Less than a week to go before the Champions League final at Wembley, and my nerves are already on edge, tension rising. I am assured of a ticket, but I am also seriously contemplating asking for help from a neighbour who is a hypnotherapist. This is a match I’m reluctant to predict the outcome of. My heart sees a Barca victory, but my head throbs with the fear that Ferguson might just clinch it. The more I think of it though, the less does the last encounter in Rome strike me as a relevant point of reference. Instead I think we need to ponder on the early 1990’s. Psychology matters in football.
Let us remember. It was the Cruyff era, when Barca fans lived with the expectation of victory. From the moment of his arrival as coach/manager, there was a collective will that he succeed. You don’t invest in legends only to shoot them down. And Cruyff for a long time managed to project an image that seemed large than life.
In January 1991, Barca beat Real Madrid. A month later Cruyff suffered a heart attack. As he recovered, his fragility and his manner of overcoming it touched an emotional chord among the fans, and strengthened their faith in him. Barca went on to win the League- only to lose three days later to Manchester United in the final of the European Cup Winners Cup in Rotterdam.
The following season, 1991-2 saw the consolidation of the ‘dream team’, a phrase invented by the local media and adopted by the fans to express a wish-fulfilment. Barca reached the final of the European Cup, at Wembley, against Sampdoria. As the players prepared to walk through the tunnel, Cruyff was there to calm nerves with an impromptu last-minute pep talks. “We are in Wembley. The pitch is perfect, the stadium is full. We are going to play in the final of the European Cup. So go out and enjoy it.”
Barca won and that night cules danced all the way from Wembley to Canaletas via Trafalgar Square and the then club vice-president Joan Gaspart did what he promised he would do. He celebrated the victory by throwing himself into the Thames.
It was a tough period that-where life defied death, and dreams confronted disillusion. I reckon that for Barca this last season has proved, as tough, if not even tougher. Here is a selected list of some of the challenges: Abidal’s tumour, Pujol’s injury, Pep Guardiola’s stress-related back problem, unfounded allegations of drug abuse, and last, but by no means least, having to fight a war of attrition with Mourinho in one of the nastiest seasons in the history of Spanish football. Motivation will not be lacking on Saturday. Let’s hope both sides can set aside past demons, and put on a performance worthy of their best reputation.
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