The memory of ‘the First’ thirty years later

In the 30th anniversary week Wembley, four days after May 20, the group ‘Amics de Johan’ brought together a good part of the winners of the first european cup of football in the history of Barcelona in the Auditoriums of the building Mediapro. In a ceremony led by the journalist Jordi Bastéfrom RAC 1, highlighted on the one hand the memory of the figure of Johan Cruyff and, on the other, the anecdotes that members remembered of the ‘Dream Team’ about the Wembley final. And there, of course, Julio Salinas felt like a fish in water… and Hristo Stoichkov.

It didn’t take long the bulgarian in skipping the protocol, take the cup and hand it to ‘Talin’ Alexanco: “Here, take it, it’s yours”, he blurted out. Also, under an image of the mythical ‘peak’ between him and Koeman in the celebration, at dawn, he said: “It tasted sweet…”, next to a Koeman who did not know where to go. “You didn’t like it?” he told her.

A Koeman who remembered Johan: “I met him for a year at Ajax. At Barça he changed the way of playing and many things. it was very demanding but also human and familiar, a coach who proved to have the confidence to win and transmitted it every day. He applied the position game that he con Charly had played”.

The reference was missing. to the chance of scoring by Julio Salinas: “Luckily he didn’t score, if he still scores today he would be playing for Barça, and he could play because in the end he only left for ten minutes…”, said Michelangelo Nadal in an ironic tone.

moments before, Julito had explained the reason for the group’s good vibes: “Half were Catalans or from the academy and the other half Basque. And then, three foreigners very good. We Basques had already won titles… ”There Nadal jumped back into the court: “Let’s see, let’s see… how many European Cups have you won?”, he said.

Obviously, there were references to the phrase “go out and enjoy”. “I don’t know if he said it, I had disconnected from the talk when Johan told me that I only had to continue around the field, even to the toilet, to Mancini… I had returned to play eleven days before after the ‘triad’ I suffered in November”, recalled ‘Chapi’, who remembered Joan Malgosa, Àngel Mur and Jaume Langa, present at the event.

Modest, Love, who missed the final due to suspension, he stated that “nobody thought we could lose, it was our moment. I’m glad I lost the final and won.” Angoy corroborated Johan’s commitment to the quarry that Guillermo had highlighted… and recalled his wedding: “I got married that month of May.”

The ‘unpreparedness’ of the fault

In the play of gol the Koeman, were Ronald, Hristo, who said he had not been prepared, and Bakero, who confirmed it: “As is. Ronald said it was too close to shoot up, so we decided to get the ball out a little bit”.

Naturally, there were references to Cruyff. José Mari recalled that he “did things like inviting us to his house for dinner, he served you wine and bread and the next day in the field he didn’t know you and he would blow your mind.”

Also Pep Guardiola referred to the suffering of the final: “Except for Ronald and Zubi, who gave it to us, the rest of us suffered. Zubi saved us and Ronald played with great personality. “It was very even, but without Madrid in the final minutes. The details made the difference.” Txiki recalled that “when I signed, they only talked about the final with Steaua”.

Other that from a distance What reminded Cruyff was Laudrup, who also stated that “there are teams in Barça’s history that are better than us, but we won in one thing: we were the first to win the European Cup”.

Of the control anti-doping Juan Carlos spoke: “It was Chapi and me’s turn, while we waited we hugged each other every time we passed each other”.

Behind there was Zubi, who explained that “I didn’t see the goal, I knew it had gone in because of the reaction from the stands”. Pep had said that he didn’t want to take penalties and Zubi blurted out: “Me neither”.

From the after party few references beyond the Koeman-Hristo kiss. “He was the happiest man in the world,” Stoichkov recalled.

Obviously, all were. And they were yesterday remembering Johan after two years without being able to do it due to the pandemic. “Johan gave us how to face everything in another way, he brought that way without complexes. The Barça was one before and another one after him”, said Pep. Jordi, who was with his mother, Danny, and his sister, Susila, called the Wembley heroes “my idols.” Rexach, Cristóbal, Nando, Serna and Goiko were missing from the squad.

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