The 1995–96 season was FC Barcelona's 97th season in existence and 67th consecutive season in the top flight of Spanish football, La Liga. Barcelona again failed to follow up on their 1993-94 league title, instead finishing third in the league. In April, the team lost the chance at three trophies in 10 days. First, Barcelona reached the finals of the Copa del Rey, losing 1-0 to Atlético Madrid. They then stumbled in the UEFA Cup as they were knocked out by Bayern Munich in a 1-2 (3-4 on aggregate) loss at home, before losing definitively to Atlético Madrid at home, erasing the chance of a league win.
The season was head coach Johan Cruyff's final with the club, as he was sacked after the May losses. Carles Rexach served as manager until Englishman Bobby Robson was hired.
Summary
The season is best remembered as the end of Johan Cruyff's era as Head coach after almost eight years. During the summer the club made the transfers in of Gheorghe Popescu from Tottenham Hotspur,[1] striker Ángel Cuéllar from Real Betis,[2] forward Meho Kodro from Real Sociedad,[3] Robert Prosinečki from Real Oviedo[4] and the controversial move of Luís Figo from Sporting Lisboa (a petition of Jorge Valdano to the Real Madrid) after a two years ban of Italian Federation due to a double accord of the Portuguese midfielder with both Parma and Juventus.[5]
Cruyff took Hristo Stoichkov and Ronald Koeman out of the team with controversy for fans and President included. In this campaign, the plan of head coach was mix arrivals and a new generation known as "La Quinta de Lo Pelat" (The generation of Lo Pelat) young players such as Iván de la Peña nicked as Pelat, Oscar García, Roger García, Toni Velamazan and Albert Celades.
The team reached its climax on 7 October 1995 defeating Real Betis 5–1 in Sevilla with a memorable exhibition of La Quinta de Lo Pelat, the club were struggling in League against leader of table Atlético Madrid meanwhile competing in 1995–96 Copa del Rey where the squad reached the 1996 Copa del Rey Final and 1996–97 UEFA Cup Semifinals phase.
However, the squad lost in ten days the three trophies, first on 10 April 1996 FC Barcelona was defeated 0-1 by Atlético Madrid in the Copa del Rey Final. Six days later, in Barcelona the squad lost the semifinal 1–2 against Bayern München and was eliminated from the UEFA Cup tournament. The bizarre series of results ended on 20 April 1996 when Atlético Madrid won 3–1 at Camp Nou means that FC Barcelona could not win La Liga for second consecutive year.
The shocking 10 days of losses shattered Johan Cruyff as manager and President Jose Luis Nuñez started contacts with English trainer Bobby Robson during May to replace Cruyff for 1996–97 season. Finally, Nuñez fired Cruyff on 19 May 1996 and signed Robson as the new head coach.
Squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
