 1-0 and 1-0 against CSKA Moscow. 3-1 victory over Barcelona was too very special and that day the whole world saw the outstanding managerial brain of Mourinho. He stopped the invincible Barcelona at the Camp Nou too by just conceding one goal to win the tie 3-2 on aggregate. The final was against Bayern Munich and it was kind off cake walk for Mourinho’s Inter as Diego Milito scored twice again in the final to help his team to win their first historic treble and the third team to do so in Europe. Samuel Eto was the first Player to win back to back trebles in two different clubs in back to back seasons. Jose Mourinho got his well deserved move to Real Madrid as a manager to manage the newly formed Galacticos.
Bayern Munich 2012/13 and 2019/2020
Losing the Champions League Final to Chelsea at their home was painful for Bayern Munich. But they were ditermined as a team. The nucleus of the side was the same that they had last season they just added a Mario Mandzukic in the forward to add more fire power. They won the league with 91 points, 25 points clear from their rival Dortmund as they finished with 66 points. They won the DFB Pokai 3-2 against VFB Stuttgart. Muller scored once and Mario Gomez scored twice to win the cup. Jupp Heynckes the manager was a ditermined old man with perfect signings in every area of the pitch. In the Champions League, the team finished in the top of the league with 13 points. In the round of 16 they faced Arsenal which they won 3-1 away and lost 2-0 home thus making a lucky escape to the Quarter final due the away goal advantage. In the Quarters they faced Juventus and won both the tie 2-0 and marched into the Semi Final. They made a statement against Barcelona as they won against the so called strongest side of Europe. Even stopping the best player of the planet i.e Lionel Messi with perfect tactics. They won both the tie 4-0 and 3-0 respectively. In the final it was a German derby as Borussia Dortmund came face to face with Bayern Munich at the Wembley. Mario Mandzukic and Arjen Robben’s late goal helped the Bravarians win their first historic treble. They won the match 2-1. This team and it’s nucleus helped Germany to win their fourth World Cup title in 2014. With likes of Thomas Muller, Bastian Schweinstegier, Manuel Neuer, Philip Lahm, Jerome Boateng helped them to win the title and so as the World Cup for Germany two years later.
2019/20 Campaign was different for Bayern Munich as the team only had Muller, Boateng, Neuer and Alaba left from that famous treble winning side of 2013. The team was new but with tremendous potential. They had Lewandoski as their talisman who scored 55 goals for the Bravarians this season. But the season started poorly for them, they lost the DFL Super Cup to Dortmund in the beginning of the season. In November the team was in no. 3 and we’re struggling badly. The on time manager Nico Kovac was sacked and his assistant Hans-Deiter Flick was appointed. He was firstly interim and later was permanent on April 2020. The team came up in a speed of rocket, as they won the league with 82 points, 12 points more than Dortmund. Won the DFB Pokai 4-2 against Bayer Leverkusen. With goals from Alaba, Gnabry and Lewandoski (2). DFB Pokai final was played closed door due to the break out of the Corona virus pandemic all over the world since March 2020. They are the first treble winning side to win the Champions League unbeaten. Not even a single draw but winning all 11 games they have played in the tournament. They batterd Tottenham 7-2 away from home. Won in an aggregate of 7-1 against Chelsea in the round of 16. The matches after that was played in Portugal due to the pandemic and Bayern faced Barcelona in the Quarter Finals. They won 8-2 against Barcelona in a single gamed schedule. One of the major upsets in world football. They won 3-0 against Lyon in the Semi Finals. In the final they played their natural game and it helped them to secure a 1-0 victory over PSG thus making themselves the second team after Barcelona to win the treble twice. With the youngsters like Alfanso Davies, Kingsley Coman (scorer in the final), Joshua Kimmich, Gortezka, Sergi Gnabry has played the games of their life throughout the season. We must not forget Manuel Neuer’s contribution as a captain and as a Goalkeeper at this ripe age of 34. And yes Robert Lewandoski and Thomas Mullers telepathic connection it just made enough for them to prove that they are the best in Europe. Likes of Thiago Alcantara, Philipe Coutinho had a great time in the squad. This victory was special for Bayern as they didn’t had any support of the fans supporting them in their journey. They made a powerful statement in the dawn of crisis. They will be remembered as the invincible football side of this football era.
