November 2, 1994 was one of the finest days in FC Barcelona history. A year and half after winning the club’s first ever European Cup, Johan Cruyff led the Dream Team to a famous victory against Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United at the Camp Nou. After a 2-2 draw at Old Trafford, there was no doubt who the better team was in the return meeting.
Hristo Stoichkov got two goals and Romário then added a third with an amazing run around Garry Pallister. The fourth was the work of Albert Ferrer.
That was no ordinary team they played off the park. That was the great Manchester United of Giggs, Ince, Cantona, Keane, Schmeichel and Scholes. A crowd of 114,273 watched in awe as Barça ran rings around them in an absolute masterclass of ‘total football’.
Ferguson learns lesson
Barça dominated the possession from start to finish, with United unable to deal with the constant passing and off-the-ball movements from that perfectly balanced Barça unit. Years later, and the game still stuck in the memory of Alex Ferguson. "That was a big lesson for me” said the Scotsman. “They showed us how important it is to possess the ball. I hadn’t understood it until then. I learned how it important it is to have control of the ball in European matches.”
Man United ended up failing to progress from the group stages and finished the season without a trophy. Barça advanced to the quarter finals, where they were beaten by PSG.
