Cruyff 'belongs to whole world'

Dutch football great Johan Cruyff "belongs to the whole world", his son Jordi Cruyff said Tuesday as he visited a memorial in honour of the former Barcelona player and manager at Camp Nou.

Cruyff, who is credited with reinvigorating the club and helping to launch its winning era, died on Thursday in his adopted city of Barcelona aged 68 after a five-month battle with lung cancer.

He chose to live his final days in privacy and his funeral was on Friday with just a few family and friends invited, his son Jordi Cruyff, dressed in mourning black, said.

"We understood that Johan is not only ours, he belongs to the whole world," he said.

"As a family we are incredibly proud of how people have reacted and we are very touched and impressed," he added.

"Barca, Ajax and the Dutch national team were his footballing loves and so it's great that these three entities have shown such respect and support."
Barcelona said that since Saturday more than 50,000 mourners had filed past the spot where a banner hangs saying "Thanks Johan" to pay their respects to the club's legendary former player and coach.

Tuesday is the last day that the stadium is open for fans to pay their respects. It was also the first day that members of the Cruyff family were present.

Cruyff, who first moved to Barcelona from Ajax Amsterdam in 1973, is often listed among the greatest players ever, alongside Pele, Alfredo di Stefano, Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi.

Earlier on Tuesday Barcelona coach Luis Enrique praised the club's former player and manager Johan Cruyff as having embodied "spectacular football and results", as he visited a memorial in honour of the Dutchman at Camp Nou on Tuesday.

"To talk about Cruyff is to talk about football at its best," said Enrique, who was accompanied by two of Barcelona's star players Sergio Busquets and captain Andres Iniesta.
- 'Very important legacy' -

Barcelona's first team visited the memorial after training on Tuesday morning, during which the players observed a minute's silence in honour of Cruyff.

"(Cruyff) leaves behind a very important legacy, a legacy that his club will perpetuate, we want to copy and improve this style of play which combines results and a spectacular attacking football," said Enrique.

When Cruyff arrived at Barcelona the team were second bottom in the league. But they won 17 games in a row to win their first La Liga title in 14 years.

The relationship between player, club and fans became even stronger after he took over as head coach in 1988.

In an eight-year spell in charge he won four consecutive league titles, and Barcelona's first European Cup in 1992.

Spain's Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport on Tuesday posthumously awarded Cruyff its Gold Medal of the Royal Order of Sports Merit, one of Spain's top sports honours,.

The ministry said a ceremony will be held at a yet-to-determine date to official give the award to Cruyff's family.

Barcelona said a minute of silence would be observed in honour of the player, and a video tribute to his career will be shown, on Saturday at the Camp Nou before the club's league match against arch rivals Real Madrid.

The club's players will wear jerseys with the message "Thanks Johan" while the roughly 90,000 fans in the stands will hold up cards to spell out the same message.
Source: AFP