Ronald Koeman will always be remembered for scoring the winning goal in the 1992 European Cup Final at Wembley. For those lucky enough to see him play regularly in his six seasons at Camp Nou, there are many other great memories. Koeman was a great leader who led Barça from the back. Playing in the middle of a three-man defence was never going to be easy for a player who was not so fast, but Koeman made up for it with good positioning and a quick mind.

He moved to Barça from PSV Eindhoven for a fee of approximately 1,000 million pesetas (€6million) in the summer of 1989. He had already won the European Cup with PSV in 1988. Johan Cruyff originally wanted him to play just in front of the defence, but the rise of a youngster called Josep Guardiola made Cruyff put Koeman in defence.

Koeman was strong in the tackle and he had to be, due to his lack of speed he knew he couldn’t catch many players if they got past him. However, his main strengths were when he had the ball. Koeman had tremendous vision and a pinpoint pass, his 40-metre crossfield passes to Txiki Begiristain or Hristo Stoichkov gave Barça more attacking options. He was also very cool on the ball, it didn’t matter if an opponent was pressurizing him, he nearly always managed to bring the ball out and find a team mate.

His trademark however was his shooting, especially from free kicks. Everyone remembers the goal against Sampdoria at Wembley, but Koeman scored an incredible 26 goals from free kicks in six seasons, a record comparable with any of the great free kick takers.

Koeman was a player to take responsibilities, often performing well in the big games. Two of his free kick goals were scored in derby matches against Real Madrid. Possibly his best goal for Barça was scored in the 1994 Champions League semi final 3-0 win against Porto, he received the ball in his own half, advanced into the Porto half and then unleashed a tremendous shot from thirty metres which flew in past Vitor Baia.

Of the other games that stick out in the memory there is a 7-2 victory over Tranzonspor in the Cup Winners Cup where Koeman scored a hat trick which included another great goal: the ball was cleared from a corner towards Koeman, as the entire defence ran out to play the offside, Koeman chipped the ball cheekily over the defence and then ran on to his own pass before lobbing the advancing keeper. There was also a 5-1 win over Spartak Moscow where Koeman scored twice with free kicks into opposite corners of the goal.

In his six years at Barça, Koeman played a total of 255 games and scored a remarkable 87 goals (48 from the penalty spot). He won one European Cup, four Ligas, one Copa del Rey, three Spanish Supercups and one European Supercup.

This is what Cruyff said when Koeman left the club in 1995: ” I will miss him  as a person and as a professional, his behaviour both on and off the field could not have been better, an example to the others which can not be said for either Stoichkov or Romario …. he is without doubt the most charismatic foreign player at Barça, and also the most important.”

If you would like to see some of Koeman’s goals including the cracker against Porto, check out this video:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qq-HhVwFKfM