Scottish greats pay tributes after death of Dutch legend Cruyff
JOHAN Cruyff was last night hailed as “up there with Pele, Di Stefano, Maradona and Messi” as Scottish football joined the world game in paying tribute to the Dutch great.
Former Netherlands internationalist Cruyff passed away at his home in Barcelona at the age of 68 yesterday following a fight with lung cancer. The three-time European Footballer of the Year faced Scottish clubs three times with Ajax and once with Feyenoord.
The Cruyff-inspired Amsterdam club defeated Celtic 3-1 on aggregate in the European Cup quarter-final in 1971 en route to the first of three consecutive triumphs.
Tommy Callaghan played for Jock Stein’s side in both of those matches and remembered Cruyff as an outstanding talent.
“He was the best player I ever faced during my career,” Callaghan told the official Celtic website. “He’s right up there with the very best – with Pele, Di Stefano, Maradona, Messi. Cruyff meant so much to the Ajax team at that time, and to the Dutch national team. I still enjoy watching the clip of that brilliant turn he did in the 1974 World Cup. And he was a brave boy as well.
“At Hampden, Jim Brogan gave him what for, but he never moaned or groaned, just got up and got on with the game.”
Cruyff scored in a 3-1 victory over European Cup Winners’ Cup winners Rangers at Ibrox in the first leg of the European Super Cup in 1972.
A fter spells with Barcelona and in America, he returned to Ajax in 1981 and played against Celtic again in the first round of the European Cup.
He was unable to help the Dutch giants win on that occasion – after a 2-2 draw in Glasgow Billy McNeill’s side ran out 2-1 winners in Amsterdam. George McCluskey netted the winning goal in the Olympic Stadium and yesterday recalled Cruyff being gracious in defeat.
“He was a bit older by that time, but he still had tremendous ability and a presence about him, and I think we were a wee bit in awe of him,” McCluskey told the Celtic website.
“It was absolutely fabulous for us to win over there because just about everybody had written us off, apart from ourselves.
“And I was luck y enough to swap jerseys with him. I went into the Ajax dressing-room after the game looking to swap a jersey but none of their players would do it. Johan Cruyff was on the physio’s bench getting a rub-down and he shouted me over and said he would do it.”