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— Keegan Pierce (@KeeganPierce) April 2, 2016
The pre-game ceremonies for Barcelona featured a huge, stadium-wide display of traditional blue and maroon stripes, along with his jersey and the words, in Catalan, “Thank you, Johan.”
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The incomparable and controversial Johan Cruyff, the Dutch Barcelona FC legend from 1973-1978 who died last week, was honored at Camp Nou today with a massive, stadium-wide show of support during El Classico against Real Madrid. The crowd held up placards all the way around the 99,000 seat capacity stadium to spell out his name and honor his jersey number (14) in a moving gesture of remembrance before the game, and then stood up and applauded during the 14th minute.
14th minute: The Camp Nou crowds honours Cruyff. #GràciesJohan pic.twitter.com/CxrJneiOqi
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) April 2, 2016
Cruyff, the inventor of the the Cruyff turn (who else could have invented it?), was a huge source a Catalan pride, as he delivered phenomenal contributions such as the “Phantom Goal” and a 5-0 victory over Real Madrid at their home Bernabeu that helped Barça win a 1960 La Liga title. After leaving to play for various clubs and the Dutch national team, epitomizing the beautiful style of Total Football, Cruyff returned to Barcelona FC as manager from 1988-1996. While there, Cruyff’s Total Football style morphed into the Spanish style Tiki-Taka, which still drives Barça’s offense today. Cruyff lived a great deal of his life in Barcelona and even named his son a traditional Catalan name of Jordi.
Cruyff died on March 25th after battling a severe bout with lung cancer. Prior to his death, he was quoted in Catalan papers as saying in an anti-smoking campaign, “Football has given me everything in life, tobacco almost took it all away.” He was surrounded by his family in his Barcelona home while he passed. In a sense, he was home. The man was practically Catalan.
[h/t brother @KeeganPierce]
