Ex Barça star Gio van Bronckhorst remembers his experience at the ‘Ciutat de Valencia’ in the 2004/05 season, when Barça won the first of their two leagues under Frank Rijkaard.
There were just three games left in Liga 2004/05 and Real Madrid had just drawn with Sevilla when
Barcelona’s game at Levante was about to start. A draw would be enough to win the league
title. Gio played in that game, which did indeed end in a draw, which meant the league trophy was
headed for FC Barcelona. Here he remembers how it all happened.
A hard game
“That same week” remembers the Dutchman, “they had
changed managers (Oltra for Schuster) and wanted to win to get enough points to avoid relegation.
They were a very physical team. I struggled a lot with Ettien, who was my man, and also Jofre
Mateu, who had freedom of movement in the Levante attack. And Levante went ahead in the first half
and nearly scored again in the second. Thankfully, Eto'o got an equaliser and it all ended well for
us.”
Odd final minutes
Gio also said that “when we drew, we thought they would come back at us and
look for another goal, but we noticed that they had decided that a draw was a good result for them
too, and so the score wasn’t going to change. Then we saw, much to our disbelief, how Levante
lost their last two games and went down to the second division.”
Huge joy
The full back remembers “the cheer when Undiano Mallenco blew the final
whistle. We were all running up and down, I hugged all my team mates and even people I had never
seen before, because our fans had invaded the pitch. That was our first league title since 1999.
The party continued in the dressing room and then on the plane back to Barcelona.”
Open top bus
The man who was at FCB from 2003 to 2007 added that “the moment we
got off the plane, we got on an open top bus. We didn’t really think something like that
would be needed at three o’clock in the morning, but as we approached the Camp Nou, we found
out why. There were people everywhere. It was amazing and not many of us had expected such a
response from the fans at that time of night”.
Abidal and Wembley
Gio also mentioned the player that was signed as his replacement, Éric Abidal.
“What can I say about Abidal? I don’t think there is anything I can say that
hasn’t been said already. I am delighted for him and the team. He has won respect all round
the world. He is a winner on and off the pitch and now he’s won the hardest game of
all.”
As for the Champions League final on May 28 at Wembley, the man who won the same title in
Paris in 2006 said “being favourites doesn’t mean you’ll win. Anything can
happen. Barça can move the ball around really well, but watch out for Rooney and Chicharito,
they’re the real danger with Manchester”.