These days, we associate Spain with tiki-taka, an attack-minded and free-flowing passing game. Before Johan Cruyff lay the foundations for that style during his time as Barcelona manager, the dominant playing style in Spain tended to be somewhat less exalted. In the mid-Eighties, merciless defending and unabashedly negative tactics were the order of the day for Spanish teams.
It hardly yielded the Spaniards a glut of trophies. Although clubs like Real Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona had been able to win the UEFA-Cup and the Cup Winners Cup, the biggest price in European club football had eluded them since 1966 and the national team hadn't been able to win a tournament since 1964. Things appeared to be looking up in 1984, when Spain made it to the final of the European Championship. But in that final they slumped to a 2-0 defeat against Platini's France.