FCBARCELONA.CAT

10.05.2009 11:58

20 years since the Berne Cup Winners Cup Final

Manel Tomàs

It’s 20 years ago that Barça won the Club’s third European Cup Winners Cup in Berne. In Johan Cruyff’s first season as manager, Barça beat Sampdoria on 10th May 1989 to lift the trophy.

This proved to be the prelude to the European Cup won against the same Italian opposition at Wembley three years later. It’s reasonable to say that the 1988-89 season had been a disappointing one – Barça finished second in the league five points behind Real Madrid and was knocked out of the Cup by Atlético Madrid - and that the European trophy did much to compensate.

The road to the final

Barça reached the final after eliminating Fram Reikiavik, Lech Poznan, Aarhus and Sredets Sofia, which then featured Hristo Stoichkov. Now was the chance to make up for two deep disappointments from the past.

Breaking the jinx

On the one hand, the venue for the final was Berne’s old Wankdorf Stadion, the same stadium where Barça had lost the European Cup final against Benfica, in a match plagued by bad luck. And just three years previously, Barça had lost the final of the European Cup in Seville against Steaua Bucharest on penalties.

Now was the time to put things right and as team captain José Ramón Alexanko said just before the match started: “I can still remember the eyes, full of tears, of many children coming back from Seville. This won’t happen here, it mustn’t happen. Here we’ll win and the return journey will be the happiest of the last ten years”.

20,000 fans

The 20,000 Barça fans who packed into the Wankdorf were not to be disappointed. The game began with a cautious 4-4-2 on the part of Sampdoria and an innovative 3-1-3-3 from Barça. An early goal from Julio Salinas (min. 4) forced the Italians to open up and take the initiative while Barça kept their nerve and held firm in defence. Twelve minutes from the final whistle, López Rekarte scored the decisive second and the glorious reign of the Dream Team had begun.