Quique Setien follows Johan Cruyff's lead as Barcelona begin brave new era

AFP via Getty Images
Ben Hayward19 January 2020

Quique Setien once claimed he would have given his little finger to have worked with Johan Cruyff. Now, the 61-year-old is charged with guiding Barcelona back to their roots. To a style, an identity. To making Barça Barça again.

There is perhaps no greater admirer of Cruyff than Setien. When the Dutchman passed away in 2016, Barcelona's new coach wrote on Twitter: "I felt that football could be played better, but I didn't see it until Johan showed us..."

And in an interview with The Coaches' Voice earlier this year, he said: “I remember when Johan Cruyff’s Barcelona came along. You played against them, and you spent the whole match running after the ball. I said to myself: ‘This is what I like. I would like to be in this team, and know why this is happening.’

“How can you get a team to have the ball permanently, so that the opponent is running after it for the whole match? From then on, I started to make sense of what I had felt throughout life, through my career. I started to really watch football. To analyse it. To understand what I felt, and what I wanted to put into practice when I became a coach."

Setien scored in a 5-0 win for Racing Santander against Cruyff's Dream Team in 1995. Even as a player, he stood out from the crowd. His ideas were different and although he never did get to work with the Dutch master, he did become a Spanish international.

As a coach, his path to the top has been unconventional. Spells at Lugo, Las Palmas and Real Betis might appear underwhelming from the outside, but those teams are remembered fondly for the way they played. "I haven't won any trophies," Setien said at his unveiling on Tuesday. "But my teams always play good football."

In Pictures | Barcelona appoint Quique Setien | 13/01/20

1/19

Barça football? In style terms, the match appears ideal. And Setien, who claimed at his presentation that coaching the Catalan club was "beyond his wildest dreams", is clearly in his element.

He has already watched Barça B in action to assess the young players coming through at La Masia and took part in the rondos in training this week. "I know how old I am," he said on Saturday. "But I need that energy. I feel I am one of them."

Whether the feeling is mutual will ultimately be one of the keys to his success, having signed a contract with Barca until 2022, which could end in 2021 when a new president is elected.

Results will be essential, but it is the prospect of a return to the team's trademark style which has excited Barça fans after two-and-a-half years of more conservative football under Ernesto Valvede.

"We all know the meaning of Barça DNA," Setien said on Saturday. "But you don't know what the players are capable of and nor do they. If players are receptive and keen to learn, what they are capable of can surprise you. They can surpass themselves. You just need to be willing to learn."

Setien's last game at Camp Nou was a 4-3 win over Valverde's Barça in November 2018. And his final fixture at Betis was a 2-0 victory at Real Madrid at the end of last season.

On Sunday, he and Barça begin a new era together with a league game at home to Granada which, coincidentally, was how it all started for Cruyff when he signed for the Catalan club back in 1973.

Johan Cruyff: In pictures

1/12

Football writes the best stories and this chapter, though risky on the part of Barcelona's board, promises to be enthralling.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in