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The second part in the series celebrates Juan Manuel Asensi, one of the great midfielders of Spanish football in the 1970s, and one of Barcelona’s all-time greats.
Every decade, Barcelona has had a great midfield general to lead the team.
In the 50s, it was Luis Suarez; in the 60s, it was Fuste; in the 70s, it was Asensi; in the 80s, it was Bernd Schuster; in the 90s it was Guardiola; and in the past decade, it’s been Xavi.
Before spending a decade at Barcelona, Asensi began his career at Elche, a club whose Golden Age was a twelve-year period spent in La Liga between 1959 and 1971.
The club, from Alicante Province in the Valencia Region, was known for importing South American talent. Paraguayans Lezcano and Romero were two such players.
The club also produced its own talent, including Marcial and Asensi, who would both go on to play for Barcelona.
Marshalling their defence in this Golden Age was the indestructible Vicente Iborra, who missed few games and kept on going into old age.
Asensi made his debut in 1967 and over the next few years established himself as a playmaking midfielder of class.
He boasted exquisite creative skills, as one would expect. He could also shoot with his left foot or even his head, and showed commitment to the cause.
In 1970, he made the big move to Barcelona, where he would establish himself within a couple of years as an indispensable player.
Barcelona were chronic underachievers, but the arrival of Rinus Michels, and then Johann Cruyff, brought their first title in fourteen years.
Asensi was ever-present in that 1973-74 season and weighed in with his share of goals as Barcelona romped to the title in spectacular style.
Barcelona, typically, failed to build on this and wouldn’t win another title for eleven years. Nevertheless, they won a thrilling Cup-Winners’ Cup Final in 1979 by defeating Fortuna Düsseldorf 4-3, a match made famous for hard man defender Migueli playing with a broken collarbone.
Also in that triumph were Johann Neeskens, Hans Krankl and Carlos Rexach.
Asensi left Barcelona in 1980, after a decade of outstanding service, and would finish his career in Mexico.
He remains one of Barcelona’s leading appearance holders, and one of the finest midfielders in the club’s history.
At international level, things were rather less successful, as he only played in the 1978 World Cup and the 1980 European Championship.
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