The start of something special - how it all began in Gijon with a 6-1 win for Pep Guardiola's brilliant Barcelona in 2008

As the Catalans travel to Sporting in La Liga on Sunday, they will reflect on a game three years ago when everything clicked into place for the first time under their new coach

It all started in Gijon for Pep Guardiola's brilliant Barcelona. Few fans of the Catalan club will have forgotten the night in Asturias when everything came together for their sensational side. But even fewer could have predicted what their team would go on to achieve after that.

It was September 21, 2008, and Barca were taking their first steps under their former captain, who had succeeded Frank Rijkaard in the summer. The football had been attractive, and chances created, but those first steps had been stumbles as the Catalans lost to newly-promoted Numancia on the opening weekend of La Liga and then drew at home to Racing Santander in the second round of matches.


Leading the way | Guardiola's side came of age in Gijon with a 6-1 win in September 2008

Despite two promising performances, football is a results industry and criticism was quick to arrive. There were doubts over whether Guardiola, an indisputable icon from his playing days at Camp Nou, was the right man to take over. His only experience had been a one-year spell, albeit a very successful one, with Barca B in Spain's third tier, and he was still only 37. Barca, meanwhile, had interviewed Jose Mourinho for the post, but president Joan Laporta opted to pick Guardiola, on the advice of Barca legend Johan Cruyff, who had coached Pep in the 1990s.

The atmosphere, then, was one of tension as Barca travelled to Gijon. "In general I'm satisfied with how the team is functioning. There is no anxiety, but we have to win - and we have to win now," said Guardiola ahead of the trip to northern Spain.

“In general I am satisified with how the team is functioning. There is no anxiety, but we have to win - and we have to win now.”

- Pep Guardiola before the 6-1 win in September, 2008

He needn't have worried. Barca produced a breathtaking display of attacking football, thrashed Sporting 6-1 - thanks to two goals from Lionel Messi, one each from Xavi, Samuel Eto'o and Andres Iniesta, plus an own goal from Jorge - and the critics were suddenly silenced. A third winless match in a row had been avoided and, three whole years on from that early watershed moment, Pep's side have never gone three consecutive games without a victory. It's incredibly impressive.

But even more impressive is the silverware Barcelona have accumulated in those three-and-a-bit seasons: a trio of Primera Division titles, two Champions League crowns, a Club World Cup, a Copa del Rey, three Spanish Supercopas and two Uefa Super Cups.

Those 12 trophies have made Guardiola the most successful coach in the history of the Catalan club, while players such as Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Carles Puyol, Gerard Pique and Sergio Busquets - who was promoted from the B side and made his debut in the game against Racing - have won everything there is to win in the game at club level in three glorious years.

It's a very different Barca that returns to Gijon on Sunday.