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Playing against 10 is harder than playing against 11 players. You know why? The team with 11 will think ok, we can take it easy now, while the team with 10 will think We really have to work hard now.

Johan Cruijff

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Johan Cruijff
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More quotes by Johan Cruijff

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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.
Johan Cruijff
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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.
Johan Cruijff
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For the world of football, Messi is a treasure because he is role model for children around the world... Messi will be the player to win the most Ballons d'Or in history. He will win five, six, seven. He is incomparable. He's in a different league.
Johan Cruijff
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Often you see people who move there and then, once they have arrived, the ball moves here after which they also come here, but then the ball goes there again. I say: just stay where you are, then you are in any case at the right place half of the time.
Johan Cruijff
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Eric Cantona is a great player, but he's not as good as Ryan Giggs
Johan Cruijff
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Football is about having the best offensive play possible. I always like to play offensive football, and nobody will convince me otherwise.
Johan Cruijff
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Football is simple, you're either on time, or you're too late. If you're too late then you have to leave earlier.
Johan Cruijff
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Italians can never win from you, but you can lose to them. (when asked about Ajax's chances in the 1995 Champs League final against AC Milan)
Johan Cruijff
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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.
Johan Cruijff
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I look at Messi, and he makes me laugh. A beautiful footballer who is still like a kid. A world superstar, but still a kid. Innocent, you know. He just plays.
Johan Cruijff
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Speed is often confused with insight. When I start running earlier than the others, I appear faster.
Johan Cruijff
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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.
Johan Cruijff
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If you play on possession, you don't have to defend, because there's only one ball
Johan Cruijff
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Football is a simple game. It's just very hard to play it simple.
Johan Cruijff
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Italy cannot beat you but you can lose to Italy.
Johan Cruijff
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You know I don't think there will ever be a time when the English player is not respected, and feared, across the world of football. The English footballer is very brave and strong and committed and there is always enough high-class players in his team to cause concern in any opponent. It is a national characteristic.
Johan Cruijff
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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.
Johan Cruijff
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Before I make a mistake, I don't make that mistake.
Johan Cruijff
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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.
Johan Cruijff
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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.
Johan Cruijff