The worst Barça in history: the term 2000/2004

Last update 30 January, 2024 por Alberto Llopis

¿Cuál es the worst Barça in history? He Barça is one of the best teams on the planet, especially thanks to his background in the 21st century. The culés have conquered throughout their history: 26 Suspenders, 31 King's Cups, 13 Supercopas de España, 2 Copas de Liga, 5 Champions League, 3 Mundiales de Clubes, 5 European Super Cups, 4 Recopas Europe and 3 Eva Duarte Cup. A total of 92 titles that make them one of the most successful teams in history. Sin embargo, like all great teams, has had some periods

Del 2000 al 2004, the worst Barça in modern history

Sin embargo, The end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st was a disaster, with a Barça that went five years without winning titles, counting on 5 coaches and even with 3 presidents. It is for this and many more that the time between 2000 y el 2004 he left us the worst Barça in history. Always keeping in mind that we are talking about the modern era with the resources of a huge club in super professional football..

The beginnings of the decline: What happened to FC Barcelona in the season 1999/2000?

During the end of the 20th century, Louis van Gaal he was the culé coach. Despite achieving titles like 2 leagues and 1 Copa, I couldn't hook the crowd or convince. Además, The Champions League continued to resist and winning it was seen as a utopia.

A trajectory that added to its more than bad, terrible relationship with the press and with the Brazilian star Rivaldo, He ended up closing his first stay at the Barça club in his third year in charge of the culés. A year in which his irregularity in the League gave him the title to Depor and the plant against Atlético de Madrid where the culé club presented itself with 8 footballers alone, left him out of the Cup final and ended up dynamiting his image.

A black spot that was getting bigger and bigger in the Champions League, when Valencia passed him in the semis, definitively causing the closure of the Van Gaal cycle and the end of the era José Luis Nunez in the presidency of the club after having been 22 years in office.

The resignation of the president caused the arrival of Joan Gaspart in the 2000, and the beginning of almost five years of drama for Barça. Gaspart won the elections in the middle of the “Figo Case”. The Portuguese became the 'first Galactico’ by Florentino Pérez in the summer of 2000 when the agent paid 10.000 millions of old pesetas for him and took him to Real Madrid to the astonishment of everyone and the anger of the culés who would never forgive the Portuguese, one of its icons, this betrayal.

The blow for Barça and the new board was devastating on a social and sporting level. Like a live that sends you to the canvas. They had 10.000 millones de pesetas, the equivalent of 60 millions of euros today, to renew the equipment, but they ended up wasting a total of 85 in footballers who finally did not give the desired performance among them Petit, Dutruel, Marc Overmars (what did it cost 6000 millones de pesetas) and Alfonso among many others. Además, was named Lorenzo Serra Ferrer as new coach.

Carles Rexach's Barça

With the help of Serra Ferrer, Barça did not finish starting and had a ruinous first round. So much so that the objective was to be among the 4 primeros, something that came by miracle. In the Cup they lost in the semifinals against Celta de Vigo, while in the Champions League he was eliminated again in the first phase, in a group made up of Milan, Besiktas y Leeds United. Given this, Gaspart changed to Serra Ferrer por Carlos Rexach.

With the arrival of what had been Cruyff's second and one of the best footballers in the history of Barça, those who managed to get into the Champions League thanks to Rivaldo's brilliant Chilean against Valencia in the last second of the match that precisely knocked the Valencians out of a European competition from which they had been 2 years in a row being a finalist.

Para la siguiente temporada, Joan Gaspart still could not find the direction for the culés who saw how the years passed in white. The president once again trusted Rexach and once again made a large investment in players who had a dubious level to play for a club like Barça.. This is how some young people arrived Saviola and Rochemback in addition to Geovanni, Patrick Andersson, Christanval and Bonano. Incorporations that cost almost 100 millions of euros, but whose quality was not suitable to wear that shirt. In fact, many of them, few people remember them as culés.

Thus they closed another dark season with another fair fourth place in the League and an embarrassing elimination against Figueres that played in Second B that year. Con ello, The club's hopes were focused on the Champions League, but Real Madrid of the Galacticos eliminated him in the semifinals and ultimately, won his second Champions League in that period. Something that really burned the culés who saw how their eternal rival was reaping successes while they wandered through the desert. Fue the end of the Rexach era on the culé bench.

The incomprehensible return of van Gaal

They say that man is the only animal that stumbles twice. En la temporada 2002-2003, Gaspart was already crazy and couldn't think of anything else.. He signed again Van Gaal as a coach even though he had never reached the stands. But he was the last one who had won titles and Gaspart was desperate after several years without achieving anything relevant..

The Dutchman asked for signings, but the club's economic crisis only allowed an investment of 15 millions. It would be like this Robert Widow (who years later was going to commit suicide) would come at cost 0, Sorín and Mendieta on loan and Riquelme as the great Barça bet. Van Gaal did not like it and the investment made by the Boca Juniors star at that time fell on deaf ears. It happened with more pain than glory.

The season would also end without titles and was even worse than the previous ones and that is saying something. Barça was again eliminated from the Cup by Second B, the Novelda, and in the day 21 of the League flirted with relegation.

Louis van Gaal was dismissed in January 2003 to make way for Radomic Antic and the Serbian managed to classify Barça sixth to put them in the UEFA Cup. It was the last time they played that competition until 2022 and from there, They always qualified for the Champions League.

Sin embargo, This was still a failure for a club in the Barça entity and the poor results and social tension led to the resignation of Gaspart in February and the calling of elections for June.. It started like this the first Laporta era. The beginning of the end of worst Barça in modern history.

The first Laporta Era

Después de 4 years without titles and with the box almost empty, Laporta arrived with renewed air and named Frank Rijkaard as a coach. Laporta did a thorough cleaning. It was uploaded to 12 and signed 8 por 45 millions of euros.

He signed players who gave notable performance such as Rafa Marquez y Van Bronckhorst and one who would make history with his magic like Ronaldinho. The Brazilian arrived for 27 kilos like the great culé hope. but his magic did not seem enough and Barça finished the first round seventh, a 15 points again from Madrid. He also signed players who did not work out like Quaresma, Luis García and rusty who had been one of the best goalkeepers in the Mundial 2002.

But the revolution of that season was the signing of Edgar Davids, who arrived on loan and established himself as a leader of the squad. With the Dutchman as the starter, Barça got 9 victories and was 15 undefeated matches. The good streak led to a spectacular comeback that ended in a creditable runner-up finish, just 5 points of the Valencia by Rafa Benítez.

Eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Cup by Zaragoza who would win the Cup against Real Madrid in Monjuic and in the UEFA round of 16 by Celtic, Barça signed another black year without titles, but it seemed like it was rising from the ashes. So it was, since he Barça was the League champion team in 2005, thus breaking the drought of 5 seasons without titles and saying goodbye to the worst period in its history and at the same time, starting a cycle that would be the best in its long history.