# 1997–98 FC Barcelona season

The 1997–98 FC Barcelona season saw the club win the La Liga title and the Copa Del Rey, under the guidance of new coach Louis van Gaal. Van Gaal was hired from Ajax Amsterdam. Striker Sonny Anderson and Rivaldo also joined the team. The club sold Ronaldo to Inter Milan just before the season began, with Anderson becoming their main striker. Van Gaal introduced a 4-3-3 formation to Barcelona, under which Rivaldo scored 20 goals in the league as centre forward. Barcelona won their 15th La Liga title, 2nd European Super Cup title and their 24th Copa del Rey title, thus winning a domestic double. Barcelona crashed out of the UEFA Champions League, finishing last in their group.

## Squad

    Squad at end of season
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | POR | Vítor Baía |
| 2 | DF | ESP | Albert Ferrer |
| 3 | DF | ESP | Abelardo |
| 4 | MF | ESP | Pep Guardiola (captain) |
| 5 | DF | POR | Fernando Couto |
| 6 | MF | ESP | Óscar García |
| 7 | MF | POR | Luís Figo |
| 8 | FW | BUL | Hristo Stoitchkov |
| 9 | FW | BRA | Sonny Anderson |
| 10 | MF | BRA | Giovanni |
| 11 | MF | BRA | Rivaldo |
| 12 | DF | ESP | Sergi Barjuán |
| 13 | GK | NED | Ruud Hesp |
| 14 | MF | NGA | Emmanuel Amunike |
| 16 | MF | YUG | Dragan Ćirić |
| 17 | DF | NED | Winston Bogarde |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 18 | MF | ESP | Guillermo Amor |
| 19 | FW | ESP | Juan Antonio Pizzi |
| 20 | DF | ESP | Miguel Ángel Nadal |
| 21 | MF | ESP | Luis Enrique |
| 22 | DF | NED | Michael Reiziger |
| 23 | MF | ESP | Iván de la Peña |
| 25 | GK | ESP | Carles Busquets |
| 26 | MF | ESP | Albert Celades |
| 27 | MF | ESP | Roger García |
| 28 | DF | ESP | Carles Puyol |
| 29 | MF | ESP | Xavi |
| 31 | MF | ESP | Mario Rosas |
| 32 | MF | ESP | Jofre |

### Transfers

In :
| Pos. | Name | from | Type |
| FW | Rivaldo | Deportivo | U$20,0 million |
| FW | Sonny Anderson | AS Monaco | |
| GK | Ruud Hesp | Roda JC | |
| DF | Michael Reiziger | AC Milan | |
| FW | Christophe Dugarry | AC Milan | |
| MF | Dragan Ćirić | Partizan | |
Out :
| Pos. | Name | To | Type |
| FW | Ronaldo | Inter Milan | U$31,0 million |
| DF | Laurent Blanc | Marseille | |
| MF | Gheorghe Popescu | Galatasaray | |
| FW | Ángel Cuéllar | Real Betis | |
| GK | Julen Lopetegui | Rayo Vallecano | |
| MF | Goran Vučević | FC Köln | |
| DF | Quique Álvarez | Logroñés | Loan |

#### Winter

In :
| Pos. | Name | from | Type |
| DF | Winston Bogarde | AC Milan | |
Out :
| Pos. | Name | To | Type |
| FW | Christophe Dugarry | Marseille | |
| FW | Hristo Stoichkov | CSKA Sofia | |

## Competitions
### La Liga
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Barcelona (C) | 38 | 23 | 5 | 10 | 78 | 56 | +22 | 74 | Qualification for the Champions League group stage |
| 2 | Athletic Bilbao | 38 | 17 | 14 | 7 | 52 | 42 | +10 | 65 | Qualification for the Champions League second qualifying round |
| 3 | Real Sociedad | 38 | 16 | 15 | 7 | 60 | 37 | +23 | 63 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
| 4 | Real Madrid | 38 | 17 | 12 | 9 | 63 | 45 | +18 | 63 | Qualification for the Champions League group stage |
| 5 | Mallorca | 38 | 16 | 12 | 10 | 55 | 39 | +16 | 60 | Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup first round |
* 1 2 RMA 2–0 RSO; RSO 4–2 RMA
* ↑ Real Madrid was qualified directly for the 1998–99 UEFA Champions League as holders.
* ↑ MLL: 9 pts; CEL: 5 pts; ATM: 2 pts
* ↑ Since Barcelona, winners of 1997–98 Copa del Rey, was qualified for the 1998–99 UEFA Champions League, losing cup finalists RCD Mallorca earned a spot in the first round of the 1998–99 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 |
| Ground | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H |
| Result | W | W | W | W | W | W | D | W | W | L | L | W | L | W | W | W | W | L | D | L | L | W | D | D | W | W | W | W | W | W | L | W | W | W | D | L | L | L |
| Position | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |

#### Matches
### UEFA Champions League
#### Second qualifying round
#### Group stage

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | DKV | PSV | NEW | BAR |
| 1 | Dynamo Kyiv | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 6 | +7 | 11 | Advance to knockout stage | — | 1–1 | 2–2 | 3–0 |
| 2 | PSV Eindhoven | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 8 | +1 | 9 | | 1–3 | — | 1–0 | 2–2 |
| 3 | Newcastle United | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 8 | −1 | 7 | | 2–0 | 0–2 | — | 3–2 |
| 4 | Barcelona | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 14 | −7 | 5 | | 0–4 | 2–2 | 1–0 | — |

### UEFA Super Cup
## Friendlies

* GAMES
* 24-3-1998 COPA CATALUNYA LLEIDA-BARCELONA 1–2
* 5-5-1998 COPA CATALUNYA BARCELONA-EUROPA 1–1 /3–4/ PENALTY
* 25-7-1997 FRIENDLY IF ELFSBORG-BARCELONA 0–3
* 3-8-1997 FRIENDLY AZ ALKMAAR-BARCELONA 1–2
* 6-8-1997 FRIENDLY FC TWENTE-BARCELONA 0–1
* 9-8-1997 FRIENDLY MALLORCA-BARCELONA 1-1
* 16-8-1997 Joan Gamper Trophy BARCELONA-SAMPDORIA 2–2 /6–5/ PENALTY
* 27-1-1998 FRIENDLY BARCELONA-PARTIZAN 1–0
* 12-5-1998 FRIENDLY BARCELONA-SOUTHAMPTON 4–0

## Statistics
### Players statistics

| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | La Liga | La Liga | Copa del Rey | Copa del Rey | UEFA Champions League | UEFA Champions League |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| 13 | GK | NED | Hesp | 50 | -63 | 36 | -47 | 7 | -5 | 7 | -11 |
| 22 | DF | NED | Reiziger | 41 | 0 | 25+4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| 2 | DF | ESP | Ferrer | 34 | 0 | 21+3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4+2 | 0 |
| 17 | DF | NED | Bogarde | 22 | 2 | 19 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| 12 | DF | ESP | Sergi | 43 | 3 | 31 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| 7 | MF | POR | Figo | 48 | 7 | 35 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 7 | 1 |
| 10 | MF | BRA | Giovanni | 37 | 15 | 21+6 | 9 | 4+1 | 2 | 5 | 4 |
| 26 | MF | ESP | Celades | 48 | 0 | 34+2 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 21 | MF | ESP | Luis Enrique | 44 | 24 | 34 | 18 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
| 9 | FW | BRA | Anderson | 33 | 11 | 20+3 | 10 | 4+1 | 0 | 5 | 1 |
| 11 | FW | BRA | Rivaldo | 47 | 27 | 34 | 19 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 0 |
| 1 | GK | POR | Baia | 3 | -12 | 2 | -8 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -4 |
| 20 | DF | ESP | Nadal | 31 | 0 | 18+3 | 0 | 4+1 | 0 | 3+2 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | POR | Couto | 25 | 0 | 13+5 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 4+1 | 0 |
| 23 | MF | ESP | Iván de la Peña | 21 | 2 | 13+4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | ESP | Abelardo | 21 | 1 | 13+2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| 6 | MF | ESP | Óscar | 22 | 5 | 11+5 | 5 | 3+1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 18 | MF | ESP | Amor | 30 | 0 | 10+12 | 0 | 2+2 | 0 | 1+3 | 0 |
| 27 | MF | ESP | Roger | 25 | 0 | 7+11 | 0 | 2+3 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 16 | MF | YUG | Ciric | 32 | 1 | 6+15 | 0 | 1+2 | 1 | 5+3 | 0 |
| 4 | MF | ESP | Guardiola | 12 | 0 | 5+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4+1 | 0 |
| 19 | FW | ESP | Pizzi | 23 | 3 | 4+11 | 3 | 0+4 | 0 | 0+4 | 0 |
| 15 | FW | FRA | Dugarry | 11 | 0 | 4+3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1+3 | 0 |
| 8 | FW | BUL | Stoichkov | 5 | 1 | 1+1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0+2 | 1 |
| 25 | GK | ESP | Busquets | 2 | -2 | 1 | -1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -1 |
| 14 | MF | NGA | Amunike | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 28 | DF | ESP | Puyol | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 29 | MF | ESP | Xavi | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 31 | MF | ESP | Rosas | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 32 | MF | ESP | Jofre | 1 | 1 | 0+1 | 1 |
* Source: