The Fiver | Remember when FC Barcelona was a second-rate institution

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Childhood friends of Granny Fiver will remember the days when FC Barcelona was a thoroughly second-rate institution. Also-rans in La Liga. A regular embarrassment in Europe. A manager who didn’t quite cut it in England. An Argentinian genius whose career was in danger of going to waste if he didn’t get the hell out quicksmart. But times change, and, er, erm. Whatever, Barça are now one of the top draws in the world, as evidenced by the sheer volume of trouser-bothering laughter generated by their increasingly inventive capers in Big Cup. Hey, we wouldn’t be down the laundromat every other week if they were nobodies.

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