César Luis Menotti (1983-84)

The arrival of César Luis Menotti should have acted as a good shake up for the team which had shown signs of its quality, but which had not made the most of it under Udo Lettek.

The Blue-and-Reds manager arrived with the intention of introducing his famous 'closing down of spaces' system, which consisted of putting the opposing team under heavy pressure by pushing the defence up. That season, however, Barça did not win the League Championship, although they beat Real Madrid to win both the Copa del Rey, with a splendid last minute header from Marcos, and the Copa de la Liga.

The following season should have been the one in which Schuster and Maradona, the great duo in the League, triumphed. However, it was not to be. The little Argentinian star suffered a serious injury after a fierce tackle from Athletic de Bilbao's central defender, Andoni Goikoetxea who had, curiously enough, already injured Bernd Schuster in the 1981-82 season. The team only managed to win the Spanish Super Cup and Menotti decided to leave the Club.