Johan Cruyff changed football twice: first as a player, with Total Football, and then as a manager at Barcelona. Most people who have influenced the game managed it once.
As a player he was hard to pin down. He was a forward who could also play in midfield, run the game as a playmaker and see things before anyone else on the pitch. He won three Ballon d'Or awards, in 1971, 1973 and 1974, and three consecutive European Cups with Ajax, in 1971, 1972 and 1973, as their star player.
Total Football and the turn
In 1974 he led the Netherlands to the World Cup Final playing the revolutionary Total Football system. He also gave his name to the Cruyff Turn, still one of the best-known skill moves in the game.
The Barcelona manager
Later, as Barcelona's manager, he created the Dream Team and laid the foundation for tiki-taka. Messi, Xavi and Iniesta all came through a way of playing that traces back to him, and all of them owe his ideas a debt.
His influence on how football is played is greater than almost any other player's, and he may be the most influential footballer who ever lived. One midfielder ranks above him.
Tomorrow: number 1, the greatest midfielder of all time.
