Barcelona in 1999! What are your impressions of this lineup?

Barcelona in 1999?

That is the Barcelona team under Van Gaal, which is said to be "just one step away from dream two".

Why is there the word "dream"? Because at that time, the lineup was considered strong, especially in the frontcourt. Who was he? The Dutchman Kluivert is at the center, while Figo and Rivaldo fly on the wings! The three arrows in the front field are fired together, which is very powerful.

What's more, there are passers like Litmanning and Guardiola in the midfield, as well as Cocu, an all-round warrior like Cocu who runs all over the field. With the addition of rising stars such as Xavi, Zeden and Simao, the offensive power is naturally guaranteed.

Then why is the word "dream" preceded by the five words "only one step away"? The problem is defensively. The Dutch goalkeeper Hesip's performance is not stable, and De Boer and others in the defense are also of the type that focuses on offense but not defense.

In fact, Barcelona was troubled by the goalkeeper problem for a long time in those years. From 1996 to 2004, from Baia of Portugal to Hesp of the Netherlands, from Etruscan of France to Rustu of Turkey, it seemed that None of them are reliable.

This is why Barcelona had a strong lineup in those years, but its record was not a "dream" - although it had won three consecutive league championships, its record in European competitions was mediocre.

Van Gaal, who transplanted the "Total Attack and Total Defense" system and personnel from the Netherlands and Ajax, to what extent does his team focus on offense and light defense?

In the 1998-99 Champions League, the two rounds of the group stage were against Manchester United, both 3:3 goal battles!

In the 1999-00 season, in the Champions League quarter-finals, Barcelona trailed Chelsea 1:3 away from home in the first leg.

Back at home, Barcelona easily led 2:0. At this time, Barcelona goalkeeper Hesp failed to pretend and was pulled back a goal. At this time, Barcelona, ??which was desperate, immediately showed its strong offensive power, immediately practiced in three cities, and beat Chelsea 5:1.

In this game, the frontcourt quartet of Figo, Rivaldo, Kluivert and Dani all scored goals, which was very impressive.

But when they really encountered a team that was good at counterattacking, Barcelona fell to their knees - that season they had clashes with Valencia, led by Mendieta, in La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League, all three battlefields. Beaten by Valencia. And Lopez, the "little bug" who specializes in treating Barcelona, ??has also become the player that the Red and Blues fear most.

What impressed me the most was the jerseys from the 1998-99 and 1999-00 seasons. They were commemorative jerseys for the 100th anniversary of the founding of Barcelona Club. Made of deep red and dark blue, it is different from the usual red and blue striped jerseys and is particularly beautiful. Love this one so much. It's a pity that I never wore this or similar jerseys again.

At that time, Barcelona pushed the total offense and total defense style to the extreme. The play style was smooth, the skills were superb, and the scene was extremely pleasing to the eye. It can be said that more than half of Guardiola's subsequent success has the shadow of this Barcelona.

At that time, under Louis van Gaal, almost half of the Barcelona team at that time were Dutch players. I personally felt that it was more comprehensive and more full-attack and defensive than in the Cruyff era. At that time, Van Gaal focused on promoting a young boy who was only 18 years old, deliberately focused on training, and said that he would lead Barcelona forward in the future. This boy was Xavi.

I still think that Van Gaal is the coach who really changed Barcelona. The Xavi, Puyol, Gabri, and Valdes he promoted were all able to be trained and entrusted with important tasks at a very young age. These later became the mainstays of Barcelona's rise.

There are three things that impressed me most about the 1999 Barcelona lineup: Puyol emerged, Guardiola began to decline, there were many Dutchmen, and the front trident of Rivaldo Figo and Kluivert was strong enough. Compared with the later 3R.

The regular starters that year were probably: Hesp, Bogarde, Rivaldo, Enrique, Guardiola, De Boer, Kluivert, Van Hollenthus Te, Cocu, Sergi, Figo.

Let’s talk about it in detail below:

Puyol started playing in 1999, starting as a right back. As soon as he debuted, he showed strong running ability, fighting ability, tenacity, and never gives up. He is a veritable local soul. Back then, Barcelona trained him as a future captain, and he was also a tough-minded person that Barcelona lacked.

After talking about Puyol, I must say that Guardiola, Barcelona’s previous local soul, was affected by injuries and limited by the sports level of the year. Guardiola began to degrade a lot in 1999.

Guardiola's personal skills are very solid. He can use his observation and grasp of the situation on the court at any time to calmly and reasonably distribute the ball and direct the team to launch attacks through the center or the wing; he is Ha Wei's senior, a typical Barcelona No. 4 player, his style is imaginable. His long passes are also very accurate and are a powerful tool for the team to launch quick attacks; at the same time, despite his small stature, he can block the opponent's attack with his good defensive awareness and strong anticipation. Guardiola is the metronome of Barcelona, ??the key figure.

Influenced by Cruyff, Barcelona has always preferred Dutch players. Moreover, after Van Gaal took charge of Barcelona in 1998, he paid more attention to the introduction of Dutch players. During the Van Gaal era, he introduced 9 compatriots from his native Netherlands. Among them, the Dutch reached their historical peak in 1999. At that time, 8 Dutch people were brought together in the Barcelona lineup, and they started. There were actually 6 Dutch people. Of course, these Dutchmen didn't actually bring many trophies to Barcelona.

The frontcourt trident that year was left winger Rivaldo, right winger Figo, and center Kluivert. Theoretically speaking, it is better than the later combinations of Ronaldo Ogiuli, Henrietta O'Messi, MVP, and MSN, and it is not worse than the Brazilian 3R.

Left winger Rivaldo, World Footballer of the Year, could be said to be the best player besides Ronaldo at that time in terms of ability to work alone. He was also terrifyingly stable and had a high football IQ.

Right winger Figo has always been called the right winger and the World Footballer. His status is similar to that of Zidane. He was the most powerful right winger of that decade.

Center Kluivert is the type of center that Barcelona wants most. His style is even more suitable than Ronaldo Eto'o. He can make up for Barcelona's lack of center fulcrum and header when breaking the iron barrel. , It's a pity that he is good at everything, but his shooting is not good. If his shooting is more reliable, he can really compete with Ronaldo as the number one center forward.

Such a trident combination, speed, technology, coordination, strength, heading, scheming, everything you want, it is invincible in theory, but it is a pity that it has not been achieved.

Since La Liga is a New Year's Eve game, talking about Barcelona's lineup in 1999 involves two lineups in the 1998-99 season and the 1999-2000 season.

1999 is the 100th anniversary of Barcelona Club. I remember that this year, Barcelona Club played a friendly match with the Brazilian national team at Camp Nou! That game can be said to be a star-studded one. The starting lineup excluded by Barcelona coach Louis van Gaal in that game was: Hesp, Reiziger, Frank de Boer, Abelardo, Sergi, Guardiola, Cocu, Figo, Cen Den, Enrique, Kluivert, the captain is Guardiola. The team is basically based on the Dutch national team, with the midfielder being led by Portuguese star Figo.

Barcelona won the La Liga championship in the 1998-99 season. In that season, in the competition with their old rival Real Madrid, Barcelona led Real Madrid by 11 points. This made Real Madrid have the ambition to form a galactic battleship.

In the 1998-1999 season when they won the championship, Barcelona used a formation of 442, with Baia as the goalkeeper; the defense from left to right was Sergi, Frank De Boer, Abelardo and Ray Ziege; the midfield double midfielders are Guardiola and Cocu, the left midfielder Rivaldo, the right midfielder Figo, and the forwards are Kluivert and Sony Anderson.

From this point of view, there are still relatively big changes in the team lineup in the two seasons. The lineup in the 1998-99 season was relatively compact. The hardness and creativity of the team's midfield were world-class. Although the forward line was not luxurious, the strong control of Figo and Rivaldo ensured the team's record.

However, in 1999, the top club in European football was Manchester United in the Premier League. The Champions League final that year was held at Camp Nou. I remember Manchester United scoring two goals in stoppage time to win the championship.

Two thousand years later, in the competition in La Liga, it feels like Barcelona is still lagging behind the star-studded Real Madrid.

The formation used by Barcelona in the 1998-1999 season was 442. Goalkeeper: Baia; defense from left to right: Sergi, Frank de Boer, Abelardo, Reiziger; center Double defensive midfielder: Guardiola, Cocu; left midfielder: Rivaldo; right midfielder: Figo; forward: Kluivert, Sony Anderson.