Barcelona and Dutch legend Johan Cruyff has died at 68 from lung cancer. He died this afternoon March 24th after battling cancer for years. The late Johan Cruyff was voted world player of the year three times, and guided Holland to the World Cup final in 1974.I am really shocked his death has come so quickly.It only seemed like yesterday when he broke the dreaded news that he had lung cancer.Also a few weeks ago,he revealed that he was 2-0 up in the fight against cancer.So when i woke up to the news today of the Dutch master's death,i was truly shocked at saddened.All those years of heavy smoking must
have really take a toll on the great footballer.
As a manager he spent eight years in charge of Barcelona. He is responsible for initiating the possession based 'tiki taka' football and 'total football' currently played by Barcelona and a lot of top football clubs today. He also played for Barcelona and Ajax during his career.Among his legacies is the famous Cruyff turn at the 1974 World Cup against Sweden.
“On March 24 2016 Johan Cruyff (68) died peacefully in Barcelona, surrounded by his family after a hard fought battle with cancer. It’s with great sadness that we ask you to respect the family’s privacy during their time of grief,” read a statement on Johan Cruyff's website.
He coached Barcelona to a first European Cup triumph in 1992 as well as winning four successive La Liga titles between 1991 and 1994, having managed Ajax from 1985 to 1988.
Barcelona tweeted: “We will always love you, Johan. Rest in peace.”
“With great sadness we have learned of the death of Johan Cruyff. Words are not enough,” wrote the Dutch football federation on Twitter. Ajax issued a short statement that read:
Cruyff was a heavy smoker until undergoing heart surgery in 1991, and publicly revealed his cancer problems in October last year.
As a player Cruyff scored 392 times in 520 games . As a coach he had 242 victories in 387 matches, with 75 draws and 70 losses.
Lionel Messi, was among the first to pay tribute to Cruyff, writing on his Twitter account: “RIP Johan Cruyff. Your legacy will live on forever.”
Johan Cruyff was also famous for his quotes and sense of humour.Some perceived him as arrogant,but the Dutch have always been sure of themselves.Here are 25 famous Johan Cruyff quotes.
1. Technique is not being able to juggle a ball 1000 times. Anyone can do that by practicing. Then you can work in the circus. Technique is passing the ball with one touch, with the right speed, at the right foot of your team mate.
2. Someone who has juggled the ball in the air during a game, after which four defenders of the opponent get the time to run back, that’s the player people think is great. I say he has to go to a circus.
3. Choose the best player for every position, and you’ll end up not with a strong XI, but with 11 strong 1’s.
4. In my teams, the goalie is the first attacker, and the striker the first defender.
5. Why couldn’t you beat a richer club? I’ve never seen a bag of money score a goal.
6. I always threw the ball in, because then if I got the ball back, I was the only player unmarked.
7. I’m ex-player, ex-technical director, ex-coach, ex-manager, ex-honorary president. A nice list that once again shows that everything comes to an end.
8. Players that aren’t true leaders but try to be, always bash other players after a mistake. True leaders on the pitch already assume others will make mistakes.
9. What is speed? The sports press often confuses speed with insight. See, if I start running slightly earlier than someone else, I seem faster.
10. There’s only one moment in which you can arrive in time. If you’re not there, you’re either too early or too late.
11. Before I make a mistake, I don’t make that mistake.
12. When you play a match, it is statistically proven that players actually have the ball 3 minutes on average … So, the most important thing is: what do you do during those 87 minutes when you do not have the ball. That is what determines wether you’re a good player or not.
13. After you’ve won something, you’re no longer 100 percent, but 90 percent. It’s like a bottle of carbonated water where the cap is removed for a short while. Afterwards there’s a little less gas inside.
14. There is only one ball, so you need to have it.
15. I’m not religious. In Spain all 22 players make the sign of the cross before they enter the pitch. If it works all matches must therefore end in a draw.
16. We must make sure their worst players get the ball the most. You’ll get it back in no time.
17. If you have the ball you must make the field as big as possible, and if you don’t have the ball you must make it as small as possible.
18. Every professional golfer has a seperate coach for his drives, for approaches, for putting. In football we have one coach for 15 players. This is absurd.
19. Surviving the first round is never my aim. Ideally, I’d be in one group with Brazil, Argentina and Germany. Then I’d have lost two rivals after the first round. That’s how I think. Idealisitic.
20. Players today can only shoot with their laces. I could shoot with the inside, laces, and outside of both feet. In other words, I was six times better than today’s players.
21. Quality without results is pointless. Results without quality is boring.
22. There are very few players who know what to do when they’re not marked. So sometimes you tell a player: that attacker is very good, but don’t mark him.
23. I find it terrible when talents are rejected based on computer stats. Based on the criteria at Ajax now I would have been rejected. When I was 15, I couldn’t kick a ball 15 meters with my left and maybe 20 with my right. My qualities technique and vision, are not detectable by a computer.
24. Playing football is very simple, but playing simple football is the hardest thing there is.
25. If I wanted you to understand it, I would have explained it better.
RIP great man.