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WEMBLEY 1992 Class of '92 Johan Cruyff's original 'Dream Team' 25th Anniversary As Machado posted directly above, it's now 25 years since FC Barcelona won their first European Cup (Champions League) headed by the genius Johan Cruyff. At the time Barça were the unequivocal version of club underachievers in this particular tournament with various finals but getting a mind block in the final itself and always managing to lose it. No better example was the final in Sevilla between FC Barcelona and Steaua Bucharest in 1986 where Barça were outright favourites and the game ended in a draw where every single Barcelona player ended up a nervous wreck and missed every penalty. Johan Cruyff ended all that and returned the club to its original ideals in an attempt to build from there. Since that area with his two versions of his 'Dream Team' (the 1992 version being the original and most successful) the club haven't looked back by dominating domestic Spanish football and winning 5 European Cups (Champions Leagues). Again, as Machado posted above, there are a series of events and games that will be played with football legends not only from that Barça team, but of all the clubs they met along the way that will be run over the coming days. A great moment to be in the city of Barcelona and attend this marvellous moment in football history. Here are a list of those FC Barcelona players and what's become of them ever since. ANDONI ZUBIZARRETA One of the many Spanish goalkeeping legends that played a whopping 126 times for Spain as a full international. The Basque goalkeeper started his career in Deportivo Alavés' academy and made his name at Athletic Club Bilbao where he was signed by Johan Cruyff and ended up playing 301 times for FC Barcelona. From there he moved to Valencia CF where he played 152 times... Has worked as technical director for football at both Athletic Bilbao and FC Barcelona. Is currently doing the same job in France for Olympique Marseille. CARLES BUSQUETS Carles Busquets was the second keeper at Barça during the time Cruyff was coaching the club and part of the 'Dream Team'. He is the father of the defensive midfielder Sergio Busquets (left on the picture) and was famous for his saves using his legs and feet... Also famed for never having worn shorts and always playing with tracksuit bottoms. Carles Busquets played 79 times as a first team player for Barça and 3 times as a Spain U-16 international but never making it as a full international. He is currently the goalkeeping coach at Barça 'B' where he's been since retiring from football at a stint in Lleida. JESÚS MARIANO ANGOY Angoy was the third keeper at Barça who only managed to play 2 times for the full side in the Copa del Rey. He is more famous for being Johan Cruyff's son in law after marrying Cruyff's oldest daughter. Angoy retired early from football and ended up being a fine American Footballer on the European stage for Barcelona Dragons. ALBERT FERRER Albert Ferrer was the first of the modern European full-backs and a pure Cruyff product in terms of a defender that could defend but be a major protagonist going forward. One in a great line of world class right-backs at the club ever since... Ferrer was a La Masia product who played 204 times for Barça where he then moved to Chelsea FC in 1998 and stayed there for 6 years. 36 times a Spain full international who's had various jobs as a head coach at Vitesse Arnhem, Córdoba and Real Mallorca. Is currently acting as a football pundit both in Spain and for SKY in England. NANDO MUÑOZ Nando Muñoz started his career at Sevilla and early on moved to Barça. He was pinpointed by Cruyff himself who had attended various Sevilla games and wanted him sure to his very good ball playing technique as a centre-back. Nando played 63 times for Barça where he then moved to Real Madrid and played 49 times for them... Finished his playing career at RCD Espanyol where he played 123 times. Nando also had 8 appearances as a full international for Spain. He is now a director at MEYBA which was the sports company that provided Barcelona's football attire back in the late 70s and early 80s. RONALD KOEMAN An outright FC Barcelona football legend from this side. A centre-back that had noticeable ball technique but which was mainly known for his radar pinpointing mid-range to long-range passing... He was legendary for his hammer blow free kicks from all parts of the pitch and ironically it was one of his many free-kicks that won Barcelona their first European Cup (Champions League) in Wembley in 1992 against Italy's Sampdoria. A very loved character in Spain who has gone onto coaching since retiring from football. Koeman started his playing career at Groningen where he played 90 times, then onto Ajax where he played 94 times, PSV Eindhoven where he played for them 98 times and then signed in 1989 for FC Barcelona where he played 192 times scoring an incredible 67 goals for Barça and that's amazing for a centreback. Ronald Koeman ended his playing career at Feyenoord where he performed 61 times for them. Koeman also played for Holland's national team 78 times scoring 14 goals for the Mechanical Orange. All together an incredible 207 goals for a centre-back is mindblowing. Koeman is currently the Everton head coach in the Premier League but he's also coached, Vitesse Arnhem, Ajax, SL Benfica, PSV Eindhoven, Valencia CF, AZ, Feyenoord and Southampton. JUAN CARLOS RODRÍGUEZ Juan Carlos Rodríguez (known as Juan Carlos) was the Barça left-back in that period where he played 55 times for Barça and signed from Real Valladolid by Johan Cruyff where he returned to end his career. He has been part of the Real Valladolid board until recently where he's returned to FC Barcelona and is now working there in the youth setup. JOSÉ RAMÓN ALEXANCO Known simply as Alexanco, he is another of the Barça true legends and the club captain in 1992 when Barça lifted the European Cup for the first time at Wembley Stadium. Incredibly Alexanco was a player with Cruyff at the club and managed to last until Cruyff returned and coached the club to ultimate victory. It's a love story the true Barça fans have with this wonderful mild personality and is meant to be one of the nicest men in football. Alexanco is Basque and started his career at Athletic Club Bilbao and moved to Barça in 1976. Alexanco also played 34 times as a full Spain international. He has been working at Barça ever since he retired but two months ago was offered the job as technical director for football at Valencia CF where he is currently. CRISTÓBAL PARRALO Known simply as Cristóbal, was a rental defender at FC Barcelona and partnered Nando at the back in that famous win in 1992. A La Masia product that only played that particular season as a first team player and then moved to Real Oviedo, passed to RCD Espanyol and ended his playing career at Paris Saint-Germain in France. He is currently the coach of Deportivo La Coruña's 'B' team. RICARDO SERNA Ricardo Serna was also a centre-back at Barça during the 'Dream Team' years. He started his career at Sevilla where he moved to Barça in 1988 and played 101 times for the club. He currently runs an independent football academy in Sevilla and has provided various players for both Real Betis and Sevilla FC. PEP GUARDIOLA The ball boy that became a legend! That's what Cruyff referred to him as and he's certainly that in more ways than just one at FC Barcelona. One of the most cultured midfielders of his generation and to be honest not too much has to be added here! Josep "Pep" Guardiola is a La Masia product and Cruyff's maximum exponent of his football... Guardiola played 263 times for Barça scoring 18 goals in that time. He then went on to play in Italy after leaving Barça with Brescia, AS Roma and Juventus. He also played 47 times as a full international for Spain. He is currently a head coach where he's gone from FC Barcelona to Bayern Munich and now currently in the Premier League with Manchester City. JOSÉ MARÍA BAKERO One of my personal favourite footballers of all time (it's a big list but he's definitely in there) and another of the true Barça football legends. He is known as Cruyff's masterstroke when he signed the diminutive player from Basque club Real Sociedad... He was extremely technically gifted with a low centre of gravity which let him turn sharply in every direction in midfield... An all rounder that was the very first "false 9" ever played in the history of the game by Cruyff on various occasions. But he mostly played dead centre in midfield and also a scorer of great goals, especially showing up in important games like the Kaiserlautern one. Bakero played 260 times for Barça scoring 72 goals for the club (142 both with Real Sociedad and Barcelona). José Mari Bakero also played 30 times as a full international for Spain. From Barcelona went onto play for Veracruz in Mexico... Has also dabbled in coaching with Puebla (Mexico), Málaga 'B', Real Sociedad, Legia Warsaw, Lech Poznan and Juan Aurich (Perú). EUSEBIO SACRISTÁN Eusebio was another of Johan Cruyff's personal scouting selections where he attended various games himself and in this case at Real Valladolid. But unfortunately at that time Cruyff didn't get his way and the signing was thwarted by Atlético Madrid where he moved in 1987... But a year later Cruyff convinced him to move to Barcelona where he played 203 times for the club and was a part of the 'Dream Team'. From there he moved to play for Celta Vigo and finally ending his career at his home club Real Valladolid. Eusebio has gone onto coaching where he was part of the La Masia and also coaching the Barcelona 'B' side. He is currently successfully coaching Real Sociedad. GUILLERMO AMOR Another of the players held in very high regard by the Barça faithful. A La Masia product that played 311 times for FC Barcelona and a Xavi type midfielder... Amor also played 27 times for Spain scoring 4 goals. Amor went on to play for Fiorentina then Villarreal and finalising his career in Scotland for Livingston. Guillermo Amor is back working in La Masia after a stint as coach in Australia for Adelaide United. MIGUEL ÁNGEL NADAL Known as "The Beast of Barcelona" and a no nonsense centre-back... A love affair of none other than Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United who tried to sign him on three different occasions. Miguel Ángel Nadal is also the tennis star Rafa Nadal's uncle. His career started at Real Mallorca where he moved to Barcelona in 1991 playing 208 times for the club and scoring 12 goals. He also played for Spain 62 times. Nadal has been Michael Laudrup's assistant coach on several occasions and is currently his nephew's (Rafa Nadal) agent on the tennis circuit. TXIKI BEGUIRISTAIN Again another of the Cruyff bets with the Basque left-winger. He wasn't exactly hyper-fast for a winger but was the typical extremely technical player that was a trickster and hard to get the ball off. A great passer of the ball and also very good at coming inside and scoring goals. Like José Mari Bakero, Beguiristain was a Real Sociedad product and a player Cruyff himself made a bet on. Txiki went on to play 223 times for Barça scoring a great return of 63 goals, important goals it has to be added because he was a big game player. Beguiristain finilised his playing career at Deportivo La Coruña, representing them 43 times. He went onto be a major player in the acquisition of Ronaldinho from PSG and part of the very fruitful Joan Laporta era at the club. He is now the technical director for football at Manchester City in the Premier League. RICHARD WITSCHGE The Dutch midfielder was once said to be the next "Great Midfielder" by Johan Cruyff... He was signed from from Ajax and didn't exactly make it like Cruyff had envisioned... Cruyff actually made the same "error" with the new Barça coach Ernesto Valverde by feeling that the player could take the pressure at a club like Barcelona and reproduce what he looked like being able to do so at his original club. It wasn't to be, but was a part of that great squad. Wtischge went on to play 40 times for Barcelona, scoring 2 goals. From there he moved to Blackburn Rovers and then to Alavés (the great Alavés side that lost the UEFA Cup final against Liverpool) and finally on to Oita Trinita to end his playing career. He is currently part of the Ajax staff. MICHAEL LAUDRUP The greatest Danish footballer in history and a total footballing legend. He was brought in from Juventus in Italy for a then record sum of £9m... He ended up being one of the historical reference players in the Spanish league with some of the most exquisite technical football ever seen. His side glance, giving the player the eye pass was his forté and nobody ever done it as well. Infact today when a player does this sort of pass in Spain it's called the "Laudrup Pass". Nobody will every forget his performances for Denmark in the 1986 World Cup in Mexico and his time at Barça is legendary. Again, he is one of the few to have moved from Barcelona to Real Madrid but unlike another, he isn't inflicted with the sane animosity. He played a total of 167 games for Barça and scoring 40 goals. From there he went on to play for Real Madrid, Viseel Kobe and ending his career at Ajax. Laudrup played 104 times for Denmark and scored 37 goals. Michael Laudrup went on to coaching where he's represented Brøndby, Getafe (Spain), Spartak Moscow, Real Mallorca, Swansea City and is now at Al Rayyan in Qatar. HRISTO STOICHKOV Another of the ultimate Barcelona legends... The Bulgarian Tzar! One of the great players in the history of the game and one of many that won the Ballon d'Or at FC Barcelona. Hristo Stoichkov again was a bet by Johan Cruyff by signing him from Bulgarian football club, CSKA Sofia. He was a relatively unknown player but Cruyff saw in him a revolutionary in a total attack for Barça and so it proved to be. Stoichkov went on to play for Barcelona on two separate occasions mounting up almost 200 appearances and 82 goals for the club. In between he moved to Parma in Italy and after his second stint at Barça he went back to CSKA Sofia. Stoichkov finished off his playing career in the MSL where he played for both Chicago Fire and later on DC United. Stoichkov went on to become a first team coach where he was briefly in charge of the Bulgaria national side and then after an argument with the Bulgarian FA he coached Celta Vigo for a year. He is now a pundit for US sports channel ESPN in America and also an official ambassador for FC Barcelona. JULIO SALINAS Salinas is a bit of a cult hero at Barça... He was known for missing sitters but scoring the most ridiculously difficult goals. Another of the Basque contingent at Barça who started his career at Athletic Club Bilbao and from the moved to Atlético Madrid where he played 75 times for the Madrid based club, scoring 31 goals. Then Cruyff moved in for him and signed him for Barça in 1988 where he played a total of 146 times and scoring 60 goals. After Barça he moved to Deportivo La Coruña, Sporting Gijón, and finally finished his career in Japan for Yokohama Marinos. He also represented Spain 56 times scoring 22 goals. He is currently a football pundit on the Spanish pay-per view platform Canal+. JON ANDONI GOIKOETXEA Again another of the many Basques at the club during that golden era for the Spanish northern region. Goikoetxea was a very technical winger with a great eye for goal... He didn't make it to the level he should've at Barça and what everyone expected from him, but all the same was a very valuable member of the squad. Goikoetxea played a total of 126 game for Barça after moving from Osasuna. He scored 6 goals for the club and represented Spain a total of 36 times scoring 6 goals. He is currently an assistant coach at Xerez in Andalusia. CARLES REXACH A legendary Barça player who in the Cruyff managerial era was assistant coach. He is the one who signed Lionel Messi as a child in a Barcelona restaurant by making a contract on a paper napkin (is now displayed at the Barcelona football museum). Currently does punditry work and also works as a representative for the present Barcelona president. Carles Rexach also had an interim moment as head coach for Barça during the 1991 season. He played 328 times for Barça, scoring 81 goals and represented Spain 15 times scoring 2 goals. TONNY BRUINS SLOT Cruyff's second assistant at Barcelona and one of the men that designed total football. He's had a long career as assistant from clubs ranging from Ajax, Barcelona, PSV, SL Benfica, Valencia and AZ. One of the great unsung heroes of what we have today in football. JOHAN CRUYFF And so we arrive at the final and most important piece in the puzzle. The man that not only changed football (this is a fact), but also changed the face of a club that had been forever underachieving and with sentiments of victimisation. Not only had he been a legend and a hero as a player, but he then returned (if you can call it a return as he had always stayed) as coach to do what he didn't manage as a player and that was design and create the belief in the Barça philsophy. He came back and won Barcelona the European Cup (Champions League) as the head coach, changing the face of the club forever. Never has one character been so important for a phenomenon that is called football as Johan Cruyff. We have the greatest footballers of all time like Maradona, Eusebio, Pelé, Di Stéfano and present ones like Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo... But none were on that level as players (two of those, the latter exempt obviously) and then went on to change football. Wembley '92 and everything about it is all about one man, Johan Cruyff!

Just Veratti and Bellerin(or even Cancelo, I think he suits the system) would greatly improve the team. The depth is there but wasn't always utilised properly or at the correct times last season for me. Paco proved to be a handy option in the end though, Denis showed signs when given opportunities and with all due respects to him, Andre Gomes ended the season strongly, so might, in the end, turn out being a good player despite all the criticism and poor debut season for him overall. Sergi Roberto will also offer depth in midfield(his real position) if a right back is purchased and in some games, can even slot in at right back himself since he's versatile and not always the worst of options to have there, although as a whole I'd like to see more of him in midfield. The main objective is luring in 2 quality players who can better the first 11, one of those a midfielder and the other a right back.

Except we aren't just relying on him? We have players throughout the pitch who are experienced in all levels of competition. Hazard had 16 goals last season, Pedro with 14 and Willian another 12. Unlike at Everton, the burden won't be on Lukaku alone to get us goals, as we have quality throughout the pitch. Lukaku will also have better players surrounding him than he did at Everton which can only make him better.

There have been a series of secret meetings between the Barça board and Marco Verratti's representatives. Infact this evening in Ibiza the player has been invited by Lionel Messi to a dinner where also Andrés Iniesta will be assisting. The rumour is that Barcelona have apparently officially offered €100m so as to have access to talk to the PSG player. Barça know that PSG won't start talking unless it's a €150m offer, but this opens the path for FCB to officially be able to contact the player personally.

PHOTOS OF THE TRIBUTE TO WEMBLEY '92 The whole FC Barcelona squad (minus the deceased Johan Cruyff) was there last night together with that great SL Benfica team to join in the celebrations of the 25th anniversary of Wembley '92. All of the children from La Masia were invited to participate as well. There will be more events in the coming days.

Teams lose mate! That team got beaten by various sides because nothing is perfect. On that Milan defeat, Barça went into that game with a very arrogant stance which had started a couple of weeks previous to the final with all sorts of comments from some players and the Barcelona based press thinking it was done and dusted. The fact was that the side that played AC Milan and got whipped was an even better side than the one that won at Wembley in 92... Much better football and Cruyff had refined it even more. These things happen but it's curious you remember that more when it is infact insignificant to what the post was about but maybe you would've preferred to find AC Milan history in the FC Barcelona thread. I'm not sure.

Yeah, Rafa Nadal is indeed a big Real Madrid fan but he isn't retarded with his comments at all and is very diplomatic infact. Strange considering his uncle was such a great player and played most of his career at Barça. But kids do stupid things I suppose.

Gave up on American Gods after three episodes, it's just too crazy and in my opinion, doesn't do justice to the book... Ian McShane as Wednesday is brilliant though, as is Pablo Schreiber's portrayal of Mad Sweeney/Leprechaun. Starting Le Mans: Racing is Everything now, new docuseries, just enough time to get hyped for 24 hours of Le Mans next weekend, hehe. Just watched the latest episode of The Son, easily one of the best shows currently on TV for me, @Viva la FCB you have to check it out if you haven't yet!!!

WWW.FCBARCELONA.COM - 09/06/2017 | 11:00 The members of FC Barcelona's 1992 European Cup winning team are the stars of Saturday's events. This weekend, FC Barcelona is holding a series of special events to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the club’s first ever European Cup title, which came at Wembley Stadium in 1992. Among the happenings are a full day Wembley25 Festival at Camp Nou, a tribute to the heroes of Wembley including a ceremony and match, and a series of talks in the days leading up to the tribute. Wembley25 Tribute and Match When: Saturday, 10 June Hours: Doors open at 8.00pm, the pregame buildup begins at 9.00pm, the tribute ceremony begins at 10.00pm. Where: Camp Nou Who will be there: Ronald Koeman, Hristo Stoichkov, José Mari Bakero, Pep Guardiola, Txiki Begiristain, Eusebio Sacristán, Andoni Zubizarreta, José Ramón Alexanko, Guillermo Amor, Ion Andoni Goikoetxea, Juan Carlos, Julio Salinas, Miguel Angel Nadal, Carles Busquets, Nando, Ricardo Serna, and CarlesRexach (coach), among others. What to expect: There will be a ceremony, laser-light show, a seven-a-side match between the Barça players and players from Benfica’s 1992 team, which Barça beat, 2–1, at Camp Nou in the final group stage match that year, thus qualifying them for the Wembley final. Benfica will field Rui Costa, Paulo Santos, Veloso, Dimas, Andrade, Bruno Basto, Paulo Madeira, Ricardo Rocha, Paneira and Van Hooijdonk.

My favourite Kimi team radios are the ones from his adventure at Nascar. He couldn't even understand the rednecks most of the time. 00:06 "WAT?".