[Almogàver]

20 years ago... Zorrilla (Valladolid), 88th minute, 2 minutes far from the 10th Liga title, Barça was winning 1-2 and the damn Sanchez Arminio (yes, Spain had awful refs then too) awarded a unexistant penalty for Valladolid.

Barça could have achieved the Liga title here in Alicante against Hercules, but they lost 1-0 (I was there :wallbang:, why do they always lose here? ). So Terry Venable's team went to Valladolid with the intention of winning the title. It was the 30th round with 5 matches to go and Barça had a huge gap over Atlético. Clos advanced Barça in the 9th minute after kicking the box in the small area after a corner kick.

2 minutes later, the great "Magico" Gonzalez, scored a free kick for Valladolid (1-1).

In the 2nd half, Barça closed Valladolid in their own box and looked for the title. After another corner kick, in the 64th minute, Alexanco (the one that lifted the European Cup in Wembley) headed the ball into Fenoy's goal... 1-2.

As I've said, 2 minutes far from the glory, Sanchez Arminio awarded a penalty for Valladolid. It seems that we had to wait one more week to cellebrate a title that didn't come to Barcelona since Cruyff's days. "Magico" Gonzalez shot and our mythical goalie, Urruti blocked the ball. We won the 10th Liga then.

Joaquim Maria Puyal, a very popular radio speaker in Catalunya (he introduced Catalan in football radio comments after Franco's death), screamed the unforgettable: "Urruti t'estimo!! Urruti t'estimo!!!" (Urruti, I love you!), I'm sure that Roger knows what I'm talking about .

Thousands of fans cellebrated the title in Zorrilla and many more in Barcelona's streets. It was the first Liga in 11 years... the 2nd in 25 years... the first Liga of Nuñez. Menotti and Maradona had left the previous summer and we started the Brit era with Venables and Archibald.

Urriti died a couple of years ago in a car accident in Barcelona. :frownani:

BTW, Eusebio played that day for Valladolid when he was a really young player.

Real Valladolid D., 1
FC Barcelona, 2

R. Valladolid D.: Fenoy; Martín Sáez (Eusebio '82), Richard, Francis, Sánchez Vallés; Jorge, Minguela, López (Víctor '85), Aracil; Pato Yáñez, Mágico González.

FC Barcelona: Urruti, Gerardo, Migueli, Alexanco, Julio Alberto; Víctor, Schuster (Calderé '70), Rojo, Marcos; Clos (Carrasco '89), Archibald.

Goles: 0-1, Clos (min. 9); 1-1, 'Mágico' González (min. 12); 1-2, Alexanco (min. 64).

I recall to download the highlights of this match some time ago. I have it, I've tried to use "yousendit", but I don't know if I do something wrong or what... geez, I hate this ****ing machine... can anyone upload it?

 

[Bier]

I have this saved penalty on Video, but not on my computer, great one roud:
On that Hercules-matter ... Wasn't it in 1996/97 when Barcelona lost to Hercules twice and later the Hercules-president declared they got those points for Real Madrid? Hell, I'm so glad nowadays they can get their ****in' points for Real Madrid B. :finger:

 

[barça]

I remember that but it reminds me of how old I am getting.

Thanks K4 for another great post

 

[Barca Rule]

Conversely, it reminds me of how young I am! Keep the anecdotes coming, they're always interesting.

 

[Almogàver]

I have this saved penalty on Video, but not on my computer, great one roud:
On that Hercules-matter ... Wasn't it in 1996/97 when Barcelona lost to Hercules twice and later the Hercules-president declared they got those points for Real Madrid? Hell, I'm so glad nowadays they can get their ****in' points for Real Madrid B. :finger:

Don't tell me about that ****ing matches... I had to shave my head after the 2-3 against Hercules in the Camp Nou. I had to unplug the phone after the match because all my high school classmates began to call me at home. The next day, when I arrived to class there were 20 herculanos with all their flags and stuff waiting for me.

I spent the whole week saying that we would crush the damn Hercules. They were doing awful in La Liga and I never expected something like that and I said something like "if Hercules wins in the Camp Nou, I shave my head"... damn, my beautiful long hair... :frownani:

Then in the 2nd leg of the Liga, I went to the Rico Perez with my herculano friends and, despite Luis Enrique's early goal, we lost 2-1 and all the chances to win La Liga. Imagine my face surrounded by all of them. Besides, as I lived most of my life here, I have sympathies for the 2nd team of the city, Alicante CF, who are leading the Group III in Segunda B (where Hercules and Barça B play now). Alicante CF are the archi-rivals of Hercules, so I got a "double" then.

I recall that Juan Onieva, ex-RM vicepresident, was at that match and we all know how this things work in Spain. Barça had put a lot of pressure to Madrid in La Liga and Madrid offered them money to win us. Bah... it doesn't matter. We lost and that's all.

Always that I went to see a official match between Hercules and Barcelona in Alicante, we never won, even when they were in Segunda B in a Copa match some years ago.

 

[Rondinaire]

I was in a flat in C/Poeta Cabanyes in Barcelona. Everyone was glued to the radio because in those days there was no C+ Digital and all that. You could hear people shouting in all the flats and changing the radio but most had Puyal on.
When the penalty was awarded with 2 minutes to go, Puyal went into this amazing diatribe about how "we are never going to win the league" and so on but of course it's history now, Urruti stopped it and we all heard it live "Urruti t'estimo!"
Nobody waited for the end and in my student flat we didn't have a TV anyway. Everyone just rushed for the Rambles. I had very innocently "arranged to meet" someone there by the fountain but of course you couldn't get anywhere near. It's the second wildest night I can remember after Wembley 92.
And I reckon this year is going to be quite a humdinger if we finally do it because a whole generation has been brought up on failure after failure. Not only that, people hated Van Gaal so much they hardly celebrated those leagues.

 

[Rondinaire]

And here's a copy and paste of my post on this forum nearly four years ago when Urruti passed away.

Thanks for some great posts
This has to be the worst Barça news in living memory: Urruti is no longer with us. It was him who first turned me on to FCB. I was listening to a match between Barça and Valladolid in 1985 when they only needed a result to be the champions for the first time in ten years. Struggling to understand the Catalan commentator (Joaquim Mª Puyal, who still does Barça matches) I figured out that an unjust penalty had been awarded against Barça near the end. The next thing I heard was Quim shouting “Urruti t’estimo, Urruti t’estimo” (Urruti I love you, Urruti, I love you). He had saved the penalty and Barça were the champs. This is now perhaps the most famous phrase in Barça folklore.
Urruti was very well known and liked by everyone in Barcelona. It just shows what a person he was when you consider he went off the road trying to avoid an animal. He was famous for his generosity and helped a lot of people financially when they were in debt. He also played for Espanyol and Real Sociedad. In fact he was a shareholder at Espanyol and worked very hard to organise and raise funds for last year’s centenary celebrations.
Just last night he was at a charity fundraising dinner when he remembered he had a new Barça shirt in his car so he went to get it to add to the raffle. Barça director Angel Fernandez was with him and then rang him again at midnight to talk about the CL final and how Barça’s prospects had changed. Liked most Barça fans, he was sorry for Valencia but couldn’t help feeling more optimistic about our CL chances. He was also assessing Barça on new goalkeepers, travelling around Europe watching them and reporting back.
After 1985, Barça signed Zubizarreta and Terry Venables preferred him. The crowd booed Zubi every week because they wanted Urruti back but it was Urruti who helped Zubi week after week telling him not to let it get to him.
He was simply the best: T’estimem, Urruti. (We love you Urruti).

 

[Almogàver]

I remember that but it reminds me of how old I am getting.

Thanks K4 for another great post

I was very young then, but I've seen this images so many times that I remember them as if they were today. I've read Sport's article today and I recalled all this.

These people were my first idols. Actually, not exactly this team (I was 5 years old then), but my first memories come from that era. Archibald, Lineker, Migueli, Hughes, Victor, Schuster, Marcos, Alexanco, Urruti, Zubi, Carrasco, Rojo, Amarilla, Milla,...

Maybe I told you many times this, but it's the truth. I've been lucky to live the best era of Barcelona's history. That was the 10th Liga, the 2nd in 25 years and the first one in 11 years. Yes, we had won some Copas and some CWCs, but La Liga was cursed.

The next year we played the final of the old European Cup against Steaua... what a sad day. My father can't believe it yet. That final was in Sevilla (Sanchez Pizjuan), with all the stadium full of barcelonistas. 50,000 people, it was like playing at home. No Romanians came, because they could not travel due to their communist regime. We tied 0-0 and we went to the penalties... Urruti stopped their first 2 penalties, but we didn't score any. We missed the 4 penalties!!! Unbelievable...

When I was watching the Wembley final and we were in the extra time, I think that all of us thought about that match in Sevilla. Besides, Zubi never stopped a penalty. I can't recall a worse goalie in this aspect. That victory cured many pains. It wasn't only that Sevilla final, also the one against Benfica was awful... we sent 3 or 4 balls to the square posts that day. The European Cup has always been a tragedy.

It's funny when you see the milanistas telling you anything about the 4-0 in Athens, but I'm sure that most old barcelonistas keep worse memories of the finals against Benfica and Steaua.

 

[Almogàver]

I was in a flat in C/Poeta Cabanyes in Barcelona. Everyone was glued to the radio because in those days there was no C+ Digital and all that. You could hear people shouting in all the flats and changing the radio but most had Puyal on.
When the penalty was awarded with 2 minutes to go, Puyal went into this amazing diatribe about how "we are never going to win the league" and so on but of course it's history now, Urruti stopped it and we all heard it live "Urruti t'estimo!"
Nobody waited for the end and in my student flat we didn't have a TV anyway. Everyone just rushed for the Rambles. I had very innocently "arranged to meet" someone there by the fountain but of course you couldn't get anywhere near. It's the second wildest night I can remember after Wembley 92.
And I reckon this year is going to be quite a humdinger if we finally do it because a whole generation has been brought up on failure after failure. Not only that, people hated Van Gaal so much they hardly celebrated those leagues.

The radio times... it was different. I recall when I was a kid, listening to Catalunya Radio here in Alacant. The sound was awful (I can't hear it now), but we spent the afternoon listening the matches in Catalan. I was born there, but I came here when I was just a little kid. It was like our little connection with Catalunya. Now, I have my life here, but then my father says that I spent the whole day saying "Vull anar a Barcelona, jo no vull viure aquí... per qué no tornem?"

In the 90s, we won a lot of things and I still recall Wembley 92 and the leagues of Tenerife, and the penalty of Djukic... but whenever I've talked with older barcelonistas, they always tell me about the Cup Winners Cup in Basel 79 or the Copa del Rey in Zaragoza 83 against Madrid with Schuster's "botifarra" and the leagues of 1974 and 1984


Barcelona 2-1 R Madrid (Copa final 1983)

haha... look Maragall p

Barcelona 4-3 Fortuna Dusseldorf (CWC final 1979)

Artola, Albadalejo, Neeskens, Zubiría, Costas, Migueli (up)
Rexach, Sánchez, Krankl, Asensi and Carrasco (down) roud:

Liga 85

Urruti, Sánchez, Schuster, Alexanko, Archibald, Julio Alberto, Migueli (up)
Carrasco, Victor, Calderé, Rojo (down) roud:

 

[barça]

The radio times... it was different

I was lucky that I was living in Venezuela and they would broadcast one game from La Liga every weekend, unfortunaely it was almost always Madrid but we got to see Barcelona play enough.

Roger great post

 

[Carles]

i don't have any memory about this game because i wasn't living in this world.
but thanx to a vid from :star: Zyad :star: ,i have been able to watch some highlights of this game and Urruti's save was very crucial

 

[MxPx]

I love how the topic comes up every year and how the reviews get more detailed.
Also nice to bring up the team that beat Düsseldorf. Hans Krankl is close to lose his job as Austrian NT coach if we fvck up vs. Wales on Saturday (away) and Wednesday (home) - which we probably will -, by the way.

Would be very much appreciated if you manage to upload the highlights somewhere, K4.

 

[Almogàver]

Would be very much appreciated if you manage to upload the highlights somewhere, K4.

I did it!!!

Thanx to zyad anyway, he was the one that got the video god knows from where... :star:
http://s18.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0O8BSYCY78L5M3TQLGKNGS6E89

EDIT
Geez... I tried it, but I think that it doesn't work and I don't know why. I'm sure that someone else has it. Can anyone upload it?

 

[MxPx]

That's from his Historia-compilation.

 

[Almogàver]

That's from his Historia-compilation.

Could you see it? Cool... yeah, I only have this short clip.

 

[barça]

K4, did you get my email?

 

[Almogàver]

K4, did you get my email?

Yes... sorry, I don't check my email very often. I'll reply later, ok?

 

[Bier]

Yeah for me it works as well Thanks K4 ... by the way, having read that you had to shave your head, did you ever bet on a football game again afterwards?

Ah, yes, the radio times, I still had them last season, when I lived in Lisbon, we had TV Galicia (or how it was called) but they only broadcasted match highlights so if I wanted to have live-coverage of Barça-games I mostly went for spanish radio which you can easily receive in Lisbon. Okay my spanish is very bad but due to my portuguese I understand quite a lot. Following a match via radio is something special IMO. I really enjoyed it. Unfortunately back in Germany now, there's hardly a chance of receiving spanish radio.

 

[barça]

I really enjoyed it. Unfortunately back in Germany now, there's hardly a chance of receiving spanish radio.

You can get the broadcast in the Internet radio.

Thanks K4

 

[zyad]

HA.. sorry guys... I'm here now, but I see that K4 managed to upload the highlights after all... Sorry I wasn't around to help earlier...

I still remember reading about Urruti's car crash a couple of years ago on Diario Sport's site, what a shock. It's a shame, he was still so young. He was Barça's goalie when I became a fan, so it was really depressing...