Best Johan Cruyff quotes

Johan Cruyff might be the most influential figure in the history of football.

One of the finest footballers of all time, the legendary former forward was instrumental as Ajax won three consecutive European Cups in the 1970s and was the star of the Netherlands team which reached the final of the 1974 World Cup.

Cruyff went on to play for Barcelona and ended a long La Liga drought for the Catalan club in his first season. Back at Camp Nou as coach, his Dream Team won four titles in a row, plus a maiden European Cup for the Blaugrana.

Later, he became a key advisor to president Joan Laporta in the most successful period in Barça's history, set up his own sportswear brand and even launched an educational institution.

Wherever he went, the Dutchman was always an innovator. Here, a look at some of his most memorable quotes...

32. "I am sure that I will end up winning"

Johan Cruyff was seriously ill in early 2016, but still took time out to work on his autobiography and in February, his positive mindset shone through in a statement on his health.

"After several medical treatments I can say that the results have been very positive, thanks to the excellent work of the doctors, the affection of the people and my positive mentality," he said. "Right now, I have the feeling that I am 2-0 up in the first half of a match that has not finished yet. But I am sure that I will end up winning." The Dutch legend passed away just over a month later, on March 25th, at the age of 68. A life extremely well lived.

31. "We showed the world you could enjoy being a footballer"

The Netherlands reached the final of the 1974 World Cup and the Dutch side's Total Football, embodied by captain and star man Johan Cruyff, inspired a generation of coaches, players and fans.

"We showed the world you could enjoy being a footballer; you could laugh and have a fantastic time," he later said. "I represent the era which proved that attractive football was enjoyable and successful, and good fun to play too."

30. "The best office is a ball"

Not one for sitting in an office watching videos or browsing documents, Johan Cruyff was happiest out on the training ground.

"The best office is a ball," he once said. "You just sit and observe; you analyse and you think of new ideas." He had plenty of those...

29. On football's greatest gift

Johan Cruyff won three consecutive European Cups as an Ajax player and later led Barcelona to their first-ever title in the competition as coach, as well as four straight La Liga titles in the early 1990s.

But the Dutchman's legacy extends far beyond silverware. "Winning is an important thing," he once said. "But to have your own style, to have people copy you, to admire you, that is the greatest gift."

28. "Money on the pitch, not in the bank"

Johan Cruyff enjoyed enormous success as Barcelona coach in the early 1990s and although much of that was down to his innovative ideas, he also signed some special players.

The Dutchman brought the likes of Hristo Stoichkov, Michael Laudrup, Ronald Koeman and Romario to Barça, and believed that funds earned by the club should be spent on the team above all. "The money should be on the pitch," he once said. "Not in the bank."

27. "If you've got the ball, your opponent hasn't"

Pep Guardiola was inspired by Johan Cruyff's ideas and the Catalan, like his legendary former coach, believes that the best way to defend is by having the ball.

"If you have the ball, your opponent doesn't have it," Cruyff once said. The idea seems simple, but executing it on the pitch is much more difficult.

26. On his rival Louis van Gaal

Johan Cruyff's long-running feud with Louis van Gaal came to a head in 2011, when the former went to court to block the latter's appointment as a director at Ajax.

Both men coached Ajax and Barcelona, but had very different ideas about how the game should be played. Cruyff once said: "Van Gaal has a good vision of football but it is not mine. He wants to gel winning teams and has a militaristic way of working with his tactics. I don’t. I want individuals to think for themselves."

25. On the importance of homegrown players

Johan Cruyff was a strong believer in youth development, having been part of a hugely successful Ajax side as a player and later transferred that philosophy to Barcelona as a coach.

Some of that connection has been lost in modern football, but Cruyff said in 2011: "Normally, all the great teams of the past had more than half from the local community. You take Ajax [from the 1970s], you take AC Milan [from the 1980s], you take Barcelona in my time, Celtic from that time [1967], Manchester United in 1999. It gives you something extra. Maybe it's not much but it's local people who have been there and know the public."

24. On joining Barcelona over Real Madrid

Johan Cruyff is a Barcelona legend and one of the most important figures in the club's history, but the Dutchman once revealed he could have ended up at Real Madrid.

"I remember my move to Spain because it was quite controversial," he told TV3 in 2015. "People were saying I was going to a fascist country and the president of Ajax wanted to sell me to Real Madrid. I was born shortly after the war though, so I was brought up not to accept just anything. "[At the time] Barcelona were not at the same level as Madrid football-wise, but it was a challenge to play for a Catalan club. But Barcelona was more than a club."

23. "If you score one more than your opponent, you win"

Always engaging, Johan Cruyff could be philosophical, thoughtful and incredibly insightful. Sometimes, though, he liked to share simple and straightforward ideas about football.

The legendary Dutchman preferred an entertaining win with goals aplenty to a 1-0 victory, but once said: "If you score one more than your opponent, you win." Hard to argue with that.

22. On a young Pep Guardiola

When Johan Cruyff joined Barcelona as coach in 1988, Pep Guardiola was a talented but scrawny teenager coming through the youth ranks at the Catalan club. Promoted by Cruyff, Guardiola went on to become one of the greatest midfielders in Barça history, club captain and a key member of the Dutchman's Dream Team.

"He was a boy and the people said to me, 'Oh, he's one of the best,'" Cruyff recalled.
"So I looked for him in the reserves, but he didn't play in the reserves. So then I looked at the first youth team, and he didn't play in that team. And eventually I found him in the third youth team. So I said to the coaches, 'You said he was the best one!' And they said, 'Yeah, but physically…' I said, 'Put him there (in the reserves). He will grow. Don't worry, everybody grows'. And they said, 'Yeah, but we will lose'. I said, 'If we lose, we lose. We need to create players'. And he did very well."

21. On the "Cruyff turn"

Johan Cruyff's career as a player is full of memorable moments, but one stands out above all – his famous turn to go past Sweden's Jan Olsson at the 1974 World Cup.

"I never practiced tricks in training," Cruyff said later. "Never. It was spontaneous. I was in a difficult position, I had a problem, I needed a solution. I came up with it on the spot. It was the best solution."

20. Explaining his 1974 World Cup absence

Johan Cruyff captained the Dutch side to the World Cup final in 1974, but the Netherlands' star forward surprisingly opted not to take part in the 1978 tournament. He told Catalunya Radio in 2008: "You should know that I had problems at the end of my career as a player here and I don't know if you know that someone [put] a rifle at my head and tied me up and tied up my wife in front of the children at our flat in Barcelona.

"The children were going to school accompanied by the police. The police slept in our house for three or four months. I was going to matches with a bodyguard. All these things change your point of view towards many things. There are moments in life in which there are other values. We wanted to stop this and be a little more sensible. It was the moment to leave football and I couldn't play in the World Cup after this."

19. On developing players

On arrival at Barcelona as coach in 1988, Johan Cruyff brought with him many ideas from Ajax and those included a big focus on youth development.

"I let all youth teams play the same way, like the first team," he explained. "I always put the emphasis on learning. Sometimes I had the suspicion the youth coaches were more concerned with winning. They cared more about their own reputation. I cared only about the interest of the club. When a player with talent couldn't defend I put him in defence so he could learn. I didn’t care if it cost points, I was busy developing the player."

18. "Where do you think I learned football?"

Growing up in Amsterdam, Johan Cruyff honed his talents on the streets of the Dutch capital.

"I trained three to four hours a week at Ajax when I was little but played three to four hours every day on the street," he once said. "Where do you think I learned football?"

17. "Go out and enjoy it"

Noting that his players were tense and nervous ahead of the 1992 European Cup final against Sampdoria, Johan Cruyff had a simple message: "Go out and enjoy it."

They did. in the end. After a goalless 90 minutes at Wembley, Ronald Koeman's free-kick in extra time gave Barcelona their first-ever European Cup and the phrase went down in history as one of Cruyff's most famous quotes.

16. "Rembrandt and Van Gogh weren't understood either"

Johan Cruyff was seen by many as a genius on the pitch and a revolutionary off it. But the legendary Dutchman was also misunderstood at times.

"I haven't always been understood," he wrote in his autobiography. "As a footballer, as coach and also for what I did after all that. But OK, Rembrandt and Van Gogh weren't understood either. That's what you learn: people go on bothering you until you're a genius."

15. "I would prefer to win 5-4 than 1-0"

Johan Cruyff always spoke of the importance of entertaining the fans and at Barcelona, his Dream Team certainly produced some stunning football.

His side's adventurous style of play meant there were often plenty of goals – and always gave the opposition a chance. "I would prefer to win 5-4 than 1-0," the Dutchman once said. Ironically, his biggest success at the club was a 1-0 win in the 1992 European Cup final against Sampdoria, but no Barça fan would have had any complaints about that.

14. "Your best player should wear 14"

Johan Cruyff famously wore the number 14 shirt for much of his playing career, which was unusual in his time. It came about through superstition. Ahead of a game against PSV Eindhoven, team-mate Gerrie Mühren couldn't find his number 7 shirt, so Cruyff handed him his no. 9 and picked up a spare one from the basket.

It happened to be the 14 and after the game went well, Cruyff suggested they keep the same numbers. It became iconic and in 2007, Ajax announced the decision to retire the number. Responding to the tribute, Cruyff quipped: "That is no honour, is it? You must let your best player play with number 14!"

13. "Mourinho is a coach of titles, not football"

Ahead of the Copa del Rey final between Barcelona and Real Madrid in 2011, Johan Cruyff said: "José Mourinho is a coach of titles, not football."

After Real Madrid beat Barça 1-0 at Mestalla to win another trophy, Mourinho thanked Cruyff for his words, saying he was happy to be a coach of titles. But the Dutchman was not a fan of the Portuguese. "Maybe Mourinho is a very good person in private and a very good coach," he said on another occasion. "But what he shows the world is something else."

12. "Playing simple football is the hardest thing"

Johan Cruyff liked his sides to play one-touch football, but stressed that what may have seemed straightforward was actually very difficult to achieve.

"Playing football is very simple," he once said. "But playing simple football is the hardest thing that exists."

11. On the difficulty of Italian teams

During his time as Barcelona coach, Johan Cruyff had a grudging respect for clubs from Serie A. "Italian teams can't beat you," he said. "But you can lose to them."

Cruyff's best and worst moments as Barça boss came against Italian teams. A 1-0 win over Sampdoria at Wembley in 1992 brought the Blaugrana a maiden European Cup, but a damaging 4-0 loss to AC Milan in the final in Athens two years later was an unexpected blow for the pre-match favourites.

10. "Messi penalty gave me great joy"

With Johan Cruyff receiving treatment for cancer in February 2016, Lionel Messi decided to pay homage to the Dutch legend in a game against Celta Vigo at Camp Nou.

Drawing inspiration from Cruyff's famous penalty one-two with Jesper Olsen at Ajax in 1982, Messi laid the ball off for Luis Suárez to make it 4-1. The pass was actually meant for Neymar, but the the Uruguayan scored it and Cruyff was thrilled. "What Messi did gave me great joy," he said. "I don't know if he had seen the (original) play, but if anyone can do something like that, it's him. I saw straight away how people spoke about my penalty. It's a joy that people remember you after so many years. It's special, [one of those] things that football gives you."

9. "My idol was Di Stéfano"

Although associated with Barcelona for over half of his life, having been a player, coach, advisor and an honorary president at the Catalan club, Johan Cruyff grew up idolising a Real Madrid legend.

"My idol was always Di Stéfano," he said. "He's the only one I have asked for an autograph in my whole life and I'll never forget what he did for me, how he treated me when they gave me the Ballon d'Or. He was my idol and I have no words to give thanks for how he treated me always."

8. On Xavi's qualities

Johan Cruyff admired ball-playing midfielders and he admitted in 2015 that Xavi was one of his favourite footballers.

"One of the best Barça players was Xavi because he was always in the middle of the pitch, controlling the tempo. He knew he had to pass to the full-back, when to hold back... Only a few people see that. It's difficult to explain because nobody understands."

7. "Ronaldo won't make the team play well"

With Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo dominating El Clásico and also the Ballon d'Or in the mid-2010s, Johan Cruyff explained why he thought the Argentine was the superior player.

"For me, I have always liked small, technical players because that's a little what I was like," he said in 2015. "Ronaldo is a great player, but he's a goalscorer. He will never be the player that can create or force a team to play well. He cares about finishing." And he added: "Messi is much more of a team player than Cristiano. He gives passes, produces many more assists... so for me, as a player, not a goalscorer, although he also scores a lot, the best is Messi. For me, there's a great difference between being a great player and a goalscorer."

6. "I was six times better than today's players"

Johan Cruyff was an extraordinary player and he knew it. Sometimes, he couldn't help reminding everybody just how good he was.

"Players today can only shoot with their laces," he once said. "I could shoot with the inside, laces, and outside of both feet. In other words, I was six times better than today's players."

5. "The goalkeeper is the first attacker"

In modern football, it is common to see sweeper-keepers and strikers pressing to win the ball back. But Johan Cruyff was doing all that as a coach back in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

"In my teams, the goalkeeper is the first attacker, and the striker the first defender," he once explained.

4. "I've never seen a bag of money score a goal"

Although he admitted in his later years that "football is now all about money", Johan Cruyff was more philosophical during his time as a coach.

"Why couldn't you beat a richer club?" he once said. "I've never seen a bag of money score a goal."

3. "Results without quality is boring"

Johan Cruyff has often spoken of the importance of playing style and how football should not be only about winning, which is summed up by one of his most famous quotes.

"Quality without results is pointless," he said. "But results without quality is boring."

2. On supporting Spain in 2010

Johan Cruyff was critical of the Dutch style of play at the 2010 World Cup. "It hurts me that Holland chose an ugly path to aim for the title," he wrote in a column ahead of the final.

"Who am I supporting? I am Dutch but I support the football that Spain is playing. Spain's style is the style of Barcelona. Spain, a replica of Barça, is the best advertisement for football."

1. On the Dutch influence in 1974

The Netherlands may not have won the World Cup in 1974, but the Dutch side coached by Rinus Michels and captained by Johan Cruyff has an even greater legacy.

"The whole philosophy of how football should be played was established in the 1974 World Cup," Cruyff later said. "That philosophy is still valid today."