The season produced a domestic double of La Liga and Copa del Rey wins, with Barça coming out on top in a closely fought title race and defeating newly crowned Europa League winners Sevilla in the Copa del Rey final after extra time. However, Barça failed to clinch its second sextuple after 2009 by losing the Supercopa de España to Copa del Rey runners-up Athletic Bilbao (0–4 away, 1–1 home). Barcelona did manage to finish the year with five trophies, repeating 2011, by clinching the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup titles. Barcelona was also aiming and considered a favourite to repeat as Champions League winners to become the first team in the modern era to do so, but they were knocked out by Atlético Madrid in the quarter-finals (2–1 home, 0–2 away) in a strange repeat of their meeting at the same stage two years prior.
The season was the first since 1997–98 without former captain Xavi, who departed to Al Sadd SC.
Season overview
June
On 7 June, Barcelona announced the transfer of right-wingAleix Vidal from fellow La Liga outfit and 2015 UEFA Europa League winners Sevilla. The player will join on a five-year deal with a transfer fee of €18 million plus variables.[1] On 9 June, the club announced that right back Dani Alves is set to stay at the club after signing a contract renewal for two years with an option for another year.[2] On 10 June, Barcelona announced that the presidential elections will take place on 18 July, after Josep Bartomeu resigned as president to qualify for re-election.[3] On 25 June, Barcelona announced La Masia graduate Gerard Deulofeu was transferred to English sideEverton for a reported fee of €6 million.[4] The player returned to Merseyside after spending the 2013–14 season on loan there under fellow Spaniard manager Roberto Martínez.
On 20 August, Pedro joined Premier League champions Chelsea for €27 million, rising to €30 million on variables, ending his 11-year association with Barcelona.[20] On 23 August, Barcelona kicked off the 2015–16 La Liga season with a 0–1 victory over Athletic Bilbao in Bilbao. This was the third meeting between the two teams in the last nine days that included the two legs of the 2015 Supercopa de España. On 27 August, Barcelona were drawn into Group E of the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League with Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen, Roma and Belarusian championsBATE Borisov. At the same event, Messi was crowned the 2014–15 UEFA Best Player in Europe for the second time in his career.[21] On 29 August, Barcelona played their first match at home against Málaga which ended in a 1–0 victory. Thomas Vermaelen scored the only and his first goal for the club.[22]
September
On 1 September, Barcelona and English side West Ham United agreed on the loan of Alex Song for a second successive season.[23] On 13 September, Barcelona traveled to the Vicente Calderón Stadium to face Atlético Madrid after the FIFA international break. The host took the lead with a goal from Fernando Torres, but goals from Neymar and substitute Messi completed the comeback and notched a 1–2 victory. Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen made his La Liga debut after only appearing in the Champions League and Copa del Rey last season.[24] On 16 September, Barcelona open their European campaign with a 1–1 draw against Roma at the Stadio Olimpico, with the goal coming from Luis Suárez in the first half.[25] The match ended on a sour note for the squad after Rafinha left the pitch on a stretcher with a leg injury after a tackle from Roma midfielder Radja Nainggolan. The next day, the team released a statement that the player had tear the right anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and is likely to miss the rest of the season.[26]
On 20 September, Barcelona defeated Levante at home by a 4–1 scoreline with a brace from Messi to stay undefeated in league.[27] Three days later in Balaídos in Vigo, Barça were soundly defeated 4–1 by Celta de Vigo to suffer their first league defeat and drop out of first place in the table.[28] On 26 September, Barcelona were able to bounce back at home with a 2–1 victory over newly promotedLas Palmas.[29] The match was marred with the costly injury to Messi, who suffered a tear in the medial collateral ligament (MCL) of his left knee. The injury will keep the star player out for approximately 6–8 weeks.[30]
On 29 September, Barcelona defeated Bayer Leverkusen in come from behind fashion with a 2–1 victory. The visitors took the lead in the 22nd minute with a corner kick goal from defenderKyriakos Papadopoulos. In the 80th minute, Sergi Roberto leveled the score and two minutes later, Suárez completed the comeback to keep Barça at the top of Group E.[31] For the second straight Champions League match, Barça lose a key player to injury. This time, captainAndrés Iniesta went down with a hamstring injury in his right leg that will keep him out 3–4 weeks.[32]
October
On 3 October, Barcelona was defeated by Sevilla 2–1 away at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium for the club's second loss in last three league games. Neymar scored from a second-half penalty kick[33] as Unai Emery beat Barcelona for first ever time as a manager.[34]
November
On 21 November, Barcelona thrashed Real Madrid 0–4 in the season's first Clásico, played at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. Luis Suárez scored a brace while Neymar and Andrés Iniesta also got in the scoresheet; later, Lionel Messi played his first match as a substitute after recovering from his two-month injury.[35] On 24 November, Barcelona beat Roma 6–1 in the Champions League with Barcelona wins Group E.[36]
December
On 14 December, in the draw for the round of 16 of Champions League, Barcelona will face Arsenal as the Group E winner.[37] On 20 December, the club won a record third FIFA Club World Cup title after defeating Argentine side River Plate 3–0 in the final.[38] Luis Suárez scored a record five goals in the tournament including two goals in the final and a hat trick in the semi-final. He was awarded the Adidas Golden ball, given to the best player of the tournament.[39]
On 30 December, Barcelona beat Real Betis 4–0, with Suárez netting a second-half double after Lionel Messi, in his 500th game, scored; Betis also scored an own goal.[40] By scoring 180 goals in 2015 in all competitions, Barcelona set the record for most goals scored in a calendar year, breaking Real Madrid's record of 178 goals scored in 2014.[41]
January
On 11 January 2016, Messi won the FIFA Ballon d'Or for a record fifth time in his career.[42] Luis Enrique's Barcelona has finished an incredibly demanding January with nearly perfect statistics. Just the draw against Espanyol at the Cornellà-El Prat in the first game of the year has held them back in 2016.[43]
February
On 10 February, Barcelona's Copa del Rey draw with Valencia saw Luis Enrique's side set a new club record for unbeaten games, beating Pep Guardiola's 2011 vintage with their 29th game without a loss.[44] On 17 February, Messi made more history after scoring his 300th and 301st goal in La Liga, becoming the first player ever to do so.[45] In the same match, Luis Suárez made up for a penalty miss with his 24th league goal of the season as Barça beat Sporting de Gijón 3–1.[46] On 23 February, Barcelona defeated Arsenal 0–2 away in London,[47] with Messi scoring twice in a feverishly paced encounter, including the 10,000th goal scored in club history.[48] On 25 February, Barcelona extend their alliance with UNICEF through to 2020; the club will increase its annual donation to the charity from €1.5 million to €2 million.[49]
March
On 3 March, Barcelona defeated Rayo Vallecano away 1–5, with Ivan Rakitić and Arda Turan netting one each and Messi scoring a hat-trick.[50] Barça set an all-time record run for 35 games unbeaten in Spanish football, previously held by Real Madrid's 1988–89 side managed by Dutchman Leo Beenhakker.[51] On 8 March, the club announced that the Espai Barça[52] jury unanimously selected the bid by Nikken Sekkei + Pascual i Ausió Arquitectes as the winner of the tender for the design of the new Camp Nou.[53]
On 16 March, Barça defeated Arsenal 3–1 at home (5–1 aggregate) in the round of 16 of the Champions League to gain access to the competition's quarter-finals for the ninth-straight season,[54] and set a new club record for ten consecutive Champions League wins at Camp Nou.[55] On 18 March, in the draw for the quarter-finals of Champions League, Barcelona will face Atlético Madrid.[56] On 24 March, legendary Barcelona player and coach Johan Cruyff died of illness at 68, surrounded by his family in Barcelona;[57] the club mourned him with flags at Camp Nou placed at half-mast.[58]
April
On 2 April, Real Madrid won the second El Clásico match of the league season with a 1–2 victory away, breaking Barcelona's unbeaten record at 39 matches.[59] Players, directors and supporters remembered Johan Cruyff in the form of a video, a mosaic, a minute's silence and applause before the game.[60] On 5 April, Barcelona defeated Atlético Madrid at home (2–1) in the first leg of their Champions League draw, after Luis Suárez's two goals in the second half reversed Barça's early one-goal deficit.[61]
Barcelona lost 1–0 away at the Anoeta Stadium to Real Sociedad on 9 April in La Liga after a goal from the latter club early on.[62] On 13 April, Atlético defeated Barcelona 2–0 (3–2 on aggregate) in the second leg of the Champions League quarter-finals, eliminating the title holders.[63] On 17 April, Barcelona suffered their third consecutive loss of the competition as they were out-played by Valencia in a 1–2 home defeat,[64] despite Messi's second-half goal, his 450th for the club.[65]
On 20 April, Barcelona shook off their recent poor form to absolutely thump Deportivo de La Coruña in a 0–8 away victory, with Luis Suárez scoring four and creating three assists to keep his side in the title race.[66] They continued this form three days later by beating Sporting de Gijón 6–0, with Suárez again scoring four goals (two from penalties), with Messi and Neymar scoring the other two.[67] On 30 April, Barcelona defeated Real Betis 0–2 through Ivan Rakitić and Suárez goals, keeping Barça top of La Liga.[68]
May
On 8 May, Barcelona thrashed Espanyol 5–0 in the season's last home match.[69] Everyone inside Camp Nou played their part in the spectacular pre-game mosaic which bore the message "Som-hi tots" ("Let's go everyone") and also in the minute's silence in memory of the recently passed Manel Vich, the voice of Camp Nou for almost 60 years.[70] On 14 May 2016, Barcelona sealed their sixth La Liga title in eight years with an emphatic 0–3 win over Granada. Two strikes from Luis Suárez in the first half and another late in the second helped the Catalans achieve the club's 24th league success, and confirms the Uruguayan's status as the division's top marksman with 40 goals.[71]
On 21 May, Barcelona and Nike extended their current sponsorship deal.[72] On 22 May, Barcelona recorded a 2–0 extra time victory over Sevilla for their second domestic title of the season and 28th Copa del Rey of all-time.[73] On 27 May, Barcelona and Sergio Busquets are set to renew his contract for five seasons, through to 30 June 2021.[74]
Last updated: 23 May 2016 Source: ESPNFC.com, FCBarcelona.com Only competitive matches = Number of bookings; = Number of sending offs after a second yellow card; = Number of sending offs by a direct red card.
