Hristo Stoichkov moved from CSKA Sofia to sign for Barça for 4oo million pesetas (2.4 million euros) in July 1990. He went on to become arguably the most important player in Johan Cruyff’s Dream Team of the early 1990s. Cruyff signed Stoichkov because he wanted a player with speed, finishing and attitude. He certainly got what he paid for.

Stoichkov’s attitude was to get him into all sorts of problems with referees, in a Supercup game against Real Madrid in his first season at Barça he earned himself an 8-match ban for treading on referee Urizar Azpizarte’s foot and pushing him in response to the ref sending Cruyff off. This just made the fans love him even more.

Hristo wasn’t only controversial on the pitch, he didn’t mind criticizing his own directors, arguing with his team mates, he even had a go at Silvio Berlosconi after Marco van Basten won the European Player Of The Year award ahead of him, “I didn’t win because Berlosconi moved things so the award would go to one of the players from his team.”

It was Hristo’s on-field qualities that will be most remembered. It was his speed and agressiveness that made him such a great player. He always looked to attack and when he ran at defenders it must have put the fear of God into them. To make the most of his speed Cruyff usually played him on the wing. He formed a deadly partnership with Michael Laudrup whose passes into space behind the defence were perfect for Hristo to run onto. Stoichkov was so quick that he was a nightmare for linesmen, his runs to beat the offside trap, usually to chase a pass from Laudrup or from Pep Guardiola, were extremely difficult to judge. Stoichkov would always show his displeasure and disbelief when the flag was raised against him, but to be fair, most of the time the linesmen called it correctly.

Some of his performances stand out in the memory. His four goals at San Mames in the 0-6 win against Athletic Bilbao in 1991, four more against Albacete in a 7-1 victory the following season. His first half hat-trick against Atletico Madrid in the Calderon in a game that saw him sent off. Two goals in the Champions League semi-final against Porto in 1994. The incredible 5-3 win over Atletico in the same season, Stoichkov scored twice, had a perfectly good goal disallowed, missed a penalty and still found time to get sent off before the end. And how could I forget the last great night of the dream team: Hristo scored twice as Barça thumped Man United 4-0 in November 1994 in front of 114,000 fans.

Stoichkov was a good man to have around if you were playing for the league on the last day of the season, as happened in 1992, 1993 and 1994. While on each occasion Barça needed their rival to drop points, Barça had to win their game. In 1992, Hristo scored both goals in a 2-0 victory over Athletic Bilbao while Real Madrid lost 3-2 in Tenerife giving Barça the title. The following year Madrid again lost in the last match of the season to Tenerife allowing Barça to sneak the league with a 1-0 win against Real Sociedad, Stoichkov, of course, providing the goal. In 1994, Barça took advantage of Deportivo’s failure to convert a last minute penalty, Stoichkov scored twice as Barça beat Sevilla 5-2 on the last day of the season.

Stoichkov was sold to Parma in 1995 where he played for one year before returning to Barça a year later when a new coach, Bobby Robson, had come in to replace Cruyff. Stoichkov never found his previous form but he remained an idol for Camp Nou. In a cup game, again against Atletico Madrid, Barça were 0-3 down in the first half when Robson decided to risk everything and put on Stoichkov and Ivan de la Peña in place of two defenders, Stoichkov didn’t score but he did play a part in three  goals as Barça amazingly came back to win 5-4.

In Bulgaria, Stoichkov is a national hero. He led Bulgaria to the semi-finals of the World Cup in 1994 and was also joint top scorer with six goals. I’ll always remember him trying single-handedly to score the seventh in the 3rd place match against Sweden. Bulgaria lost 4-0 and Stoichkov’s team mates were obviously thinking about their holidays, but Stoichkov had the ambition that drove him unsuccessfully to look for the goal which would make him the tournament’s top-scorer.

I will always remember Hristo Stoichkov as quite simply one of the most exciting players I have ever seen. If you would like to see some Stoichkov goals, check out this video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVs_KbCwXmU