The Dream Team – The glory years of FC Barcelona
SportsFC Barcelona is a football team based in Barcelona, Spain. This team, known to its fans simply as Barça, has always been popular since its inception in the 1890s. One of its most popular periods was during 1988 when former Barça player Johan Cruyff returned as the club’s manager and formed the Dream Team.
Cruyff’s team, now known as the “Dream Team” after the USA basketball team (which was made up of professional NBA players) that played in the 1992 Summer Olympics hosted by Barcelona. Cruyff brought in the Spaniards Josep Guardiola, Jose Mari Bakero, Txiki Beguiristain, Jon Andoni Goikoetxea, along with the Romanian Gheorghe Hagi, the Dutchman Ronald Koeman, the Dane Michael Laudrup, the Brazilian Romario and the Bulgarian Hristo Stoichkov.
Under Cruyff’s leadership, the Dream Team won four consecutive La Liga (the Spanish league in which he played) titles from 1991 to 1994. They defeated Sampdoria in the 1989 European Cup Winners’ Cup final and the Copa del Rey final. Europe 1992 at Wembley. Stadium with a famous Ronald Koeman free kick goal. In 1990, the Dream Team won a Copa del Rey, followed by the European Super Cup in 1992, and three Spanish Super Cups.
How exactly the Dream Team was able to accomplish what they did is open to speculation. You certainly have to give credit to the players, none of whom had egos to match their considerable abilities (or if they did, they kept them in check), but there’s also their leader to consider.
Johan Cruyff was a beloved figure in Barcelona due to his time there as a star player for FC Barcelona in the 1970s, during which he claimed he had chosen to play for FC Barcelona over Real Madrid (his hated rival) because he did not he could play for a club associated with former Spanish dictator Francisco Franco.
He also gave his son a Catalan name (the region of Spain in which Barcelona is located) when he was born, Jordi. Cruyff was named European Footballer of the Year in his first year with FC Barcelona and helped them win La Liga for the first time in fourteen years, defeating Real Madrid 5-0 at Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu stadium.
Cruyff was known for his playing style and dynamic ideas about how the game should be played, which he learned during his pre-Barca days with AFC Ajax in Amsterdam. His style was called “Total Football” and consisted of a system in which a player could leave his position and be replaced by another on the field. This effectively kept the team organized but allowed all players to play all positions. This inevitably trickled down to his players and allowed them to function as a cohesive and winning unit.
The “Era of the Dream Team” was one of many golden times for FC Barcelona, and one that they would love to recover. As with all sports teams, these eras come and go, and while it regained some of its former glory under Frank Rijkaard, his team never lived up to the hopes of many Barcelona fans.