RedxMAK
Well-known member
Imagine this, the year is 1984. Barcelona just got off an underwhelming season where they once again didn’t win the LaLiga title finishing 3rd 1 point behind champions Bilbao, who also defeated them in the Copa del Rey final where Diego Maradona had that iconic brawl which led to his departure in the summer. The situation was dire in the club despite having stars like Schuster, Maradona and Quini. They never really managed to get over the line and win LaLiga as it was always the fine details that separated them from the title.
Now going into the 1984-85 season, Menotti who was the Barcelona manager for the previous season, resigned. This left Nunez, the president at the time, with a hard choice to select the next Barcelona manager. This time he decided to go into the English market and he hired Terry Venables, a relatively unknown manager whose biggest achievement was taking QPR to the FA Cup final in 1982.
Terry Venables employed a 4-4-2 formation with a diamond and utilised an intense pressing game on the weakest player on the ball to win back the ball and get the runners from the diamond to make runs on the wing and work the ball into the box. Alongside that, he signed Steve Archibald to replace Maradona and with the fact he had a great group of established player such as Urruti, Schuster and Migueli. His squad was ready to go for LaLiga.
The season started in the Bernabeu, and due to the ongoing 10 year LaLiga drought at the time and the general pessimism the club had at the time. Many people didn’t expect Barcelona to clutch a result there but what really happened was Barcelona produced an exhibition of football so great they won 3-0 there. That victory propelled Barcelona to a 15 game unbeaten run where they won 10 and drew 5. This amazing form continued late into the season and despite the European humiliation to the hands of Metz (4-2 A, 1-4 H). Barcelona continued to dominate in LaLiga and finally on the 24th of March 1985, Barcelona clinched their 10th LaLiga title and their first LaLiga title since the 1973-74 season which was Cruyff’s first season as a player.
Moods were very high going into the 1985-86 season with Barcelona having the chance to participate in the European Cup for the first time since 1974-75 where they lost 2-3 on aggregate to Leeds United in the semi finals. Barcelona like most other clubs at the time, focused mostly on the European Cup which led Real Madrid to boss into their first LaLiga title since 1980. Barcelona though managed to get past Sparta Prague, Porto, defending champions Juventus and IFK Goteborg to reach their first European Cup final in 25 years. What needs to be noted here is that Barcelona produced their highest ever match capacity with 120,000 against Juventus on the 5th of March 1986 in the first leg of the quarter finals. Also they managed to come back from a 3-0 first leg defeat by winning 3-0 and winning 5-4 on penalties to reach the final. Barcelona went into the 1986 European Cup final, which was held in the Sanchez Pizjuan, as the clear favourites against Steaua Bucharest. They were very arrogant and many people in the squad thought it was going to be a walk in the park, but due to Steaua’s insane defensive performance they managed to take it to penalties where Barcelona missed all 4 of their penalties and lost 2-0. This loss was very traumatic for Barcelona as they were so sure they were going to win the European Cup for the first time in their history.
This loss really changed something in Venables’ Barça, it caused the entire club to be depressed which truly changed things for the worse and nothing would ever be the same. After that defeat, despite Barcelona doing very well in the 1986-87 LaLiga season, due to an odd playoff system, Barcelona managed to finish 2nd 3 points behind Real Madrid, who retained their title and this was the 2nd of the 5 in an row they won between 1986 and 1990.
The 1987-88 season started off very badly and due to that as well as the European humiliation caused by Dundee United where they won both legs in the UEFA Cup quarter finals the previous season. Terry Venables was sacked and replaced by Aragones, who didn’t change anything and eventually he also was sacked after supporting the players in the Hesperia Mutiny. In the summer of 1988, Johan Cruyff was signed as manager and the rest is history.
This thread was written originally to talk about the significance of the 1984-85 LaLiga title that literally made Barça wake up and realise their greatness in Spanish football. But on further analysis, it really was one man who managed that and that man was Terry Venables. Also forgot to mention the iconic, Urruti T’estimo commentary line where Urruti saved a penalty in the title clinching game in Valladolid which helped Barcelona finally win LaLiga after 11 years.
Now going into the 1984-85 season, Menotti who was the Barcelona manager for the previous season, resigned. This left Nunez, the president at the time, with a hard choice to select the next Barcelona manager. This time he decided to go into the English market and he hired Terry Venables, a relatively unknown manager whose biggest achievement was taking QPR to the FA Cup final in 1982.
Terry Venables employed a 4-4-2 formation with a diamond and utilised an intense pressing game on the weakest player on the ball to win back the ball and get the runners from the diamond to make runs on the wing and work the ball into the box. Alongside that, he signed Steve Archibald to replace Maradona and with the fact he had a great group of established player such as Urruti, Schuster and Migueli. His squad was ready to go for LaLiga.
The season started in the Bernabeu, and due to the ongoing 10 year LaLiga drought at the time and the general pessimism the club had at the time. Many people didn’t expect Barcelona to clutch a result there but what really happened was Barcelona produced an exhibition of football so great they won 3-0 there. That victory propelled Barcelona to a 15 game unbeaten run where they won 10 and drew 5. This amazing form continued late into the season and despite the European humiliation to the hands of Metz (4-2 A, 1-4 H). Barcelona continued to dominate in LaLiga and finally on the 24th of March 1985, Barcelona clinched their 10th LaLiga title and their first LaLiga title since the 1973-74 season which was Cruyff’s first season as a player.
Moods were very high going into the 1985-86 season with Barcelona having the chance to participate in the European Cup for the first time since 1974-75 where they lost 2-3 on aggregate to Leeds United in the semi finals. Barcelona like most other clubs at the time, focused mostly on the European Cup which led Real Madrid to boss into their first LaLiga title since 1980. Barcelona though managed to get past Sparta Prague, Porto, defending champions Juventus and IFK Goteborg to reach their first European Cup final in 25 years. What needs to be noted here is that Barcelona produced their highest ever match capacity with 120,000 against Juventus on the 5th of March 1986 in the first leg of the quarter finals. Also they managed to come back from a 3-0 first leg defeat by winning 3-0 and winning 5-4 on penalties to reach the final. Barcelona went into the 1986 European Cup final, which was held in the Sanchez Pizjuan, as the clear favourites against Steaua Bucharest. They were very arrogant and many people in the squad thought it was going to be a walk in the park, but due to Steaua’s insane defensive performance they managed to take it to penalties where Barcelona missed all 4 of their penalties and lost 2-0. This loss was very traumatic for Barcelona as they were so sure they were going to win the European Cup for the first time in their history.
This loss really changed something in Venables’ Barça, it caused the entire club to be depressed which truly changed things for the worse and nothing would ever be the same. After that defeat, despite Barcelona doing very well in the 1986-87 LaLiga season, due to an odd playoff system, Barcelona managed to finish 2nd 3 points behind Real Madrid, who retained their title and this was the 2nd of the 5 in an row they won between 1986 and 1990.
The 1987-88 season started off very badly and due to that as well as the European humiliation caused by Dundee United where they won both legs in the UEFA Cup quarter finals the previous season. Terry Venables was sacked and replaced by Aragones, who didn’t change anything and eventually he also was sacked after supporting the players in the Hesperia Mutiny. In the summer of 1988, Johan Cruyff was signed as manager and the rest is history.
This thread was written originally to talk about the significance of the 1984-85 LaLiga title that literally made Barça wake up and realise their greatness in Spanish football. But on further analysis, it really was one man who managed that and that man was Terry Venables. Also forgot to mention the iconic, Urruti T’estimo commentary line where Urruti saved a penalty in the title clinching game in Valladolid which helped Barcelona finally win LaLiga after 11 years.
