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Johan Cruyff Quotes
1947–2016 Netherlands
Hendrik Johannes Cruijff OON (25 April 1947 - 24 March 2016), internationally known as Johan Cruyff, was a former Dutch footballer and the manager of the Catalan national team as well as a member of the AFC Ajax board of directors. He won the Ballon d'Or three times, in 1971, 1973 and 1974, which is a record jointly held with Michel Platini, Marco van Basten, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
Netherlands Businesspeople Soccer players Also known as: Cruyff
Random Johan Cruyff quote
15 quotes
In my teams, the goalie is the first attacker, and the striker the first defender.
Winning is an important thing, but to have your own style, to have people copy you, to admire you, that is the greatest gift.
Quality without results is pointless. Results without quality is boring.
Every disadvantage has its advantage.
It hurts me that Holland chose an ugly path to aim for the title.
If you can't win, make sure you don't lose.
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.
Every trainer talks about movement, about running a lot. I say don't run so much. Football is a game you play with your brain. You have to be in the right place at the right moment, not too early, not too late.
David Winner (2012)
We showed the world you could enjoy being a footballer; you could laugh and have a fantastic time. I represent the era which proved that attractive football was enjoyable and successful, and good fun to play too.
Sadly, they played very dirty. This ugly, vulgar, hard, hermetic, hardly eye-catching, hardly football style... If with this they got satisfaction, fine, but they lost.
I haven't always been understood. 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.
Johan Cruyff (2016)
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 publicity for football.
The main problem in Britain is that there are too many competitions and too many games. There is no time to prepare properly for Europe or to introduce new ideas because there is far too much emphasis on domestic football.
I like technical players who can also think in terms of the team's interests. I've already mentioned Iniesta and Xavi, who disprove entirely the theory that only physically strong footballers with a lot of running ability can play in their positions.
Johan Cruyff (2016)
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.