Quote

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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Johan Cruijff
Loses
Milan
Winning
Italians
Chance
Chances
Never
Final
League
Finals
Champs
Asked
Ajax
Lose
Netherlands

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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If my forward arrives in a one vs one situation, I always say: 'let him work it out.' Then my players say: But we can help him!'. My reply is: First, there's a good chance you'll only run in his way, and as a second attacker you're drawing a second defender with you, and two vs two is harder than one vs one.'
Johan Cruijff
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I don't make a lot of mistakes, because it's hard for me to be wrong
Johan Cruijff
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The hardest thing about an easy match is making a weak opponent play poor. A poor player isn't poor because he tends to kick the ball in his own goal. It's because when you put intense pressure on him, he loses control. So you have to increase the tempo of the game and he'll automatically give the ball away.
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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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.
Johan Cruijff
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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.
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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Why couldn't you beat a richer club? I've never seen a bag of money score a goal.
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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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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There is only one ball, so you need to have it.
Johan Cruijff
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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.
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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Before I make a mistake, I don't make that mistake.
Johan Cruijff
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In small space a player has to be capable of acting quickly. A good player who needs too much time can suddenly become a poor player.
Johan Cruijff
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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.
Johan Cruijff
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If you want to play quicker you can start running faster, but it's the ball that decides the speed of the game.
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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The most difficult thing about an easy match is to make a weak opponent play bad football.
Johan Cruijff