30 years since Valverde's Barça debut

30 years since Valverde's Barça debut

The current FC Barcelona coach made his first official appearance for the club as a player against Lech Poznan

It's 30 years since Ernesto Valverde made his debut for FC Barcelona as a player. The current first team coach first pulled on the Blaugrana shirt in official competition on 8 November 1988, in the second leg of a European Cup Winners Cup tie in Poznan, Poland.

The first leg at the Camp Nou had ended 1-1, and coach Johan Cruyff decided to freshen things up with the inclusion of Valverde in his 17-man squad.

Debut, extra time and a vital penalty

Set to be left out of the final 16-man list, Valverde impressed in a pre-game training session and was handed the number 14 shirt -Cruyff's way of letting him know that he would be making his debut.

He came on in the 77th minute, with the score on the night 1-1 thanks to a Robert goal for Barça. The game would go to extra time, then penalties.Valverde was among the takers, converted his spot kick and helped Barça to the quarter finals of a competition that they would go on to win.

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