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Sunday, July 22, 2012

History 5 of FC Barcelona

Dream Team

In 1988, Johan Cruyff returned to the club as manager and he assembled the so-called Dream Team. He used a mix of Spanish players like Pep Guardiola, José Mari Bakero, and Txiki Begiristain while signing international stars such as Ronald Koeman, Michael Laudrup, Romário, and Hristo Stoichkov. Under his guidance, Barcelona won four consecutive La Liga titles from 1991 to 1994.

They beat Sampdoria in both the 1989 Cup Winners' Cup final and the 1992 European Cup final at Wembley. They also won a Copa del Rey in 1990, the European Super Cup in 1992, and three Supercopa de España. With 11 trophies, Cruyff became the club's most successful manager, until being overtaken by Guardiola in 2011. He also became the club's longest consecutive serving manager, serving 8 years. Cruyff's fortune changed in his final two seasons, when he failed to win any trophies and fell out with president Núñez, resulting in his departure.



Cruyff was briefly replaced by Bobby Robson, who took charge of the club for a single season in 1996–97. The club signed Ronaldo and delivered a cup treble, winning the Copa del Rey, Cup Winners Cup, and the Supercopa de España. Despite his success Robson was only ever seen as a short-term solution while the club waited for Louis van Gaal to become available. The club won the UEFA Super Cup against Borussia Dortmund and won a Copa del Rey and La Liga double in 1998. In 1999 the club celebrated its 'centenari', winning the Primera División title. Rivaldo became the fourth Barça player to be awarded European Footballer of the Year. Despite this domestic success, the failure to extend that success to the Champions League led to van Gaal and Núñez resigning in 2000.

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