The 2012–13 season was Futbol Club Barcelona's 114th season in existence and the club's 82nd consecutive season in the top flight of Spanish football. The season marked the managerial debut of Tito Vilanova, who served as Pep Guardiola's longtime assistant. Vilanova assumed management of the club after Guardiola, who had managed Barcelona for the prior four seasons, declined to renew his contract.
Barcelona finished first in La Liga but lost in the semi-finals of both the Copa del Rey and the UEFA Champions League. The club also set a record (later equaled by Real Madrid) by scoring in all 38 La Liga matches in the season.
Season overview
May/June On 29 May, Barcelona announced their first pre-season match to be against Hamburger SV in occasion of the German outfit's 125th anniversary celebration. It will be Tito Vilanova's first match in charge of the first team. The second match will be on 28 July in Tangier, Morocco, versus an all-star starting XI from the Moroccan Football League at the Stade de Tanger. This will be their first appearance in Morocco in 38 years.
On 1 June, Barcelona announced Brazilian defender Henrique will not return to team after both agreed to terminate the player's contract on 30 June. Henrique did not make an appearance with the first team and was on-loan in 2008–09 with German club Bayer Leverkusen, 2009–10, and 2010–11 with Racing de Santander and in 2011–12, with Brazilian club Palmeiras.
On 28 June, Barcelona and Valencia CF reached an agreement on the transfer of left back Jordi Alba for €14 million. The player joined the team after UEFA Euro 2012 and signed a five-year deal.
July On 7 July, Barcelona announced that Seydou Keita would not renew his contract for the upcoming season. The Mali midfielder leaves after four years and 14 titles accumulated while at Barça.
On 10 July, the Royal Spanish Football Federation released the fixture list for the 2012–13 season, with Barcelona opening the season at Camp Nou against Real Sociedad. President Ángel María Villar also confirmed that both Barcelona manager Tito Vilanova and Real Madrid manager José Mourinho will not have to serve their suspensions in the 2012 Supercopa de España for their altercation in last year's edition. Barça's Board Secretary Toni Freixa stated at a press conference that an "aggression can never go unpunished" and "we understand that an aggression on a coach deserves punishment. This measure doesn't make the aggressor innocent but it allows them to believe that they can keep on being aggressive without consequences. It's a bad example for Spanish football that this aggression hasn't been punished."
On 13 July, Barcelona announced that the pre-season match on 28 July would be played against Raja Casablanca instead of Moroccan All-Star XI as previously announced.
On 24 July, Barcelona opened their pre-season with a 2–1 victory over Hamburg at the Imtech Arena. Goals scored by Dani Alves and Gerard Deulofeu to set off a victorious debut for Vilanova. Defender Marc Muniesa left the match with a torn ACL in his right knee in the 52nd minute that could possibly see him miss the rest of the season. The next day, Barcelona doctors confirmed that Muniesa will miss up to six months due to the injury picked up the day before.
On 27 July, Barcelona informed the Catalan Football Federation that Barcelona B, instead of the first team, will dispute the Supercopa de Catalunya against Espanyol set for 31 July at the Olímpic Lluís Companys.
On 28 July, Barcelona defeated Raja Casablanca 8–0 in Tangier with Lionel Messi supplying a hat-trick while Alexis Sánchez added another two goals while Dani Alves, Sergi Gómez, and Deulofeu scored one each.
On 30 July, Barcelona announced they accepted the rescheduled date of the Supercopa de Catalunya after the Catalan Football Association proposed the match to be played on 26 September 2012. They also stated that they would play the strongest team possible as chosen by the manager.
August On 4 August, Barcelona defeated Paris Saint-Germain 4–1 in penalty shoot-out after a 2–2 draw in regular time for the Trophée de Paris in Paris. Rafinha and Lionel Messi scored the two goals which was kicked off by Eric Abidal, who took the ceremonial kick off.
On 8 August, Barcelona defeated Manchester United 2–0 in a best-of-three penalty shoot-out after a 0–0 draw after regular time. Víctor Valdés saved a Wayne Rooney penalty in the first half of stoppage time, while Jordi Alba made his debut for Barcelona in the second half of the match.
On 11 August, Barcelona defeated Dinamo București 2–0 with goals by Lionel Messi and Ibrahim Afellay. The two long-time injured Barça players, David Villa (fractured tibia) and Andreu Fontàs (torn ACL), made their returns.
On 18 August, Barcelona and English club Arsenal reached an agreement on the transfer of Cameroon midfielder Alex Song for €19 million. The player signed a five-year deal with an €80 million release clause.
On 19 August, Barcelona started their 2012–13 La Liga season with 5–1 home win over Real Sociedad with two goals by Lionel Messi and one each by Carles Puyol, Pedro and David Villa. It also marked a successful debut for Tito Vilanova's first league match as manager.
On 20 August, Barcelona suffered their first defeat of the season at the hands of Sampdoria for the Joan Gamper Trophy by a score of 1–0. Sergi Roberto was named the best player of the match.
On 23 August, Barcelona defeated Real Madrid in the first leg of the Supercopa de España, 3–2, with goals by Pedro, Lionel Messi and Xavi. It was Vilanova's first game and win in a Clásico as manager. Messi's 14th Clásico goal allowed him to equal César Rodríguez's record for Barcelona and marked the first time a player scored in four consecutive Spanish Super Cup matches.
On 26 August, Barcelona came back from a 1–0 half-time deficit to defeat CA Osasuna in El Sadar with a 2–1 victory behind two goals from Lionel Messi in the last 15 minutes of the match. Carles Puyol finished with a broken cheekbone after a collision with Osasuna's forward Roland Lamah towards the end of the match, that also saw manager Vilanova ejected for the first time by referee Muñiz Fernández for excessive argument over a play the Barça manager deemed a foul not called in favour of his team.
On 29 August, the RFEF Competition Committee suspended manager Tito Vilanova after he was ejected in the Osasuna match for what the referee deemed as "angrily protesting a play of the match, after he had been warned by the assistant referee." Barça are set to appeal the suspension. Later that day, Barça were defeated in the second leg of the Supercopa de España 2–1 at the Santiago Bernabéu and lost the tie on away goals. Real Madrid jumped out to a 2–0 lead within the first 20 minutes and the comeback was made even tougher for Barça after the sending off of Adriano in the 28th minute. Lionel Messi scored his sixth goal of the season off a free-kick and has scored in all four competitive matches to start the season for Barcelona. Alex Song made his debut for Barcelona with a perfect passing statistic.
On 30 August, UEFA conducted the group stage draw for the 2012–13 UEFA Champions League in Monaco. Barcelona were drawn into Group G along with Portuguese club Benfica, Spartak Moscow from Russia, and Scottish champions Celtic. Barcelona midfielder Andrés Iniesta received the 2011–12 UEFA Best Player in Europe Award, beating out teammate Lionel Messi and Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo for the prize.
On 31 August, Barcelona and Schalke 04 agreed on a loan of Ibrahim Afellay to the German club until 30 June 2013.
September On 2 September, Barcelona defeated Valencia 1–0 at the Camp Nou to start the league season unbeaten before the FIFA international break. Adriano scored the lone goal in the 23rd minute.
On 12 September, Barcelona announced that midfielder Andrés Iniesta would be out 10–15 days with a pulled abductor in his right leg which he picked up during the Georgia–Spain match the day before.
On 15 September, Barcelona defeated Getafe CF with a scoreline of 4–1 at the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez. Lionel Messi started his first match in over a year on the bench but came-on in the 59th minute to score two goals. David Villa added another one as he recovers to full match fitness from his fractured leg from December 2011. Not all was celebrations for Barça, however, as their captain, Carles Puyol, suffered a strained to the posterior cruciate ligament in his left leg in the 53rd minute. The player is expected to miss four-to-six weeks due to the knee injury.
On 19 September, Barcelona made their Champions League debut for the season with a 3–2 home victory over Spartak Moscow. Cristian Tello contributed the opening goal and Lionel Messi the two winning goals, while Dani Alves scored an own goal for the visitors. Early in the first half, Barça's CB Gerard Piqué suffered a sprained left foot and will be out for two to three weeks.
On 22 September, Barcelona defeated Granada at home 2–0 behind a goal from Xavi late in the 87th minute and an own goal in stoppage time to seal the victory.
On 28 September, Lionel Messi won his third consecutive Onze d'Or presented by the French magazine Onze Mondial. With 47.45% of the votes, Messi beat out Cristiano Ronaldo and Atlético Madrid forward Radamel Falcao for the trophy.
On 29 September, Barcelona came from two goals down to claim a 3–2 victory over Sevilla at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium. After Sevilla took a 2–0 lead, two goals by Cesc Fàbregas and one by substitute David Villa in injury time kept Barça on their perfect start to the league season. In the same match, Thiago picked up a knee injury that will sideline him for up to eight weeks.
October On 2 October, Barcelona defeated Benfica at the Estádio da Luz with 2–0 scoreline to stay unbeaten at the top of the group. Alexis Sánchez and Cesc Fàbregas contributed the winning goals, while Sergio Busquets was sent off in the 89th minute. Late in the second half of the game, Carles Puyol suffered yet another injury when he landed awkwardly and dislocated his left elbow. He is expected to be out for eight weeks.
On 7 October, Barcelona drew their first game of the season with a 2–2 at home against Real Madrid. Both goals came from Lionel Messi, bringing him just one goal short of the all time Clásico scoring record of 18 goals by Alfredo Di Stéfano. Early in the match, Dani Alves picked up a hamstring injury in his left leg and will be out for three weeks.
On 15 October, Barcelona announced defender Andreu Fontàs would be loan out to Mallorca until the end of the season.
On 20 October, Barcelona took a wild match in A Coruña, beating Deportivo de La Coruña 5–4 at the Estadio Riazor. A hat-trick by Lionel Messi gave the visitors all the hard earned three points in where they raced out to a three-goal lead within the first 20 minutes of the match.
On 23 October, Barcelona defeated Celtic 2–1 at home. A goal by Andrés Iniesta at the end of the first half and a Jordi Alba goal in the closing seconds helped Barcelona to take away the win in Xavi's 150th international game with Barcelona.
On 27 October, Barcelona defeated Rayo Vallecano with a dominating scoreline of 5–0 in Vallecas. Leo Messi scored a brace, while David Villa, Xavi and Cesc Fàbregas contributed with a goal each. This win equalled Barcelona's best start in the La Liga.
On 30 October, Barcelona started their Copa del Rey defence with a victory in Vitoria-Gasteiz over Alavés in the first leg with a 3–0 win. Goals from David Villa, Andrés Iniesta and Cesc Fàbregas gave Barça the victory.
November On 3 November, Barcelona defeated Celta de Vigo 3–1 at home. With goals by Adriano, David Villa and Jordi Alba, Barça confirmed their best start in La Liga in club history. Adriano had to leave the game early with a muscle tear in his right thigh and will be out of action for three weeks.