Where are they now 96 97 cup winner's cup team

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Where Are They Now? 96-97 Cup Winner's Cup Team.
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2010 Barcelonista De
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Long before the club won their three UEFA Champions league You like this. Unlike
trophies in the last 20 FC Barcelona Malaga CF
years, the club’s first
Penya Barcelonista De
European ever UEFA Miami - FC Barcelona Date: 1/16/11
trophy was the Supporters Club Ballon
discontinued Cup d'Or Finalists wallpaper Time: 3:00 PM ET
Winners’ Cup. It is true
http://www.fcbfans.com/newsletter/images_13ene11/fondo
Tournament: La Liga
that Barça had won the
www.fcbfans.com
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup on
Venue Camp Nou
three separate
occasions, those TV: GOL TV
trophies were not under
Thursday at 9:15pm
the affiliation of UEFA at Fritz & Franz
TV Location:
the time. The club would Bierhauss
win a total of 4 UEFA Cup Penya Barcelonista De
Miami - FC Barcelona
Winners’ Cups. The first Supporters Club Barça one
cup was won in 1979 foot in Copa semi’s after 5-0
followed by winning a victory over Betis.
second one in 1982 with
the final taking place in F acebook social plugin

the Camp Nou that year.
The third cup was won in Login Form
1989 during Cruyff’s
second season as manager of FC Barcelona. May 14, 1997 is the date that FC Barcelona won their
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fourth and final Cup Winners’ Cup after they defeated Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 in the Feyenoord
Stadion in Rotterdam. Ronaldo’s penalty in the 37th minute was the only goal of the game. The
Ayyub
manager that day was the legendary English manager Bobby Robson who would only manage Password
Barcelona for the 1996-1997 season with Jose Mourinho by his side as his assistant. 13 years have
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since passed and the cup was abolished by UEFA following the 1989-1999 season. We now look at
where life took the players and coaches after their time at the club had come to an end.
Remember Me
Long before the club won their three UEFA Champions league trophies in the last 20 years, the
club’s first European ever UEFA trophy was the discontinued Cup Winners’ Cup. It is true that Barca Login
had won the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup on three separate occasions, those trophies were not under the
affiliation of UEFA at the time. The club would win a total of 4 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cups. The first cup
was won in 1979 followed by winning a second one in 1982 with the final taking place in the Camp Forgot your password?
Nou that year. The third cup was won in 1989 during Cruyff’s second season as manager of FC Forgot your username?
Barcelona. May 14, 1997 is the date that FC Barcelona won their fourth and final Cup Winners’ Cup Create an account
after they defeated Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 in the Feyenoord Stadion in Rotterdam. Ronaldo’s
penalty in the 37th minute was the only goal of the game. The manager that day was the legendary
English manager Bobby Robson who would only manage Barcelona for the 1996-1997 season.
Sir Bobby Robson & Jose Mourinho
Mr. Robson had a rich history of coaching in England and
abroad. He had managed Fulham, Ipswich Town, England
national team, PSV Eindhoven, Sporting CP and Porto before
Last Game
joining FC Barcelona.Although his popularity with the fans
regarding the style of football being played was met with mixed FC Barcelona Real Betis
reception, he still managed the club to 3 titles and miss out on 5 0
the league title by a mere 2 points. The team was remembered
for some lopsided victories such as defeating Logrones 8-0, but Tournament: King's Cup
their most memorable victory that season was coming back from Date: 1/12/11
being down 3-0 to defeat Atletico Madrid 5-4 in the second leg of
the Copa Del Quarter-finals. Mr. Robson would not manage the
team the following season as he would be replaced by Louis van
Gaal with Mr. Robson get promoted to the position of General
Manager. His tenure with the club would cease after the 1997-
1998 season and would resume his coaching career by managing PSV Eindhoven for a season
before managing Newcastle United from 1999 to 2004. His last involvement with football was being
hired as an International football consultant for the Republic of Ireland national team that would end

miamiblaugrana.org/index.php?option=… 1/12

after Ireland failed to qualify for Euro 2008. Sadly, Mr. Robson passed away over a year ago on July
31, 2009 following a long battle with cancer.
His assistant during his time with Porto and FC Barcelona was none other than Jose Mourinho.
Mourinho was Robson’s interpretor when Robson was hired as Sporting CP’s manager. Mourinho
then impressed Robson with his football intelligence when it came to tactics and followed Robson to
Porto and FC Barcelona and was also van Gaal’s assistant when Robson was replaced by van Gaal.
He then went to have a successful managerial career after leading Porto to UEFA Cup and
Champions league glory in back to back season before managing Chelsea to successive league
titles in the Premier League before capturing a treble with Inter last season. He is currently Real
Madrid’s manager and although his history with the club was a great one, it has become sour with
the fans during his time with Chelsea where the fans taunt Mourinho with the chants “Traductor”
which means translator.
We now look at where life took the players after their time at the club had come to an end.

The Starters:

Vítor Baía

Vítor Baía is a former Portuguese National team starting keeper and a legend for Porto. He was
signed from Porto for the 1996-1997 season for 800 million pesetas (around 7 million dollars back
then) and would start for in all competitions. He would feature in 37 league games , 5 Copa Del Rey
Matches (missing the semi-final legs), and 8 out of the 9 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup matches and
featured in the first leg of the Spanish Super Copa. After that amazing 4 cups seasons, Louis Van
Gaal would replace Bobby Robson as manager and thus benched Baía in favor of Ruud Hesp. He
would feature in only 4 games in all competitions the next season and halfway through the following
season, was loaned back to Porto on January 15, 1999 during the winter transfer period.

He would remain with Porto and be their starting keeper to win the UEFA Cup and UEFA Champions
League in back to back seasons. His manager during that amazing run was Jose Mourinho, who
also was Bobby Robson’s assistant in Barcelona. Sadly his time with the club had it share of
blunder moments.
Baía retired from the game after the 2006-2007 season and was involved with Porto a the head of
Porto's public relations until leaving that post last month.

Albert Ferrer


Albert "Chapi” Ferrer was profiled as part of the 1992 European Cup Champions as the right back for
that team. He would feature in 29 games for Barcelona in all competitions and started in the Cup
Winners’ Cup Final. During that season, he made 18 league appearances, 5 Copa Del Rey
appearances, 1 appearance in the Spanish Super Copa in the second leg and made 5 appearances
in the UEFA Cup Winners’Cup. Four of those five Cup Winners’Cup matches were starts consisting
of both leg of the semi-finals and the final against P.S.G.

He would play for one more season with the Blaugrana before joining Chelsea for five years until his
retirement in 2003. He currently is a sports commentator for TV3, La Sexta, and has made some
appearances on Sky Sports News and Sky’s Revista De La Liga the last few years. He also pens a
column for El Mundo Deportivo.

Fernando Couto

Fernando Couto is a former Portuguese international defender who was transferred to Barcelona
from Parma for 400 million pesetas (almost $3.5 million) for the 96-97 season. He started off his
career with Porto and featured for Familicão and Académica Coimbra before establishing himself as
a star with Porto. He then transferred to Parma before Barcelona bought him.

The center-back featured in 26 league games, 5 appearances in Copa Del Rey where he scored in
the second leg of the semi-finals against Las Palmas and making 4 starts in the Cup Winners’ Cup,
including the final, and also scored in the second leg of the semis against Fiorentina. Couto would
play for another season making 25 appearances in all competitions before being sold to Lazio for
500 million pesetas (almost $4.5 million). Couto would remain with Lazio before returning to Parma
for the 05-06 season. He would retire after the 07-08 season at the age of 39. He spent his
retirement between his home country Portugal and Italy. He was officially appointed as S.C. Braga's
sporting director.

Abelardo

Abelardo was a mainstay on Barcelona’s and the Spanish national team’s defense during the late
90’s. Abelardo joined Barcelona in 1994 after spending 12 years with Sporting Gijon’s youth and first
team. He would feature for many seasons as Nadal’s partner in the center back position. He
featured in over 30 games for the club in all competitions. He featured in 21 league games, scoring 3
goals and was a substitute in the first leg of the Super Copa and started the second leg. He also
started three games in the Copa Del Rey, both leg of the quarterfinals and the final while making 6
appearances in the Cup Winners’ Cup with 5 of them as a starter.

The 2001-2002 would be his last season with Barcelona before joining Deportivo Alavés. He would
play one season and then retire because of a knee injury. During his tenure, Abelardo won 2 league
titles, 2 Copa Del Rey titles, 2 Super Copa titles, 1 Copa Catalunya, UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup and the
UEFA Super Cup. He also represented Spain in the 1996 and 2000 Euro Cups and the 1994 and
1998 World Cup. After his retirement, he successfully contested his right to receive Social Security
benefits because of his knee injury. He was currently managing the Sporting Gijon B squad until he
resigned from that position during this past season. He was appointed as the new manager of
Candás Club de Fútbol back in May who are in Spain’s third division (Tercera División de España).

Sergi Barjuan

Sergi is another fine example of FC Barcelona’s youth product coming through the ranks and
featuring for the club for many years. Sergi, a left back, was promoted to the first team, after 3 years
with Barcelona B team, by Johan Cruyff back in the 93-94 season for a Champions League match


against Galatasaray even though he had not featured in a league game with the club. The former
Barcelona B player would start in the Champions League final loss to Milan that year. Under Bobby
Robson, Sergi appeared in 34 league games, scoring once and started both legs of Super Copa. He
also made 6 appearances in the Copa Del Rey competition, 5 as a starter including the final and 7
starts in the Cup Winners’ Cup.

After his contract expired in 2002 and the former club captain realized that he was not going to be in
the plans of Louis van Gaal, and left the club and joined Atlético Madrid and ended up playing 3 more
seasons before finally retiring at the end of the 2004-2005 season. Since he hung up his boots
directs his own company marketing: Group Númenor. He has also created their own football
academy, SergiCampus for children between the age of six and 15. Sergi is currently the coach of FC
Barcelona juvenil B and was a member of the Barcelona’s team in the Spanish indoor football
league the past two seasons in which he captained the team to the league title last season.

Gheorghe Popescu

Gica Popescu was coming off disappointing spells with PSV and Tottenham when he was bought in
1995 for 550 million pesetas during Johan Cruyff’s era. He was signed as Ronald Koeman’s
replacement in the defense and for his offensive skills. The following season under Robson, Gica,
the captain of the team, appeared in 29 league matches, scoring in 4 games and started in both legs
of the Super Copa. He also started 4 out of 5 Copa Del Rey games, with his only substitute
appearance coming in the final in extra time and started 8 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup games, scoring
in the first leg Quarter-final against AIK Solna.

After that season, Gica was sold to Galatasaray for 700 million pesetas. He would win the UEFA Cup
there in 2000 with another former Barcelona player, Gheorghe Hagi, who also happened to be his
brother in law. He would go on to play for Lecce, Dinamo Bucarest and Hannover 96 before retiring
after the 2002-2003 season. After retiring from football, he became a businessman and founded his
own football academy,(Gica Popescu Football Academy) in Craiova. In 2005, he ran against the
current president for the Romanian Football Federation presidency, but in the elections held on
November 21, 2005, he lost with 102 votes to 187. In January 2008, he was called before the
Romanian National Anti Corruption Agency, being accused of fraud, and money laundry in a file
regarding the transfer of 12 footballers from 1999 to 2005. Popescu is one of the 10 agents and club
owners against whom the National Anti Corruption Agency decided to start criminal investigation for
fraud, evasion and money laundry as well as prejudicing 4 football clubs with the sum of 10 million
Euro. He is still a person of interest regarding this investigation. He recently announced investments
he is intending to launch, i.e. a bazaar type shopping center [called Doldora Bazaar] in Bucharest,
which cost him 10 million Euro which will be a joint project with two other Romanian investors.

Josep Guardiola

Another member of the 1992 European Cup Champions, Guardiola would feature in over 50 games
for the club during the 96-97 season, starting in the Spanish Super Cup, Copa Del Rey Final and the
UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup. He featured in 38 league games that season after starting both legs of the
Super Copa. He also made 6 appearances in the Copa Del Rey, 5 of them as a starter including the
final. He also appeared in 7 games in the Cup Winners’ Cup, 5 of them as a starter and scored in
the second leg of the semi-finals against Fiorentina.

Guardiola’s playing career has brought similar results as a manager. In his first year on the job,
Guardiola became the first manager in Spanish football history to win the treble after FC Barcelona
won the league, Copa Del Rey and Champions League title during the 2008-2009 season. He
became just one of the few to have won the Champions League trophy for the same club as a player
and manager. The new season has also brought more trophies with the club first capturing both the
Spanish and UEFA Super Cups and then the club’s first ever FIFA Club World Cup intercontinental
trophy before retaining the league crown again. He extended his contract with the club for another
season.

Luís Figo



Luís Figo is one that hardly needs an introduction. He is fondly remembered as one of the best
players that club ever had in the 90’s and was considered one of the best wingers in the game when
he played for Barcelona. He was the first signing by Johan Cruyff to follow in the footsteps of Michael
Laudrup. He was bought from Sporting Lisbon for 350 million pesetas after some controversy
involving Parma and Juventus that was resulted in law suits being filed in Italy.

Under Robson, Figo appeared in 36 leagues matches, scoring 4 goals and started the first leg of the
Super Copa. He started 8 Cup Winners’ Cup matches, scoring once against RS Belgrade and also
started in 5 Copa Del Matches, scoring in the great 5-4 Quarter-final second leg victory against
Atlético Madrid and scoring a brace in the final against Betis, including the game winner in extra time.

Sadly, Figo’s departure to Real Madrid after Euro 2000 for $56 million hurt and upset a lot of fans and
has become a hated figure for Barcelona fans. After five seasons with Real Madrid, Figo signed for
Inter and played for four seasons before calling it a career after last season. Following his
retirement, he was appointed ambassador of Inter Milan and was in attendance at the Camp Nou for
Barcelona Inter Champions League recently. He also has been a prominent ambassador on the
joint Spain-Portugal 2018 World Cup bid.

Iván De La Peña

Iván de la Peña is one of the most recognized former Barcelona youth players. The midfielder joined
the youth setup in 1991 and finally shined in the 96-97 season under Bobby Robson. The Little
Buddha would feature in 43 games in all competitions. He featured in 33 league matches, scoring 2
goals and was a substitute in first leg of the Super Copa where he scored the 4th goal of the game.
He also started three Cope Del Rey matches, including the final and featured in 6 Cup Winners’ Cup
matches, 4 of them as a starter.

Sadly his career with the club was cut short when Van Gaal replaced Robson and would transfer to
Lazio. He endure a miserable four years where after one season with Lazio, he was loaned to
Marseille, and back to Barcelona and then return to Lazio for another season. He then returned to
Barcelona in 2002 to play for Espanyol where he currently is the captain of the club following the
death of Daniel Jarque in the summer and is currently fighting a battle to be fit for the upcoming
league season.

Luis Enrique

A product of his local side, Real Sporting de Gijón, Luis Enrique starred for the club's youth teams
before bursting on to the scene in 1990, before joining Madrid in 1991 as a striker but soon became
known as the Santiago Bernabéu's resident utility man - operating mostly as a left-winger or left-
back. He would help Spain win the Gold Medal in the 1992 Olympics. In 1996, he stunned the
Merengues by seeing out his contract and moving to Barcelona on a free transfer. In his first season
with Barcelona, he featured in 35 league matches, scoring 17 goals during that magical 96-97
season. He started both legs of Super Copa and appeared in 7 Copa Del Rey games, 6 of them as
a starter including the final. He also started 7 games in the Cup Winners’ Cup.

Lucho would remain with the club until his retirement after the 2003-2004season. After the 96-97
season, he would go on to win another Copa Del Rey and two league titles with Barcelona. He spent
his retirement participating in Iron Man competitions and played for Barcelona’s team in the Spanish
indoor football league. In June of 2008, Luis Enrique was appointed as Guardiola’s replacement as
manager of Barça Atlètic team. Although the team failed to gain promotion in his first year there, he
succeed in his second season n leading the club to the Segunda División de España for the first


time since the late 90’s in a season where the team went through a long unbeaten streak and only
lost six times this past season. He extended his contract with the club for another season.

Ronaldo

Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1976, Ronaldo joined Barça in 1996 from PSV Eindhoven for $20 million, a
record at time until it was surpassed by the transfer of Shearer to Newcastle, playing in their ranks
quickly and winning his first international prize, the FIFA World Player award. He was only at the club
for one season, but certainly proved his worth, scoring 48 goals in 51 games, the kind of stats you
rarely see in the modern game. He appeared in 37 league matches, scoring 34 goals and started
the first leg of the Super Copa, scoring a brace. He also started 4 Copa Del Rey games, scoring 8
goals with a hat trick coming in that epic game against Atlético Madrid, but would miss the final to be
in South America for Copa America. He also started 7 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup matches, scoring five
goals, including the only game in the final against PSG when he converted his penalty kick in the first
half.

At only 20 years of age, he looked destined for big things at Barça, but an unfortunate series of
episodes involving the Board of Directors and his own agents led to him wanting to go to Inter Milan.
At the end of the season, following tough negotiations with FC Barcelona president Josep Lluis
Nunez on the renewal of his contract, Ronaldo decided to accept the offer from Inter Milan by paying
FC Barcelona $32 million, which was the termination clause of the contract for Ronaldo. He would
then go on to play for Inter Milan, Real Madrid, and AC Milan. In December of2008, Ronaldo was
officially unveiled to the Corinthian fans where he is still currently playing and has stated that he
plans to retire in 2011.

The Substitutes:

Amor

Amor was also profiled as part of the 1992 European Cup Champions team as one of their best
attacking midfielders of that decade for the club. He featured in 37 games for the club in all
competitions and, unlike the 1992 European Cup Final, he would not miss the UEFA Cup Winners’
Cup Final due to suspension and would come on as a second half substitute. He was a member of
the FC Barcelona veterans’ indoor squad and was a sports commentator for Telecinco in which he
got to commentate on the FIFA Club World Cup Final. His involvement in the media also led to him
penning a column on El Mundo Deportivo’s website. He was recently unveiled by new FC Barcelona
president Sandro Rosell as the club’s new director of youth teams.

Pizzi

Juan Antonio Pizzi joined Barcelona from Tenerife in 1996. Born in Santa Fe, Argentina, Pizzi began
his club career with Rosario Central and then Mexican club Toluca. He joined Tenerife in 1991 and
after one season with Valencia during the 93-94 season, he returned to Tenerife before joining
Barcelona. His first season with the club saw him net 16 goals in all competitions. He scored in the
first leg of the Super Copa as a starter. He featured in 4 Copa Del Rey matches, with 3 of them as a
starter and scored 5 goals, with one coming in the final to send the game to extra time. However, he
is also remembered for scoring the decisive goal in the second leg come from behind victory against
Atlético Madrid in the Quarter-finals. He also featured in 33 league games and scored 9 goals that


season and made 7 appearances in the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup with 2 starts, and scored only
once against AIK Solna.

Pizzi would remain for another season before leaving the club for Argentinean club River Plate. He
would later play for Rosario Central, Porto and Villarreal before retiring from the game at the
conclusion of the 2001-2002 season. He then began a new career as club manager with
Argentinean club Colón de Santa Fé and then Peruvian side Universidad San Martin. He was the
manager of the Chilean club Santiago Morning for the 2009-2010 season and currently was
appointed club manager of the Chilean side, Club Deportivo Universidad Católica for the upcoming
season.

Hristo Stoichkov

Stoichkov was also profiled as part of the 1992 European Cup Champions team. Following the
1994-1995 season, Hristo went to Parma for an uneventful year and then returned to Barcelona
where he would help lead the team capture the Super Copa, Del Rey and Cup Winners’ Cup. He
started in both legs of the Super Copa, scoring Barcelona's only goal in the second leg loss. He also
featured in 4 Copa Del Rey matches, starting 3 games and was one of the substitutes brought on by
Robson in the great memorable second leg come from behind victory against Atlético Madrid in the
Quarter-finals. He featured in 7 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup matches, starting 5 of them but failed to
score and made 22 league appearances where he scored 7 goals.

He would play sparingly under van Gaal the following season and would leave the club forever. He
would go on to play for CSKA Sofia, Al-Nasr, Kashiwa Reysol, and Chicago Fire before retiring after
one year with D.C. United in 2003. Since then, Hristo became involved in management and was back
with Barcelona as the striker’s coach under Frank Rijkaard in his first year with the club, before taking
the Bulgarian national team manager position in 2004. He would then step down after three
unsuccessful years. His first club managerial position was with Celta Vigo in 2007 but his two year
stint was a disappointing one and would lead to his sacking. He was hired in June of 2009 as the
manager of the South African club, Mamelodi Sundowns FC but resigned back in March after leading
the club to second place. His resignation stemmed from the club’s failure to give him a new contract

Busquets

Carles Busquets is also another member profiled from the 1992 European Cup Champions team.
Currently more remembered as the father of current FC Barcelona Sergio Busquets, he was also
the long time backup keeper Zubizarreta. Just like his son, he was promoted from Barcelona B and
remained a part of the first team from 1988 to 1999. Under Robson, he would make 4 league starts,
start both legs in the semifinals against Las Palmas and only one start in the UEFA Cup
Winners’Cup tournament against AIK Solna.

Unfortunately, his tenure at the club is remembered mostly for some of his blunders in net but was in
goal for the 4-0 victory against Manchester United in the 94-95 Champions League match. He would
remain with the club for a few more years before joining UE Lleida for the 1999-2000 season and
retired from the game after the 2002-2003 season. He is also is a member of the FC Barcelona
veterans indoor squad that won the league title last season. He has been a long time keepers
coaches with the Barcelona academy and was recently promoted to goal keeper’s coach of the first
team after Carlos Unzué left that position to become the new Numancia manager.

Giovanni Silva de Oliveira



Giovanni started his career in 1991 at Tuna Luso before moving on to other clubs such as Remo,
Paysandu and Sãocarlense before joining Santos in 1995. After two seasons there, the attacking
midfielder was one of the new re-enforcements for Bobby Robson. He started the first leg of the
Super Copa and scored his ever goal as a Barcelona player and would go on to feature in 30 league
matches, scoring 7 goals. He also featured in 4 Copa Del Rey matches, 1 as a starter, and scored
the game winning goal in first leg encounter against Real Madrid round of 16. As for the Cup
Winners’ Cup, he featured in 8 matches, starting 6 of them, and scoring three goals, all of them
against ER Belgrado over two games in the group stages.

Giovanni would play two more seasons with the club before being sold to Greek powerhouse
Olympiakos. He would go on to play for six seasons with Olympiakos before making a return to
Santos for one season. He would then play in Saudi Arabia for Al Hilal, Greek club Ethnikos before
returning to Brazil again to play for Mogi Mirim before retiring from football. Although he only scored
18 goals at his time with Barcelona, he is remembered for scoring in El Clásico against the arch rival
Real Madrid and in one occasion, his “butifarra” celebration following scoring against Real Madrid.
Currently, he came out of retirement in January to join Santos again and play alongside Robinho but
then ended his comeback short when he retired in March.

The Rest:

Amuneke

Emmanuel Amuneke joined FC Barcelona during the Cup Winners’ Cup season and would feature
in 22 games for the club in all competitions in that season. The Nigerian International, mostly known
for his international performances, had already played at the club level in Nigeria, Egypt and Portugal
before joining Barcelona. Sadly, that season would be the only season of solid contribution from
Amunike who would spend the following three seasons injured. He made 19 league appearances
and 3 Copa Del Rey appearances and scored only 1 goal. He managed to make only four
appearances the following season and would not feature in any games the next two seasons. After
he left the club, he signed on with Albacete Balompié and Al-Wihdat in Jordan before calling it a day.

After Emmanuel brought an end to his career in 2004, he returned to Europe where he got his
coaching license. He settled in Spain and worked as a media consultant at some of the bigger
tournaments before going to Ghana at the beginning of this year as a scout for Manchester United at
the Africa Cup of Nations. He then went on to become assistant coach at Al Hazem in Saudi Arabia.
He was recently let go as manager of Julius Berger team in Nigeria and has his own football
academy in Nigeria and worked as an analyst for Al Jazeera during the most recent World Cup and is
one of the candidates to be the new manager of Nigeria.

Miguel Angel Nadal

Nadal is another member of the 1992 squad, and just like that season, Nadal would not feature in
the final. However, Nadal did feature in 37 games in all competitions that season and played a vital
role in helping the club win three cups. He made 27 league appearances that season and scored
one goal along with starting 1 Super Copa match and 6 Copa Del Rey matches and scoring one
goal in the 3-2 win over Madrid in the first leg of Round 1. His contribution in the successful Cup
Winners’ Cup competition consisted of 5 started and one goal coming in the 1-1 draw against
Fiorentina in the Semi-Final.
He is also known for being the uncle of one of the best tennis players in the world at the moment,
Rafael Nadal. Nadal is also member of the FC Barcelona veterans’ indoor team which won the
league title last season and did some broadcasting work for IB3, a Balearic television channel


available in the Balearic Islands. He was recently hired, back in July, to be Michael Laudrup’s
assistant at his first club Mallorca.

Bakero

Bakero was also profiled as part of the 1992 European Cup Champions team as one of their
attacking midfielders. The 96-97 season would be his last season with the club where he only
featured in a few games in all competitions. He came on as a substitute in the second leg of the
Super Copa and appeared in 4 leagues matches and managed to score a goal. He was hired by the
Polish club Polonia back in November and managed to avoid them from being relegated and will be
their manager for the upcoming season.

Blanc

Laurent Blanc is the former French international known for helping France win the 1998 World Cup
and 2000 Euro Cup. He was the last player bought by Cruyff before Cruyff’s firing. Blanc was bought
from French club Auxerre and featured in 38 games for the club in all competitions and scored one
goal during his single season there. Unfortunately, he endured some injuries and decided to play in
France for Marseille in order to get ready for the 1998 World Cup after the 96-97 season. He would
go on to play for Inter and Manchester United before calling it a career in 2003. He is currently the
manager for FC Girondins de Bordeaux with some success after winning the French league title two
seasons ago and took his team deep into the elimination rounds of the Champions League from a
group that had Juventus and Bayern Munich. He was chosen to be France’s new national team
coach and has left Bordeaux to begin his new venture as the new manager of Les Blues.

Albert Celades

Albert Celades is another player who graduated from the team’s youth academy, but is also known
for being one of the infamous Barcelona players to end up playing for Real Madrid. The defensive
midfielder had a nine year career starting with the youth academy in 1990 and culminating in 1999
when he would leave the club to Celta Vigo. He only featured in six games for the 96-97 season.
After one season with Celta Vigo, Celades would join Real Madrid for five years, with a year on loan
to Bordeaux in between, before playing a few more seasons with Real Zaragoza. Although he just his
retirement from the game after playing a season in the MLS with the NY Red Bulls, he went on to
sign a temporary contract to play in the Hong Kong first division for Kitchee SC.

Ángel Manuel Cuéllar


Ángel Manuel Cuéllar was signed by FC Barcelona in 1995 from Real Betis where he had played a
great role in helping Betis finishing third in the league the prior season with 14 goals as a winger.
Unfortunately, Cuéllar debut for the club started in nightmare fashion when he ruptured his ACL in
his first league game with the club. He would return later on that season but the manager who
signed him, Cruyff, was fired and Cuellar ended up featuring in 15 games in all competitions that
season. The 96-97 season would see him feature in only 12 games in all competitions largely due
to the presence of Figo. He would leave the club the following season and return to Real Betis before
bouncing around in the lower leagues with Racing Ferrol, Levante, Gimnastic Tarragona, Lugo and
Narón. He retired from the game after the 2007-2008 season with Narón and is currently enjoying his
retirement by representing the club’s indoor football team.

Francesco Arnau

Arnau is a former youth product who was the third string goal keeper for the club during the 1996-
1997 season. He came up through the ranks with a year at Barcelona C for the 1994-1995 season
and then Barcelona B the follow season which would see him go back forth between the senior team
and Barcelona B. During that 1996-1997 season, Arnau featured in only one league match, a 3-3
draw against Atlético Madrid. He left the club in 2001 after constantly being the backup goal keeper
and joined Malaga and would spend two season sitting on the bench as a backup before becoming
the team’s number one keeper for the 2003-2004 season. He is currently still with Malaga but is
reduced to being a third keeper at the age of 35 and did not feature in any matches least season.

Oscar Garcia

Oscar Garcia is a former youth product of FC Barcelona back in the early 90’s but did not get to
feature much for the club and was loaned out to Albacete for the 1994-1995 season. He would
feature more following his return from his loan spell along with his brother Roger Garcia. Under
Bobby Robson, he only made 18 appearances – 14 League appearances and scored 4 goals and
Copa Del Rey Matched where his lone goal coming in the second leg Semi-Final against Las
Palmas. He would leave the club and join Valencia and Espanyol before calling it a day after
concluding the 2004-2005 season with UE Lleida in La Segunda División B. Following his
retirement, he represented the club in their Spanish indoor football league but also made the leap
from representing the Catalan national team to becoming one of its assistant managers under
Johan Cruyff when the Catalan national team squared off against Argentina last December. He was
recently appointed by new president Sandro Rosell to be the new manager of the club’s youth side,
Juvenil A.

Roger Garcia

Roger Garcia played for the club’s youth team and senior club from 1994 to 1999 and is the baby
brother of Oscar Garcia. After coming through the ranks, he was called up for a game near the end of
the 1994-1995 season by Johan Cruyff. For the 1996-1997 season, Roger made 1 start in the Copa
Del Rey second leg of the Semi-finals and 4 starts in the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup. Although he did
not feature in the Super Copa games, he made 16 appearances in La Primera, scoring twice. He left
the club and joined Espanyol in 1999 and then Villarreal in 2003 before retiring after one season with
Ajax Amsterdam following the 2006-2007 season. He is currently enjoying his retirement, and unlike
his brother, is not involved with the club right now.

Julen Lopetegui



Lopetegui was the team’s 4th goal keeper. He hardly featured for the club during the 1996-1997
season but he, like Luis Enrique, is known for being one of the players who joined the club after
playing for the eternal enemy, Real Madrid. He began his career in 1983 with San Sebastián CF
before stints with Castilla CF, Las Palmas, Real Madrid, CD Logroñés before joining Barcelona in
1994. He would leave the club in 1997 play for Rayo Vallecano until his retirement following the
2001-2002 season. During the 1996-1997 season, Lopetegui only featured in one game, starting in
the 3-1 loss to Atlético Madrid in the second leg of the Super Copa. Following his retirement, he
began a career as a manager and coached Rayo Vallecano for the 2003-2004 season. He then
worked for La Sexta as a sports commentator where he is remembered for fainting on the air in the
studio. He finished a stint as Real Madrid Castilla manager during the 2008-2009 season and was
recently announced as the new Spanish National U-19 team manager back in July.

* Special thanks to Miss Sonia for helping me out in this research.

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