By Frank Mead
Background
This was my first experience of Manchester United taking on a genuine European heavyweight. True, we had beaten this very side in the Cup Winners Cup Final in Rotterdam just over three years earlier, however, I had been a kid more interested in my Ninja Turtles figures at that stage. There was also the added dimension that Barcelona now had the Brazilian super striker, Romario, who had lifted the World Cup in America a few months prior to this match.
United had started their Champions League group with a 4 – 2 win over IFK Gothenburg at Old Trafford, before a 0 – 0 draw with Galatasaray in Istanbul’s Ali Sami Yen stadium. Barcelona were seen by most people as the best side in Europe in the 1994 – 95 season, despite losing the previous season’s Champions League Final in Athens to a rampant AC Milan, who had destroyed them 4 – 0. In fairness, with players like Hristo Stoichkov, Josep Guardiola, Ronald Koeman and “The Beast of Barcelona”, Miguel Angel Nadal in the side, it’s not hard to see why many people fancied them to regain the trophy they had previously won at Wembley in 1992.
At that time, UEFA’s rule about only allowing three foreign players in European games severely hampered United. Players such as Mark Hughes, Denis Irwin and Brian McClair were classed as “assimilated” having been born in the British Isles, and English clubs were allowed two of these players on top of the three foreign players. Barcelona were also hampered by the foreigner rule, having to leave the brilliant Romanian playmaker Gheorghe Hagi, another player who had lit up the World Cup, out of the squad entirely.
The Match
There was a surprise inclusion in the line-up, as Steve Bruce was dropped in favour of Paul Parker, who was instructed to use his pace to mark Romario. It was a brave decision, given that Parker had spent the early part of the season struggling with an ankle injury, and usually played at right back when fit. Mark Hughes led the attack against his former club, despite having not scored in more than two months since his goal against Queens Park Rangers on the opening day of the season. Eric Cantona was serving the third of a four game ban for his red card against Galatasaray the previous season.
Manchester United started the match at a frantic pace, attacking the Stretford End goal almost from kick off. Lee Sharpe and Andrei Kanchelskis gave Barcelona’s full backs Sergi and Luis a torrid time in the opening thirty minutes. Paul Ince drove United’s midfield on, and the early impressions were that the Reds were not afraid of their opponents in the slightest as they created quite a few chances, one of which Koeman had to clear away from the goal line, with Hughes coming in behind waiting to pounce.
As the twenty minute mark approached, a lovely passage of play from United saw Pallister knock the ball forward, and a simple touch from Hughes fell into the path of Paul Ince, who hit a lovely pass down the left wing for Lee Sharpe. Sharpe’s crossing hadn’t been very accurate in the early stages of the game, despite having the beating of the full back, but this time the winger put in a perfect cross for Mark Hughes, who outjumped Ronald Koeman to send a downward header past Carlos Busquets and into the net, thereby ending his own personal goal drought. 1 – 0 to United.
The Reds continued to dominate the play, Sharpe in particular impressing down that left hand side, at one stage whipping in a cross that Hughes just about failed to connect with, which would surely have made it 2 – 0.
Ronald Koeman was booed every time he touched the ball, with fans not forgiving him for failing to be sent off in the World Cup qualifier the previous year, a match in which he scored the goal that killed any hopes England had of making it to the World Cup. In the 34th minute, Koeman silenced his critics with a superb ball to Bakero who advanced towards the United defence. With Ince in pursuit, the Spanish midfielder slid a fantastic reverse pass to Romario, who had escaped both Parker and Pallister, and was being played onside by David May. The Brazilian striker ran onto the pass and calmly slotted the ball through Schmeichel’s legs and into the back of the net with his first touch, cool as you like. This is why United fans had been afraid, and showed the sort of quality they were facing that evening.
Barcelona, playing in a peppermint green strip, started to take a foothold in the game, the goal apparently having woken them up. The remainder of the first half was fairly even, with no further chances of any note. As the half time whistle blew, the difference between the two goalscorers was startling. Hughes was dripping, having worked his socks off, in contrast with Romario, who hadn’t yet broken a sweat, and didn’t even raise an eyebrow when nutmegging the world’s best goalkeeper, making it look like the easiest thing in the world.
After the restart, United found Barcelona much more difficult to deal with. Romario’s goal had come against the run of play, but had clearly stunned the Reds. Barcelona had also taken off right-back Luis, who usually played as a midfielder and had had a nightmare against Lee Sharpe in the first half, and was therefore replaced by Sacristan Eusebio.
After just five minutes of the second half, Koeman took a shot which was charged down and went out for a throw. The resulting throw in was played back to Koeman, who drilled a cross into the penalty area, which was missed by Paul Parker. Inexplicably, despite the presence of four United defenders in the area, the ball found an unmarked Jose Maria Bakero who promptly chested down and volleyed the ball past Schmeichel and into the net. The Great Dane did get a hand to it, but had no chance of keeping it out.
After such a promising start, Manchester United were facing the prospect of their first ever European defeat at Old Trafford. In fairness to United, they didn’t buckle and immediately set about trying to find an equaliser. Kanchelskis, having a superb game, saw a shot deflected just wide of the post. Paul Scholes came off the bench to replace Nicky Butt. David May picked up an ankle injury and was replaced by Steve Bruce. Barcelona brought on Jordi Cruyff, son of the manager Johann, and who would become a very familiar figure at Old Trafford a couple of years later.
Barcelona looked composed, and as the game wore on we started to see less of the attacking wing play from Sharpe and Kanchelskis, but more of Romario and Stoichkov giving United’s defenders plenty to think about. Looking back, it’s probably a good job Barcelona couldn’t field Hagi, as he would have relished that particular stage of the game.
With ten minutes to go, Paul Ince won the ball and drove forward, with the deftest of touches he flicked the ball to Roy Keane in the right wing position, who rolled the ball into Lee Sharpe. The winger let the ball come behind him and neatly backheeled the ball into the net. Old Trafford erupted, as this magnificent game of football had brought us yet another quality goal. Sharpe ran to the crowd, and was clearly too knackered to think up one of his famous celebrations, such was his work rate that night.
United now sensed blood, and that the game was there for the taking. They might have had a penalty a few minutes after the equaliser, when Kanchelskis hounded Sergi into making a mistake and sent a low ball across the penalty area. Sharpe took a shot, which hit Nadal’s arm but the Romanian referee wasn’t interested. Shortly afterwards, Ince took a shot from 25 yards which tested Busquets in the Barcelona goal.
The story of the game had really been that whenever United had upped the tempo, and attacked at pace, Barcelona couldn’t live with them. But the Catalan side had enjoyed much of the possession, especially in the second half, and United struggled to keep up with them for large periods.
As the 90th minute approached both sides almost found a winner. Future Barcelona manager Josep Guardiola dallied on the ball and slipped, allowing Paul Scholes to almost mark his European debut for United with the winning goal, as his chip over Busquets just cleared the crossbar. Barcelona replied by sending Stoichkov down the right flank, and his cross to the advancing Romario was nicked out of the way just in time by Steve Bruce, who cleared it for a corner.
The resulting corner saw Nadal take a shot from around thirty yards which went over the bar, and that was the last action of a pulsating game of football that had everything; great goals, great players and a cracking atmosphere. A great advertisement for the UEFA Champions League which, at that stage, was still in its infancy.
Aftermath
The return fixture at the Nou Camp a fortnight later won’t hold too many pleasant memories for Manchester United fans, as Barcelona ripped the Reds apart. Stoichkov scored twice and Romario also registered as United were thumped 4 – 0. Because of the foreign player rule, Peter Schmeichel was dropped in favour of Englishman Gary Walsh, but even the Great Dane wouldn’t have been able to do anything about Barcelona’s attacking play that night – they were simply breath-taking.
Incredibly, that 4 – 0 win spelled the beginning of the end for Johann Cruyff’s “dream team”. Romario was unhappy at Barcelona and transferred to Flamengo in his native Brazil following an alleged rift with the manager. Hard to imagine one of the world’s best players leaving one of the world biggest clubs to go and play in South America these days, especially as he was awarded the FIFA World Player of the Year in 1994. Stoichkov won the 1994 Ballon d’Or, but left Barcelona at the end of the season to try his luck with Parma in Italy, having also apparently fallen out with Cruyff.
United finished third in their Champions League group, as Barcelona scraped through on the final day, level on points with United (teams were awarded two points for a win back then), but with a better head-to-head record in fixtures between the two.
When this match was played, only the champions of each country qualified for the Champions League, but neither United nor Barcelona successfully defended their crowns. United lost their title to Blackburn Rovers on the final day of the season, and Barcelona had a miserable season domestically, finishing fourth in the table as Real Madrid won their first title in five years, and thumped the Catalan side 5 – 0 at the Bernabeu just for good measure.
The matches against Barcelona in the 1994 – 95 season would prove to be something of a learning curve for Manchester United. The next time they met would be four years later, in the 1998 – 99 season – and all United fans know how that season panned out…..
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