RIP Johan Cruyff, arguably the most influential figure in the history of football

25 April 1947 – 24 March 2016

Johan Cruyff (1947 - 2016) influenced the beautiful game like no other person. His legacy stands above all other greats of the world of football.

He changed the game as an icon, as a player, as a master tactician, as a manager and continued to influence the game as a statesman. 

His style of play was similar to the great Messi, but in an era when defenders used to break players' legs & get away with it.

Unlike the likes of Platini & Beckonbauer, he refused to get involved in FIFA politics & risk tarnishing his name.

Unlike Messi & Ronaldo, the lack of a World Cup in his resume was accompanied by leading a team that mesmerised the fans & revolutionised the game in the 1974 World Cup 
(unlike e.g. Ronaldo & Portugal the losing finalists in 2004 Euros or Messi & Argentina the losing finalists in WC 2014, both of which were at best above average). 

He therefore may not have won the World Cup, but he won the world over.

As an icon, he was the first player to wear a tailor made double stripe Adidas shirt during WC 1974 (vs the famous Adidas triple stripes). 

He was the first player in the world to transfer for $2m (Ajax to Barcelona).
He was the first player who wore a no outside 1-11 (famous 14) in the World Cup.

He named his third child "Jordi" after the patron saint of Catalonia, This was seen as a provocative gesture towards the then Spanish dictator General Franco, who had made all symbols of Catalan nationalism illegal.

His famous quotes make him football's true philosopher: Here are some of his best known quotes:

On himself:

• "In a way I'm probably immortal"
• "If I wanted you to understand it all, I would have explained it better"
• "Actually I never make a mistake, because it takes a huge effort for me to make a mistake."
• "I don't believe in God. In Spain all 22 players cross themselves, if it works the game is always going to be a tie."

On football and his philosophy

• "Playing football is very simple, but playing simple football is the hardest thing there is."
• "Italians can't win the game against you, but you can lose the game against the Italians."
• "Quality without results is pointless. Results without quality is boring."
• "It's better to go down with your own vision than with someone else's."
• "In my teams, the goalie is the first attacker, and the striker the first defender."
• "There is only one ball, so you need to have it."

Champions League quarter Final Draw easier on paper!

This year's Champions League draw has drawn "European Royalty" vs rugged, persistent underdogs. As such, on paper predicting the semi finalist may seem straight forward.

I happen to predict all 8 quarter finalists correctly in my round of 16 post, including Benfica even though I was hoping to see the Dutch side PSV in the quarter finals.

Real Madrid have improved since Zidane replaced Benitez. However, undoubtedly their progress in the Champions League has very much been helped with good fortune in the draw.
Having qualified with a mere 5 points, Roma nevertheless gave Real a run in Madrid & Wolfsburg may & can do the same. However, Real will prevail & reach yet another semi final.

PSG will account for an out of sorts Manchester City even more comfortably than they beat Chelsea & will reach their first ever Champions League semi final. City have been out of sorts ever since it was announced Pep Guardiola will be their manager next season. They are only here because their round of 16 draw was easier than previous years.

Bayern, having survived the scare at Munich vs Juventus should be able to beat the brave Benfica.  Against Juventus, the absence of Boeteng, Badstuber & Martinez was exploited & that is what Benfica will be hoping to emulate. Nevertheless I still believe the only team capable of beating Bayern are Barcelona.

Barcelona can take comfort in the unstoppable MSN goalscoring trio & the fact that Atletico Madrid have found it difficult to beat Barcelona in La Liga in recent years. Nevertheless, Atletico are extremely difficult to score against, and in 2014 Champions League they eliminated Barcelona.

All in all, if any team is capable of causing an upset vs the unstoppable force that is barcelona, it is the gritty Simone men from Madrid. 

Can any team in Europe stop Barcelona's MSN aka the Good, the Bad & the Ugly?

 Barcelona's MSN are a force never seen in European or indeed world football before.

Messi, Suarez & Neymar, or MSN as they are better referred to, not only seem to have telephonic understanding of each other's movements, but they are also totally non selfish when going for goal & the ball is almost always invariably passed to the player in the most opportune goal scoring position. To make it even harder, the trio enjoy the support of the magnificent trio of Iniesta, Bouquets & Rakitic, to the point that the retirement of the incomparable Xavi seems to have had little impact on the team's cohesion.

No wonder other teams across Europe consider the trio the Good (Messi), the Bad (Neymar) and the Ugly (Suarez, and in this case the physical resemblance also applies!)