John Barnes: Italia 90 turned footballers into superstars

John Barnes played a leading role for England at the 1990 World Cup. Playing
alongside the likes of Paul Gascoigne and Gary Lineker, Bobby Robson’s team
reached the semi-finals before losing on penalties to Germany.

Barnes reflects on a tournament filled with memories, that arguably changed the
course of football history.



The 1990 World Cup felt different to me, compared to 1986, as I was a more established
player going into the tournament in Italy. I was by then playing with Liverpool at the height of my career. But I came into the tournament with an injury – in many respects, I shouldn’t have even been part of the squad, because I was carrying that injury with me during the group stage so I wasn’t able to do myself justice.

The camaraderie within the group was great because both the players and the manager
Bobby Robson were receiving a hard time in the press, so that gave us a siege mentality.
Italy is a real football country as well, so everywhere we went, we felt the World Cup fever.
We didn’t start the tournament well and the press scrutiny became even more heightened.
As much as I didn’t play as well or as many minutes as I would have liked, I really enjoyed
the togetherness of the team. And of course, having Paul Gascoigne in our dressing room
made things even better.

Everybody loved Gazza. He would go out to the local bars and interact with the public and
the fans used to absolutely love that. He was a normal working-class boy who had fun with
his friends and became part of something bigger than himself.



Gary Lineker was slightly different, he wasn’t one to necessarily go out with the lads but he
was very focused, very studious and single-minded – he was a determined, out-and-out
goalscorer. He didn’t get involved in the build-up play, but came alive in the penalty area. He was a typical, old-school No9 – the only modern player I can compare him to is Erling
Haaland.

1990 was a significant summer too, as it was the precursor of everything that was to follow, where the advent of the Premier League catapulted football players into becoming
superstars, like Hollywood actors. In the 1980s, footballers were normal people that went to the pub, walked down the street and acted normally. But from Italia 90 onwards, footballers became superstars.