Johan Cruyff Quotes

I'm not someone who can do 10 stepovers or backheels - I'm not very interested in that. I'm more fascinated by the simplicity of play because the thing that makes this sport so beautiful.

It gives me a lot of confidence to play with my feet, and I have to be focused for 90 minutes.

I like Jorginho, the way he plays and passes.

Usually, the most intelligent player is a midfielder.

The most difficult thing is football is to give the ball to a player that has the same colour shirt.

Guardiola likes footballers who can pass the ball, who have eyes for the best position and the right runs.

I played football ever since I was a little boy. Coming from a family of six boys, I guess we learned the game of football from a very young age.

My favourite position is as midfielder, playing with Xabi and Khedira.

Every footballer enjoys having the ball at their feet. There are times in training you find yourself without the ball. I enjoy that side of it as well. If we can spend more time working with the ball then everyone will enjoy it.

I am not a magician of football.

You gain know-how from playing matches because every moment of a football match has its own rhythm.

I think Totti would've had no problem playing in another big club. He's a born hitman, and great players always find a way to fit into a team.

I like to get the ball down and play, but I can always get stuck in and hold my own.

Even in training Paul Scholes proves he is one of the best midfielders about, and Michael Carrick as well.

I know I can play, but people who haven't seen me and look at me on a football pitch think, 'He's tall, and he's there to head the ball.'

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.

Being thick isn't an affliction if you're a footballer, because your brains need to be in your feet. And Beckham works hard, he's brave and he crosses a ball superbly. He treats a football like he does a wife, lovingly, with caresses.

Scholes was probably the best English midfielder since Bobby Charlton. He was such a brilliant long passer that he could choose a hair on the head of any team-mate answering the call of nature at our training ground. Gary Neville once thought he had found refuge in a bush, but Scholesy found him from 40 yeards. He inflicted a similar long-range missile strike, once, on Peter Schmeichel, and was chased round the training ground for his impertinence. Scholesy would have made a first class-sniper.

I know what to do when they give me the ball. I know what to do to give this team a chance to win.

In my teams, the goalie is the first attacker, and the striker the first defender.

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.

Playing football is very simple, but playing simple football is the hardest thing there is.

He deserves ten out of ten for doing what he does. He is a sensation, but still he can improve. He must know when to move the ball on quickly and when to try the impossible mission. When he learns this, he won't win a single Golden Ball, but an entire collection.

Some teams can't or don't pass the ball. What are you playing for? What's the point? That's not football. Combine, pass, play. That's football - for me, at least.

Basketball, unlike football with its prescribed routes, is an improvisational game, similar to jazz. If someone drops a note, someone else must step into the vacuum and drive the beat that sustains the team.