wingers and a centre-forward on it,”
midfielder Eusebio told FFT. “We all looked at
each other and said, ‘What the hell is this?’”
Cruyff sold 15 players and brought in three
young Basques: Txiki Begiristain, Jose Maria
Bakero and Julio Salinas. But even they
weren’t enough to inspire tactical revolution
within a more cerebral and possession-
hungry side.
So Cruyff resolved to overhaul La Masia,
which at the time cast aside any 15-year-old
who grew to be less than 5ft 9in tall.
Potential physique trumped talent every
time (in case you were wondering, neither
Lionel Messi, Xavi nor Andres Iniesta are
taller than 5ft 9in).
“A good player doesn’t need to have
strong physique,” huffed Cruyff. “I had short
lads like Albert Ferrer, Sergi or Guillermo
Amor; players without great physiques but
who pampered the ball with their touch and
could press the opposition like rats. Even Pep
Guardiola wasn’t all that, physically.”
Through a mixture of relentless two-touch
training and psychology, Cruyff had
developed a winning machine that was
playing football from another galaxy. Criesof, “You play slower than my f**king
grandmother!” or, “Two feet... you’ve got two
f**king feet!” were often heard on the
training ground.
Cruyff led Barça to 12 top honours,
including four successive La Liga crowns
from 1990-91; two of them on the final day
of the season. But winning the 1992
European Cup was what mattered most. The
Dutchman’s ‘Dream Team’ – nicknamed after
the dominant US basketball team at that
summer’s Olympics – conquered Sampdoria
with a 1-0 win at Wembley that remains the
club’s most storied moment; not least
because of Cruyff’s three-word team talk.
“Salid y disfrutad.” Go out there and enjoy it.
The influence on Guardiola’s Barça, Bayern
Munich and Manchester City outfits, plus the
Spain side which ruled international football
from 2008-12, is inescapable.
“Cruyff is the main influence in our
modern football,” says Xavi, vice-captain of
that Spain team and frontrunner to be the
next Barcelona manager. “He changed the
way we play and every other coach merely
adapts his ideas.”
Which is just how Cruyff wanted it.
“Winning is important,” he once said, “but
to have your own style, to have people copy
you, to admire you – that is the greatest gift.”
His greatest disciple certainly thinks so.
“Johan Cruyff painted the chapel,” insisted
Guardiola. “Barcelona coaches since merely
restore or improve it.”03 JOHAn CRUYFF
Whatever way you look at it, Jesus was
kind of a big deal. You may or may not
agree with all the ‘son of god’ and ‘water
into wine’ stuff, but his birth dictates what
year it is: 2021 AD, Anno Domini, the Year
of our Lord. Year zero.
So large a debt do Barcelona owe to
Hendrik Johannes Cruyff, they should adopt
a similar calendar: BC, AC. Before Cruyff,
After Cruyff.
When the Dutchman returned to the Camp
Nou as coach in 1988, Barcelona had won 36
trophies in 89 years and were yet to lift the
European Cup. In just 32 years since, Los
Cules have hoisted silverware 52 times,
including five European Cup and Champions
League titles.
Cruyff always believed in his own divinity,
having already changed the world as a
player. When Pythagoras in Boots arrived,
Barcelona were in a mess. Cruyff was
president Josep Lluis Nunez’s unity
candidate; a club legend who would base his
attack-minded principles on Total Football
mentor Rinus Michels.
“He got a blackboard and then drew three
defenders, four midfielders, two out-and-out
“JOHAn CRUYFF PAInTED
THE CHAPEL – BARCELOnA
COACHES SInCE MERELY
RESTORE OR IMPROVE IT”
GREATEST
MAn AGERS100
ImagesPA; Getty Images