76 December 2021 FourFourTwo
another Ronaldo hat-trick obliterated Atleti’s
barricades in a 5-2 win; a month later, Barça
ground out a disciplined, mature 1-0 Clasico
victory to close a yawning gap behind Real
Madrid to five points.
Las Palmas were slain 7-0 on aggregate in
the Copa last four, while Barça beat Gabriel
Batistuta’s Fiorentina in the Cup Winners’ Cup
semis. They may have been fighting a losing
battle in the league, but were competing on
three fronts with a stacked squad. “Bobby
kept things simple,” says Ferrer. “He wanted
to keep the momentum.”
Barcelona had two final dates circled in the
calendar: the Cup Winners’ Cup against Paris
Saint-Germain in May, and the Copa del Rey
against Real Betis in June. Each night, Cules
got to see the two faces of their team.
“Beating PSG was amazing,” says Abelardo
of the first finale in Rotterdam. “They were
the defending champions and had a great
team, but I do think we were better on the
night, even if it was only a Ronaldo penalty
that sealed the trophy for us.”
Guardiola and Mourinho embraced at the
final whistle, bouncing up and down on the
spot. Ronaldo held one arm of the trophy,
Robson the other, a big smile spread across
the manager’s face. The celebrations were
controlled, unlike the raucous Copa del Rey
final at the Bernabeu in Madrid.
“I sat behind the goal with Barcelona fans
and it was absolutely mental,” remembers
Hunter. “It was 3-2 and went to extra time;
it was a slugfest, it was fantastic, all the fans
were going crazy. When Barça finally won,
they played the club anthem in the Bernabeu
over and over again.”
The two showpieces were six weeks apart.
In between, worlds came crashing down.Doomed Hercules needed little fight to beat
a Ronaldo-less Barcelona 2-1 on June 1. The
Brazilian’s last goal for the club came a week
prior against Deportivo La Coruna, his 10th
scoring league game in succession mere days
before he was called up for Le Tournoi. As the
title slipped from Barça’s grasp in his absence,
O Fenomeno agreed to join Inter for another
world-record fee. It was Figo, not Ronaldo,
who inspired that Copa del Rey triumph, R9
having left a week earlier.
“That was a huge surprise for everyone,”
says Abelardo. “We all thought Ronaldo could
define an era at Barcelona, similar to what
Leo Messi would do a decade later. We were
shocked that the directors would let a player
like that leave, one who would guarantee 30
goals a season.”
Robson wasn’t amused either, but worse
was to follow. Amid whispers about his own
future, he asked Mourinho to eavesdrop into
conversations that the directors were having.
His worst suspicions were confirmed before
the Copa del Rey final. Louis van Gaal was to
replace him; an overlooked clause in Robson’s
contract gave Barça the right to move him
upstairs to an ambassadorial role.
This caballero was seldom as distressed.
He was the calmest man on that fretful night
against Atletico, took the slugfest Betis final
in his stride and didn’t get overly involved in
Ronaldo’s intra-club conflicts. A few months
previously, he’d turned down an offer from
his beloved Newcastle to stay in Catalonia
(“no one sacks Barça,” Nunez had retorted).
Now, Robson was white-hot with fury. “I’ll
tell you what you can do,” he told a sheepish
Joan Gaspart, Barça’s vice-president tasked
with breaking the Van Gaal news. “Get rid of
him. I want the job.”
Robson hadn’t exactly failed. Barcelona
missed out on the title to Real by two points,
though the Copa del Rey celebrations at the
Bernabeu – which doubled up as Robson’sBOBBY’S
BARÇA