FC Barcelona is at present one of the best groups in the world, with a prize cabinet that's bursting with the silverware won over the course of the last few years. While Bara may be intensely popular right now, they have undergone kind of a alteration of the last few years.
In fact it'd be correct to say they've experienced a renaissance ever since Joan Laporta became president in 2003, and after him his previous chum and now bitter enemy, Sandro Rossell.
When Laporta turned up at the club they had not won a major title since 1999 and the self-confidence of the squad had plummeted. 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 slid out and he resigned from the Barça board) Sandro Rossell used his contacts to sign Ronaldinho.
While the Brazilian player definitely had talent[**] he hadn't necessarily done much with it. Nevertheless he probably did show a lot of flare with FC Barcelona even if they weren't making the turnabout required.
That turnabout happened when Barça signed Edgar Davids for the second half of the season. Whether it was his arrival at the club, or whether his arrival coincided with everything coming together is impossible to point out. What's certain though is that the club started winning game after game. And at last the beaten down 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 return to his old club after the half season loan. While he might have been missed, the fortunes of the club continued to improve and Barcelona won the second season under Laporta. After that the team continues 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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