Dutch football great Johan Cruyff “belongs to the whole world”, his son Jordi Cruyff said yesterday 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.  Yesterday was the last day that the stadium was 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.
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 yesterday.
“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. 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 who died last Thursday aged 68 after a battle with lung cancer.
“(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.