Johan Cruijff citáty

„Je statisticky dokázané, že hráč má na kopačce balon v průměru 3 minuty za zápas. Nejdůležitější věcí tedy je, co děláte během těch 87 minut, kdy míč nemáte. To rozhoduje o tom, jestli jste dobrý hráč, nebo ne.“

„Nejsem věřící. Ve Španělsku se všech 22 hráčů před vstupem na hřiště pomodlí. Kdyby to fungovalo, všechny zápasy by musely skončit remízou.“

„O hráči, který během hry žongluje s balonem, mezitím co se čtyři obránci soupeřova týmu stačí vrátit zpátky, si lidi myslí, že je skvělý. Já říkám, že patří do cirkusu.“

„Hráči, kteří nejsou opravdoví lídři, ale snaží se jimi být, vždycky ostatním nadávají za chyby. Praví lídři dopředu předpokládají, že k chybám dojde.“

„Proč by člověk nemohl porazit bohatší klub? Nikdy jsem neviděl, že by balík peněz vstřelil gól.“

„Když máte míč, snažte se udělat prostor na hřišti co největší. A když ho nemáte, udělejte ho co možná nejmenší.“

„Musíte se ujistit, že nejhorší hráči soupeřova týmu mají balon na kopačkách co nejčastěji. Míč se vám pak totiž vždy co nevidět vrátí.“

„Pokud nemůžeš vyhrát, zajisti, abys neprohrál.“

„Technika není o tom, že umíte udělat tisíc nožiček. To může zvládnout s trochou cviku kdokoli. A pak může jít pracovat do cirkusu.“

„Kvalita bez výsledků je k ničemu. Výsledky bez kvality jsou nudné.“

„Co je to rychlost? Média si často pletou rychlost s přehledem o hře. Vždyť když se rozběhnu o chvíli dřív než někdo jiný, tak to pak jednoduše vypadá, že jsem rychlejší.“

“Van Gaal has a good vision on football. But it's 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 and take the decision on the pitch that is best for the situation… I don't have anything against computers, but you judge football players intuitively and with your heart.”

“Football is now all about money. There are problems with the values within the game. And this is sad because football is the most beautiful game. We can play it in the street. We can play it everywhere. Everyone can play it but those values are being lost. We have to bring them back.”

“4-5-1? Never. It was always 4-3-3 for me as a player and as manager, just like [Frank] Rijkaard at Barcelona. With 4-3-3, it's much easier to make combinations going forward. With only one forward, who is he going to pass to? Who is he going to make combinations with? Football is about having the best offensive play possible. I always like to play offensive football and nobody will convince me otherwise.”

“It hurts me that Holland chose an ugly path to aim for the title.”

“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.”

“Every disadvantage has its advantage.”

“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.”

“We [Barça] are a unique club in the world, no one has kept their jersey intact throughout their history, yet have remained as competitive as they come. (…) We have sold this uniqueness for about six percent of our budget. I understand that we are currently losing more than we are earning. However, by selling the shirt it shows me that we are not being creative, and that we have become vulgar.”

“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.”

“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.”

“When it was clear that I was leaving Ajax [in 1973], I was sent all kinds of poisonous messages and lots more of that kind of nonsense. But the worst thing for me was that Ajax gave my mother, who had always done her best for the club, an inferior seat in the stadium. Behind a pole. That absolutely crushed me.”

“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.”

“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.”

“If you can't win, make sure you don't lose.”

“That December [1992], we [Barça] lost the Intercontinental Cup match against São Paulo 2–1. It was one of the few times that I had no problems with a defeat. I've always admired the Brazilian coach Telê Santana for his vision, because it always displayed a genuine love of 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.”

“Because you play football with your head, and your legs are there to help you. If you don't use your head, using your feet won't be sufficient. Why does a player have to chase the ball? Because he started running too late. You have to pay attention, use your brain and find the right position. If you get to the ball late, it means you chose the wrong position. Bergkamp was never late.”

“Barça wanted to get rid of him [Guardiola]. They considered him scrawny, bad defensively and ineffective in the air. What nobody saw was that he had the basic qualities to go far: he had game intelligence, speed in his execution, technique. If I hadn't been at Barcelona, for sure he would have been sold to a Segunda Division club.”

“There is no medal better than being acclaimed for your style. As a coach, my teams might have won more games if we’d played in a less adventurous way. Maybe I’d have earned a little more and the bonuses would have been bigger, but if people say that Barcelona were playing the nicest football in the world with me as coach, what more can I ask for? If you’re appearing in the World Cup final it may be the biggest occasion of your life, so why be sad and fearful? Be happy, express yourself and play. Make it special for you and for everyone watching. For the good of football, we need a team of invention, attacking ideas and style to emerge. Even if it doesn't win, it will inspire footballers of all ages everywhere. That is the greatest reward.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”