Cruyff, Barça and the Wembley Dream Team – Two Decades On

By Liam Bambridge
Updated: 20 May, 2012

Andoni Zubizarreta

‘Zubi’ had established himself as Barcelona’s number one back in 1986 after five seasons at Athletic Bilbao, and indeed remained so until his ‘blaugrana’ career was abruptly curtailed after a thumping 4-0 defeat to AC Milan in the 1994 European Cup final.

However he then spent four years as Valencia’s first choice ‘keeper, before retiring in 1998 with a record number of La Liga appearances to his name.
Zubizarreta also held the record for national caps until recently, when he was surpassed by Iker Casillas. However his international career ended on a sad note in the 1998 World Cup, when this howler led to Spain being eliminated by Nigeria.
Once his playing career had ended, Zubizarreta returned to Athletic Bilbao as director of football, and in July 2010 he moved on to fulfil a similar role back in the Catalan capital.

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