I’ve always had something of an affinity for slaphead footballers, not so much because I’m bald myself (I’m not), I just see it more as a dedication to duty that long haired scruffians simply can’t match. Take the lad Beckham, for example… got a skinhead and started knocking them in left, right and centre. Living as I do in Turkey, Galatasaray stalwart Hasan Şaş is another who I’ve warmed to over the years despite not being overly enamoured of the club he plays for. I’m also an addict of Championship Manager (and will refer to it on and off on the blog) and was therefore delighted, in 1996, to discover one of my favourite CM players was himself the proud owner of a slapcap. During his career, Iván De la Peña has earned the nicknames Little Buddha and Lo Pelat (the Shaven One) due to his shaven head and slight frame.
De la Peña was recruited by Barça in 1991 and made his debut for the B team in 1993. He went on to play 37 games for them. Johan Cruyff gave him his debut with the senior team in September, 1995, as he came on as a substitute and scored, in a 2-0 win at Real Valladolid. At 19 he was even regarded as the natural successor to Josep Guardiola. However, he gradually fell out of favour with Cruyff and found himself dropped, although he achieved a career-high seven league goals in that season. With the arrival of Bobby Robson in 1996, De la Peña was given a second chance to establish himself in the team. He developed an effective partnership with the pre-lardarse Ronaldo and was a prominent member of the team that won the Spanish Cup / European Cup Winners’ Cup / European Super Cup treble in 1997. He was also voted the best young player by El País in both 1996 and 1997. He subsequently did a Robbie Fowler and found it hard to live up to his early promise, being shipped off to Lazio before facing the nightmare of having to play for Espanyol.
My one and only pilgrimage to the Camp Nou was in April 1996, when I was able to snag tickets for the UEFA Cup semi final. This was of course, the year when Bayern Munich won the trophy by winning every single away leg on the way to the final, including a 2-1 in the match in question. My cult hero, De la Peña, scored a belter near the end which turned out to be a mere consolation. This weekend proved to be particularly gutting, consequently. Not only did the channel I was watching renege on their scheduled programming of showing Barça, they did so by continually flicking over to the bloody Madrid game. Compound that by my former favourite scoring the two goals that have allowed the gap between Madrid and Barça to close to 7 points from 12 over the course of two painful weekends. Apologies in advance for the American commentary on this clip.
Barcelona 1-2 Espanyol Barcelona-Primiera Division courtesy of MyVideo
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