# 2003–04 FC Barcelona season

During the 2003–04 Spanish football season, Barcelona competed in La Liga, Copa del Rey and UEFA Cup.

## Season summary

After the disappointment of the Joan Gaspart era, the combination of a new young president Joan Laporta and a new manager, former Dutch and Milan star Frank Rijkaard, saw Barcelona bounce back. Guided by new management off the pitch and the likes of future FIFA World Player of the Year Ronaldinho on the pitch, Barça achieved second place behind Valencia in the league.
Barcelona competed in the UEFA Cup rather than the UEFA Champions League for the first time since the 1995–96 season, given their sixth-place finish in 2002–03.
The BBC made a documentary, titled FC Barcelona Confidential, based on the turn of events in the league after Joan Laporta's entry. With his arrival, the club experienced a new style of management that returned the club into a positive cycle, with an inherited massive financial debt crisis was resolved. The season saw Barcelona's spectacular return to form, finishing second after being at the bottom of the table.

## Squad

Source
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | TUR | Rüştü Reçber |
| 2 | DF | NED | Michael Reiziger |
| 3 | MF | NED | Edgar Davids |
| 4 | DF | MEX | Rafael Márquez |
| 5 | DF | ESP | Carles Puyol |
| 6 | MF | ESP | Xavi |
| 7 | FW | ARG | Javier Saviola |
| 8 | MF | NED | Phillip Cocu |
| 9 | FW | NED | Patrick Kluivert |
| 10 | MF | BRA | Ronaldinho |
| 11 | MF | NED | Marc Overmars |
| 12 | DF | NED | Giovanni van Bronckhorst |
| 14 | MF | ESP | Gerard |
| 16 | DF | ESP | Mario |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 18 | MF | ESP | Gabri |
| 20 | MF | POR | Ricardo Quaresma |
| 21 | MF | ESP | Luis Enrique (captain) |
| 22 | MF | ESP | Luis García |
| 23 | MF | BRA | Thiago Motta |
| 24 | MF | ESP | Andrés Iniesta |
| 25 | GK | ESP | Víctor Valdés |
| 26 | MF | ESP | Ramón Ros |
| 27 | DF | ESP | Óscar López |
| 28 | GK | ESP | Albert Jorquera |
| 32 | DF | ESP | Oleguer |
| 36 | FW | ESP | Sergio García |
| 37 | MF | ESP | Sergio Santamaría |

### In

| No. | Pos. | Name | Age | EU | Moving from | Type | Transfer window | Ends | Transfer fee |
| 10 | FW | Ronaldinho | 23 | Non-EU | Paris Saint-Germain | Transfer Y | Summer | 2008 | €27M |
| 20 | MF | Ricardo Quaresma | 19 | EU | Sporting CP | Transfer Y | Summer | N/A | €16.25M |
| 1 | GK | Rüştü | 30 | Non-EU | Fenerbahçe | Transfer Y | Summer | 2007 | Free |
| 4 | DF | Márquez | 24 | EU | Monaco | Transfer Y | Summer | 2007 | €5.25M |
| 22 | MF | Luis García | 24 | EU | Atlético Madrid | Transfer Y | Summer | N/A | ? |
| 12 | DF | Giovanni van Bronckhorst | 30 | EU | Arsenal F.C. | Loan → | Summer | 2004 | N/A |
| 3 | MF | Davids | 30 | EU | Juventus | Loan → | Winter | 2004 | €2M |
| 16 | DF | Mario | 21 | EU | Valladolid | Loan → | Summer | 2004 | N/A |
| 24 | MF | Andrés Iniesta | 19 | EU | Youth system | Promote | Summer | N/A | Free |
| 25 | GK | Víctor Valdés | 21 | EU | Youth system | Promote | Summer | N/A | Free |
| 32 | DF | Oleguer | 23 | EU | Youth system | Promote | Winter | N/A | Free |
Total spending: €50.5 million

### Out

| N | Pos. | Name | Age | EU | Moving to | Type | Transfer window | Transfer fee |
| 34 | MF | Fàbregas | 16 | EU | Arsenal | Transfer Y | Summer | €0.25M |
| 3 | DF | de Boer | 33 | EU | Galatasaray | Contract termination N | Summer | Free |
| 1 | GK | Bonano | 33 | EU | Murcia | Transfer Y | Summer | Free |
| 12 | DF | Christanval | 24 | EU | Marseille | Transfer Y | Summer | Free |
| 20 | FW | Alfonso | 30 | EU | Betis | Contract termination N | Summer | Free |
| 3 | DF | Andersson | 31 | EU | Malmö FF | Contract termination N | Winter | Free |
| 22 | FW | Geovanni | 24 | Non-EU | Benfica | Transfer Y | Winter | Free |
| 10 | MF | Riquelme | 25 | Non-EU | Villarreal | Loan → | Summer | N/A |
| 15 | MF | Rochemback | 22 | Non-EU | Sporting CP | Loan → | Summer | €2.5M |
| 35 | DF | Navarro | 21 | EU | Albacete | Loan → | Winter | N/A |
| 25 | GK | Enke | 25 | EU | Fenerbahçe | Loan → | Summer | €0.4M |
| 27 | MF | Trashorras | 22 | EU | Real Madrid | Transfer Y | Summer | Free |
| 33 | DF | Tortolero | 21 | EU | Elche | Transfer Y | Summer | Free |
Total income: €3.15 million |}
Last updated: 1 October

## Competitions
### La Liga
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Valencia (C) | 38 | 23 | 8 | 7 | 71 | 27 | +44 | 77 | Qualification for the Champions League group stage |
| 2 | Barcelona | 38 | 21 | 9 | 8 | 63 | 39 | +24 | 72 | Qualification for the Champions League group stage |
| 3 | Deportivo La Coruña | 38 | 21 | 8 | 9 | 60 | 34 | +26 | 71 | Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round |
| 4 | Real Madrid | 38 | 21 | 7 | 10 | 72 | 54 | +18 | 70 | Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round |
| 5 | Athletic Bilbao | 38 | 15 | 11 | 12 | 53 | 49 | +4 | 56 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |

#### Results by Round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 |
| Ground | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A |
| Result | W | D | W | D | D | L | L | W | W | D | W | L | D | L | L | W | D | L | W | D | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | D | W | D | W | W | W | L | W | L |
| Position | 4 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 11 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 11 | 7 | 9 | 12 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 |

#### Matches
### UEFA Cup
## Statistics
### Players statistics

| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | La Liga | La Liga | Copa del Rey | Copa del Rey | UEFA Cup | UEFA Cup |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| 25 | GK | ESP | Valdes | 44 | -38 | 33 | -31 | 6 | -4 | 5 | -3 |
| 2 | DF | NED | Reiziger | 40 | 0 | 29+1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | ESP | Puyol | 38 | 0 | 27 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | MEX | Marquez | 31 | 1 | 17+5 | 1 | 5+1 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 |
| 12 | DF | NED | van Bronckhorst | 44 | 1 | 34 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | NED | Cocu | 48 | 6 | 36 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 1 |
| 6 | MF | ESP | Xavi | 49 | 5 | 34+2 | 4 | 5+1 | 0 | 7 | 1 |
| 3 | MF | NED | Davids | 20 | 1 | 18 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | FW | ESP | Luis García | 38 | 8 | 23+2 | 4 | 5+1 | 1 | 7 | 3 |
| 7 | FW | ARG | Saviola | 46 | 19 | 28+5 | 14 | 5+1 | 2 | 6+1 | 3 |
| 10 | FW | BRA | Ronaldinho | 45 | 21 | 32 | 14 | 5+1 | 3 | 7 | 4 |
| 1 | GK | TUR | Recber | 7 | -6 | 3+1 | -6 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 32 | DF | ESP | Oleguer | 24 | 0 | 17+1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 23 | MF | BRA | Motta | 26 | 2 | 13+7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 |
| 18 | MF | ESP | Gabri | 22 | 1 | 12+4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4+1 | 0 |
| 9 | FW | NED | Kluivert | 26 | 10 | 11+10 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 1+2 | 2 |
| 14 | MF | ESP | Gerard | 28 | 1 | 11+8 | 1 | 2+2 | 0 | 2+3 | 0 |
| 20 | MF | POR | Quaresma | 28 | 1 | 10+12 | 1 | 1+1 | 0 | 3+1 | 0 |
| 21 | MF | ESP | Luis Enrique | 30 | 5 | 10+14 | 3 | 0+1 | 0 | 4+1 | 2 |
| 11 | MF | NED | Overmars | 31 | 3 | 5+15 | 1 | 1+2 | 2 | 1+7 | 0 |
| 24 | MF | ESP | Iniesta | 17 | 2 | 5+6 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0+3 | 0 |
| 27 | DF | ESP | Óscar López | 11 | 0 | 2+4 | 0 | 1+2 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 28 | GK | ESP | Jorquera | 2 | -2 | 2 | -2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 36 | FW | ESP | Sergio García | 7 | 0 | 2+2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 16 | DF | ESP | Mario | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 26 | MF | ESP | Ros | 2 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 37 | MF | ESP | Santamaria | 4 | 0 | 1+3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3† | DF | SWE | Andersson | 5 | 0 | 2+2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* Source:

## Results

| Date | Competition | Opponent | H / A | Result |
| 27 July 2003 | Friendly | Juventus | N | 2–2 (5–6p) |
| 30 July 2003 | Friendly | Milan | N | 0–2 |
| 3 August 2003 | Friendly | Manchester United | N | 3–1 |
| 8 August 2003 | Friendly | Leicester City | A | 0–1 |
| 10 August 2003 | Friendly | Manchester City | A | 2–1 |
| 12 August 2003 | Friendly | Derry City | A | 0–5 |
| 16 August 2003 | Festa d'Elx Trophy | Elx | A | 0–0 (1–3p) |
| 22 August 2003 | Joan Gamper Trophy | Boca Juniors | H | 1–1 (5–3p) |
| 24 August 2003 | Copa Catalunya (semi-final) | Girona | A | 0–4 |
| 26 August 2003 | Copa Catalunya (final) | Espanyol | N | 0–1 |
| 1 October 2003 | 87th Anniversary of Club Amèrica | Club América | A | 2–0 |
| 16 November 2003 | Friendly | Porto | A | 2–0 |
| 9 December 2003 | Friendly | Sabadell | A | 1–3 |
| 11 February 2004 | Friendly | Figueres | A | 1–1 |
| 18 February 2004 | Friendly | Shakhtar Donetsk | H | 3–2 |
| 21 April 2004 | Friendly | China | H | 6–0 |