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 The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

. 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 The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footbal ...

, losing 1-0 to

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...

. They then stumbled in the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

as they were knocked out by

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

in a 1-2 (3-4 on aggregate) loss at home, before losing definitively to

at home, erasing the chance of a league win. Barcelona were active in the transfer market, bringing in players such as Georghe Popescu,

Ángel Cuéllar Ángel Manuel Cuéllar Llanos (born 13 September 1972) is a Spanish former footballer, currently a manager. A left winger or a forward, his main assets were dribbling and scoring ability. He spent most of his professional career with Betis (n ...

, Meho Kodro,

Robert Prosinečki Robert Prosinečki (; born 12 January 1969) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. Early in his career, he was part of the Red Star Belgrade team that won three Yugoslav First League titles and ...

, and

Luís Figo Luís Filipe Madeira Caeiro Figo (; born 4 November 1972) is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a winger for Sporting CP, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Inter Milan. He won 127 caps for the Portugal national team, a one-ti ...

Hristo Stoichkov Hristo Stoichkov Stoichkov ( bg, Христо Стоичков Стоичков, ; born 8 February 1966) is a Bulgarian former professional Association football, footballer who is a football commentator for TUDN. A prolific Forward (association ...

and

Ronald Koeman Ronald Koeman (; born 21 March 1963) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player. He is the younger brother of his former international teammate Erwin Koeman and the son of former Dutch international Martin Koeman. Koeman was cap ...

were two notable departures. The season was head coach

Johan Cruyff Hendrik Johannes Cruijff (, internationally known as Johan Cruyff; 25 April 1947 – 24 March 2016) was a Dutch professional football player and manager. As a player, he won the Ballon d'Or three times, in 1971, 1973 and 1974. Cruyff was a ...

'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 make the transfers in of Gheorghe Popescu from

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

, striker Ángel Cuéllar from

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1907, it plays in La Liga. It holds home games at the Estadio Benito Vill ...

, forward Meho Kodro from

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septem ...

, Robert Prosinečki from

Real Oviedo Real Oviedo is a Spanish football club based in Oviedo, Asturias. Founded on 26 March 1926 as a result of the merger of two clubs who had maintained a large sporting rivalry for years in the city: ''Real Stadium Club Ovetense'' and ''Real Club De ...

and the controversial move of Luís Figo from

Sporting Lisboa Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

(a petition of Jorge Valdano to the

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

) after a two years ban of Italian Federation due to a double accord of the Portuguese midfielder with both

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...

and

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

. Cruyff took

and

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 Albert Celades López (born 29 September 1975) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a defensive midfielder, currently a manager. A tactically astute player with a strong defensive mentality, he was best known for his stints with Barcel ...

. The team reached its climax on 7 October 1995 defeating

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 The 1995–96 Copa del Rey was the 94th staging of the Copa del Rey. The competition started on 6 September 1995 and concluded on 10 April 1996 with the Final, held at La Romareda in Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''En ...

where the squad reached the

1996 Copa del Rey Final The 1996 Copa del Rey Final was the 94th final of the Spanish cup competition, the Copa del Rey. The final was played at La Romareda Stadium in Zaragoza on 10 April 1996. The match was won by Atlético Madrid, who beat Barcelona 1–0, mean ...

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 Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which play ...

and was eliminated from the UEFA Cup tournament. The bizarre series of results ended on 20 April 1996 when

won 3–1 at

Camp Nou Camp Nou (, meaning ''new field'', often referred to in English as the Nou Camp), officially branded as Spotify Camp Nou for sponsorship and financial reasons, is a football stadium in Barcelona, Spain. It has been the home stadium of FC Barcelo ...

means that

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

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

Transfers

Competitions

La Liga

League table

Results by round

Note:

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

spot (in green) being non-related with a position in

, does not appear until the winner is assured to not win ''La Liga'', thus if wins ''La Liga'' has a spot in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

, then

runners-up earns a spot in the 1996–97 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.

won their 9th

title in the last matchday, so after matchday 39 Barcelona's places are coloured in green. In light green the spot expected for 1996–97 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.

Matches

Copa del Rey

Round of 16 Quarterfinals Semifinals

Final

UEFA Cup

First round

Second round

Third round

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Friendlies

Statistics

Players statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1995-96 FC Barcelona season FC Barcelona seasons

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...