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La Liga in 1998/99 – Van Gaal’s Dutch Destroyer Barca

La Liga in 1998/99 – Van Gaal’s Dutch Destroyer Barca

Barcelona wrapped up their second Liga trophy in as many seasons under Louis van Gaal by a healthy 11-point margin over runners-up Real Madrid.

Van Gaal marked his territory by signing more members of Ajax’s 1995 Champions League-winning team, and the result was a free-scoring side that racked up 87 goals by the end of the campaign, with four players in double figures.

Real Madrid paid for an underwhelming transfer window with a sputtering second half to the season, only recovering to clinch second place on the final matchday.

CHANGES

For once, someone other than Barcelona or Real Madrid orchestrated the transfer story of the summer. Real Betis landed the electrifying dribbler Denilson from Sao Paulo for a world-record fee of £21.5m – which was the high point of his club career.

Barcelona were busy though, adding five Dutch internationals to their ranks in the shape of Frank and Ronald de Boer, Phillip Cocu, Bolo Zenden and Patrick Kluivert.

Atletico Madrid could not hold onto Christian Vieri, who returned to Serie A in a big-money move to Lazio. The Italian club also kept the chequebook open to capture Ivan de la Pena from Barcelona.

Despite winning the Champions League, Jupp Heynckes wasn’t able to keep his job at Real Madrid, and was replaced by Guus Hiddink in the summer of 1998. Elsewhere, Javier Irureta began his seven-year spell in charge of Deportivo.

SUMMARY

After the first eight weeks of the season, the Hiddink appointment appeared to be going well with Real Madrid on top of the table. However, an unexpected surge from Mallorca saw them launch a seven-week spell in first place, behind a miserly defence that would concede only 31 goals – comfortably the lowest mark in the league.

However, around the turn of the year, Barcelona worked out the kinks and suddenly couldn’t stop scoring. They spent the entire second half of the season in first place. Rivaldo’s 24-goal tally was the main catalyst and laid the foundation for his Balon d’Or and Fifa…


Source link : https://www.footballcritic.com/season-reviews/when-van-gaals-barcelona-became-a-dutch-destroyer-la-liga-in-1998-99/89

Author : [email protected] (Dan Edwards)

Publish date : 2024-07-20 12:00:00

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