THE VITALS:

Team: Barcelona

Brand: Nike

Era: 2003-04 (Used for the 2003-04 La Liga season)

Name/Number: -

CONDITION: VERY GOOD

This shirt comes to you in very good condition, however, there is some slight staining and pulling to the material; thankfully, nothing that really takes much away from quality of the shirt!

DIMENSIONS:

Size: Small

Pit to Pit Measurement: 19 inches

Shirt Length: 28 inches 

Made by Nike amongst their range of shirts which they introduced in 2003; this shirt provides dimensions for a generous size small, that may in fact double up as the perfect option for a size medium who enjoys a tighter fitting shirt!

DESCRIPTION:

In Nike and Barcelona’s 6^th season together, Nike would create yet another truly unique FC Barcelona home shirt! Excluding the centenary shirt used for 1999-00; this would be the first striped effort to feature mainly navy sleeves, after red had always been the domineering colour. This shirt would take Nike’s signature striped template for 2003-04 and showcase the versatility of the ‘Blaugrana’ colours, with two shades of blue being used for the top of the sleeves, collar and stripes, while a dark shade of red used for the side panels, hem and internal stripes. The result was an incredibly aesthetically pleasing shirt that would coincide with the re-emergence of FC Barcelona as one of Spain’s best teams following the first season of the Joan Laporta presidency! This would also be the first season to feature the newly updated FC Barcelona emblem; truly fitting given how the team ended the season – 2^nd in La Liga following an incredible 2004 portion of the season. This would also be the final season as a Barcelona player for long-time stalwarts: Michael Reiziger, Phillip Cocu, Patrick Kluivert and Marc Overmars, and this would also be the only season in a Barca shirt for: Edgar Davids, Luis Garcia and Ricardo Quaresma.

THE SEASON:

The ill-fated Joan Gaspart presidency would end with the club having won no piece of silverware during his near 3 years as president of FC Barcelona. Joan Laporta would lead the club into a new era, with Frank Rijkaard chosen to manage the club from the 2003-04 season and beyond.

A failed coup to land David Beckham would see Ronaldinho brought in the summer of 2003 from Paris Saint Germain with the supremely talented Brazilian World Cup winner expected to drag the underperforming ‘Blaugrana’ out of obscurity. Joining the new pair would also be the signings of: Rüştü Reçber, Giovanni van Bronkhorst, Rafael Marquez and Ricardo Quaresma, while: Olegeur,  Andres Iniesta and Victor Valdes were given their wings from the Youth Team.

Philip Cocu’s goal got Barcelona off to a winning start to the 2003-04 La Liga season against Athletic Club on the opening day of the season, however, Barcelona would only muster 2 wins from their opening 7 games; leaving them in 11^th place and 10 points off 1^st place Valencia.

They would enjoy their best period of the 2003 portion of the season when they went unbeaten in their next 4 games; winning 3 and drawing 3-3 with Real Sociedad in an epic contest on 02/11/03. Their good work however, would be undone by a preceding run of 4 games without a win, and they would go into 2004 languishing in 9^th place.

The club would complete the coup of signing Edgar Davids on loan from Juventus in the winter transfer window and his arrival would see an upturn in the club’s fortunes as they went unbeaten in their next 17 league games, winning 14 of those games, including games with: Valencia, Atletico Madrid, Sevilla, Real Madrid and Espanyol. This incredible vein of form had Barcelona all of a sudden in title contention, however, their defeat to Celta Vigo on 08/05/2004 ended that dream. Still, Barca would finish in 2^nd place; just 5 points shy of eventual champions – Valencia!

This 2^nd place finish would be the club’s highest La Liga finishing runners-up in the 1999-00 season. Their fine league form in 2004 would offset the disappointments of being knocked out of the Copa del Rey and UEFA Cup in the quarter final and 4^th Round respectively.     

This would also be the final season as a Barcelona player for long-time stalwarts: Michael Reiziger, Phillip Cocu, Patrick Kluivert and Marc Overmars, and this would also be the only season in a Barca shirt for: Edgar Davids, Luis Garcia and Ricardo Quaresma.

The notable players that season were:

Sergio Garcia, Patrick Kluivert, Ronaldinho, Marc Overmars, Luis Garcia, Javier Saviola, Ricardo Quaresma, Luis Enrique, Phillip Cocu, Gerard, Edgar Davids, Thiago Motta, Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Gabri, Rafael Marquez, Carles Puyol, Oleguer, Giovanni van Bronkhorst, Michael Reiziger, Victor Valdes, Rüştü Reçber