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Comment by summerdown2 | Hacker News Reader

I'm not sure how this applies to football (soccer). As far as I can see, Barcelona have the most superstar team in world football, and are winning everything. The next two teams with the most superstars (Madrid and Munich) are winning everything else.

Also, isn't this impossible, too? A team that wins everything over a long period will by default have their players considered superstars.

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Barcelona has an undeniable king above all superstars, Messi. This give perspective to all others, Neymar and Suarez just know Messi is better. And the last batch of BCN superstars were formed by stars whose play style was inherently teamworking: Iniesta and Xavi were midfielders whose biggest strenght was prepare the game for others.

And Barcelona have always had its share of average, but impressively dedicated team players, like Puyol, Piquet and others.

Real Madrid isnt the same and do not have the same performance as well.

Puyol was by no means an average player and neither is Pique. These are players who were/are considered to be among the top five center backs in the world at their peak. Isn't that by definition a superstar?

Yeah there's limit to the logic, but it's also known that summing the best parts (in isolation) mean you will have the best product. The opposite is also true, Messi doesn't shine as much with the national selection, he needs his other team mates to be at its best.

> A team that wins everything over a long period will by default have their players considered superstars.

I was about to conclude like you.

Well, yesterday Barcelona lost 4-0 against Athletic de Bilbao who won't/can't sign players from outside the Basque Country.

Yes, the 2015 La Ligua winners, Copa de Rey winners and current European champions have indeed just lost a single match.

I'm not saying they're invincible, just very good.

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