On 22 December 2013, Pedro scored a hat-trick in a come-from-behind 5-2 victory over Getafe at the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez, and it only took him nine minutes.

Lionel Messi scored 778 goals for Barcelona across all competitions, surpassing legendary Brazilian forward Pelé as the player with the most goals scored for a single club.

Despite being the favorites and starting strongly, Barcelona finished the 2006-07 season without trophies. A pre-season U.S. tour was later blamed for a string of injuries to key players, including leading scorer Eto'o and rising star Lionel Messi.

In 1928, victory in the Spanish Cup was celebrated with a poem titled "Oda a Platko", which was written by a member of the Generation of '27, Rafael Alberti, inspired by the heroic performance of Barcelona goalkeeper Franz Platko. In the poem, Alberti writes: "Not even the sea could jump in front of you without you being able to defend it."

A month after the Spanish Civil War began in 1936, several players from Barcelona enlisted to fight against the military uprising, along with players from Athletic Bilbao. On 6 August, Falangist soldiers near Guadarrama murdered club president Josep Sunyol, a representative of the pro-independence political party. He was dubbed the martyr of barcelonisme, and his murder was a defining moment in the history of FC Barcelona and Catalan identity.

Already an established player with Ajax, Johan Cruyff quickly won over Barcelona fans when he told the European press that he chose Barcelona over Real Madrid because he could not play for a club associated with dictator Francisco Franco. He further endeared himself when he named his son "Jordi", after the local Catalan Saint George. Next to champions like Juan Manuel Asensi, Carles Rexach and Hugo Sotil, he helped the club win the 1973-74 season for the first time since 1960, defeating Real Madrid 5-0 at the Santiago Bernabéu en route.

In 2010, three players who came through the club's youth academy (Lionel Messi, Andrés Iniesta and Xavi) were chosen as the three best players in the world in the FIFA Ballon d'Or awards, an unprecedented feat for players from the same football academy.

In 1988, Johan Cruyff returned to the club, this time as manager, and he assembled what would later be dubbed the "Dream Team". He used a mix of Spanish players like Pep Guardiola, José Mari Bakero, Jon Andoni Goikoetxea, Miguel Angel Nadal and Txiki Begiristain while signing international players such as Ronald Koeman, Michael Laudrup, Romário and Hristo Stoichkov. On the legacy of Cruyff's football philosophy and the passing style of play he introduced to the club, future Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola would state, "Cruyff built the cathedral, our job is to maintain and renovate it."

The nickname culer for a Barcelona supporter is derived from the Catalan cul (English: arse), as the spectators at the first stadium, Camp de la Indústria, sat with their culs over the stand.

Although he is credited with bringing tiki-taka to Barcelona, Pep Guardiola would later distance himself from the style, saying: "I loathe all that passing for the sake of it. Barça didn't do tiki-taka! You have to pass the ball with a clear intention, with the aim of making it into the opposition's goal".