Johan Cruyff matches and goals scored

La Liga: March 31, 1974: Barcelona 2-0 Zaragoza

Title: 'Two Asensi goals decided a magnificent spectacle'

Barcelona scored early on after 15 minutes when Asensi converted off a pass from Torres, but the first half was balanced since Zaragoza played them evenly - but that would change in the second. After 49 minutes, Cruyff stole the ball from a defender, crossed to Asensi, who beat his marker to end Zaragoza’s chances of equalizing. From there on, Zaragoza’s drive to go forward dropped, and Barcelona took over possession. Towards the end Cruyff hit the post and once was brought down in the box, but the ref let play go on.

Cruyff was very active and was defended by zone, and operated deep, but was always on the defender Gonzalez' radar.

Seems to overlap with reports I have. They state that Cruyff looks tired at the end of the season and is playing with pain. It mentions that Barcelona players had difficulties to get into sleep the night before the match against Bilbao.

About Murcia the reporter states that the fifth minute goal of Asensi promised a large result but Murcia defended well enough to prevent this. Murcia had a "strengthened defense" with a few extra defensive players in the line-up.

Barcelona still dictated the game when Marcial had an injury after a half an hour, but his substitution hindered Barcelona even more in penetrating the defense of Murcia.

Cruijff did not reach his usual level and reporter say that he was more than usual focused in ball-retention instead of building penetrating attacks. An other report describes him as a "coward" .
The team in general had according to the reports a calm, relaxed and easy approach without much physical effort.

Murcia leaved their "defensive bunker" in the last five minutes of the match, and had a surplus of gas in the tank left to utilize, which almost resulted in that equalizer that Vegan10 mentions.


Btw,

I saw yesterday this fine compilation:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyN0_96JJ4I"]Johan Cruijff vs Sweden 1974 By Zouzinho - YouTube[/ame]

This is interesting: the opponent played zonal defense but the defender still followed him when he dropped deep?

Yes, I remember watching that WC74 game many years ago. Cruyff had a super first half where his teammates squandered numerous chances that he created.

The article states that even though they played zone the defender kept him under vigilance from a distance.

La Liga: April 7, 1974: Sporting Gijon 2-4 Barcelona

Title: ‘Barca, brilliant champion’

'Johan Cruyff the leader'

In the match, Jose Manuel had the task of marking Cruyff, and in the first 30 min he did not let him out of his sight.

Sporting Gijon has played great for the first 30 min, closing down space, and not allowing Barcelona’s top talents to shine. Only one chance for Barca in the 25th min is when Cruyff is brought down in the box, but the call goes against him. But with the first half drifting away, Cruyff stole a ball in the midfield, ran and found Rexach who beat his marker and shot past the GK: 1-0

With the lead, Barcelona starts the 2nd half with tranquility. But Sporting, after a few minutes is awarded a penalty: Ciriaco puts the penalty away. In the 58th minute, a corner for Sporting, and Leal headed an unstoppable shot: Sporting ahead.

Barcelona goes full throttle, and attack after attack is repelled by Gijon's defense and GK. But in the 73rd minute, a combination between Sotil-De la Cruz and Cruyff – who finds Marcial open to equalize. Marcial would score two more goals in the 79th min from a Rexach pass, and in the 88th.

The article states that Marcial was the star of the match with his hat-trick, and both GK's have played well.

La Liga: April 14, 1974: Barcelona 0-0 Malaga

With Barcelona already champs, their intensity have dropped and the game has been a 'mediocre spectacle'.

Cruyff, who started the match being marked by Irles, has received a white card after 13 min: from now on he will drop deep into his own half and perform as the 'libero', and will 'shine' in that position, but rarely go forward into attack.

La Liga: April 21, 1974: Barcelona 6-2 Oviedo

Barcelona easily defeated the bottom-table team with a brilliant team-display.

The newspaper says that Cruyff has been the architect of their offense today, and the anchor of their defense.

Barcelona has been on full throttle all game and Cruyff has spearheaded their attacks.

Carrete marked Cruyff, but to no avail.

Goals scored for Barca: Gallego, Sotil (3 goals) Asensi and Marcial.

Cruyff had 1 assist to Sotil off a cross, and participated in 3 other goals.

Cruyff’s next match was in a friendly played in Brussels (Belgium) on April 23, 1974 where Anderlecht and Barcelona tied 1-1.

Sotil scored Barcelona’s goal after 5 min from a cross by Cruyff.

Rensenbrink drew level in the 47th min.

The article states that Cruyff was very creative and the fans applauded him with every touch and left the game satisfied with the spectacle.

This championship-sealing match (number two Atletico Madrid lost their round the day before) is, of course, also reported in length in the reports I have. I think this is the first one where the reports clearly contradict because the two I have are less positive about Cruijff in this match. One say that he used his "autopilot", the other thinks he was confusing the role of the coach with the job of a player. But the Catalan report apparently says "Cruijff the leader" so in that aspect they do not contradict.

The reports end of course with applause with texts as "the championship drought is ended sooner than everyone had thought. Cruijff proved once more that Rinus Michels can't achieve anything without him." (Michels was Barcelona coach since 1971)

La Liga: April 28, 1974: Atletico Madrid 2-0 Barcelona

Title: “Barcelona loses in the final 5 minutes”

The articles states that Cruyff has been active, but ran out of gas towards the last 15 minutes of the match.

At. Madrid scored with 5 min to go from the penalty spot, and in stoppage time sealed the game with another goal.

Even though Barca has lost, they have had an acceptable actuation and at times a very good one, the newspaper states.

Cruyff’s next match for the Azulgrana is a friendly played in Morocco on May 1, 1974 where Barcelona won 3-1 against W.A.C (Morocco).

The newspaper states that Barcelona has played relaxed and won easily.

There’s no mention of how Cruyff performed but he was in the line-up.

The article says that Rexach set up several goals.

Goals: De la Cruz, Juanito, Marcial

Question: several reports say that he was "(very) active", what does that mean in Spanish-football lingo you think? Does it mean that he covered a lot of ground? Ran a lot? Was often involved in the build-up play? Did defensive work too?
Over here, if we say that a player is "very active" it is in most instances meant that he is chasing the ball a lot, in other words: using fore-checking and/or pressing.

I assume in this particular game that it would be on the offensive end because the article says that he has been involved in building up the attacking plays, sprinting forward, and has had 3 ‘great plays’ that have been wasted by teammates.

La Liga: May 5, 1974: Barcelona 1-0 Valencia

Title: “Valencia’s penalty miss is Key to Barca’s win”

Cruyff has regulated his energy throughout the match, and has his mind already focused on representing Holland in the WC – according to the newspaper.

In min 66, Barca’s GK Sadurni saved a penalty, and one minute later Asensi off a rebound scored for Barcelona.

It mentions that Valencia rarely attacked, and if they would have converted that PK, that it would have been an injustice. In any event, this has been the closest Barcelona have gone to losing at home this season.

This is in reference to the At. Madrid 2-0 Barcelona game.

la Liga: May 11, 1974: Las Palmas 1-0 Barcelona

Title: “An incredible goal sentences the game in the final minutes”

In the first half it was a back and forth game, the article states. It also says that Cruyff was the orchestrator of most of Barca’a attacks. But in the second half, he played deep and rarely sprung forward. The game lowered its intensity and in the 86th minute, Trona surprised Barca when he stole the ball from the defense, and no one made any attempt to stop him. The newspaper states it was incredible how the Barcelona defenders allowed that to happen.

Cruyff’s next match in this season was a friendly played at the Camp Nou against Hertha Berlin on May 13, 1974. Barcelona won 5-3 and Cruyff scored two goals.

The article says that the visiting team seemed “afraid” in the first half and that Barcelona was the clear dominators of the game. After only 5 min Cruyff headed in Rexach’s cross. Three min later Cruyff off a rebound converted his 2nd goal. Marcial scored the 3rd goal in the 21st min off of a rebound after Sotil headed against the post a cross from Cruyff. After 25 min, a free-kick taken by Cruyff was deflected off the wall and put in: an own goal. Barca’s 5th goal came from Marcial’s header from a corner taken by Juan Carlos. Cruyff also was fouled in the box but the ref never sanctioned a foul.

Most of the Barca’s team was changed at halftime, including Cruyff.

As addition.

I think it was this one:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lexhwgJIkJc"]Maradona: King of Naples (Part 1/6) - YouTube[/ame]

Or it was the 'he visto a maradona' documentary which was aired a few years ago on television.

With the similarity I mean that both documentaries focus on the cultural, sociological and political significance of the subject, accompanied with an extreme degree of idolizing.

Cruyff’s last game of the season with Barcelona came in another friendly on May 19, 1974 when PSV Eindhoven beat Barcelona 2-1 in Holland.

25,000 people attended the match to see Barcelona and especially Cruyff.

The article states that Barcelona has 'started strong' but eventually fades into the abyss.

Cruyff has been the center of attention and out of his boots have come the best chances for Barca.

Marcial early on put Barcelona ahead after Sotil set him up, but the Dutch team equalized two min later. Five minutes before the final whistle, the home team scored the winner after a defensive mistake.

Cruyff was replaced after 66 minutes.

1973/74 --- Johan Cruyff FC Barcelona:

05.09.73 --- Barcelona 6-0 Circle Brugge 2 goals (1pen) - 1 assist [Friendly]
26.09.73 --- Barcelona 2-0 Kickers-Offenbach 1 goal - 1 assist [Friendly]
16.10.73 --- Arsenal 0-1 Barcelona [Friendly]
20.10.73 --- Orense 1-3 Barcelona 2 goals [Friendly]
28.10.73 --- Barcelona 4-0 Granada 2 goals
01.11.73 --- Gerona 0-5 Barcelona 1 assist [Friendly]
04.11.73 --- Murcia 2-2 Barcelona 1 assist
11.11.73 --- Barcelona 2-0 Athletic Bilbao 1 assist
25.11.73 --- Lerida 1-5 Barcelona 1 goal - 2 assists [Friendly]
02.12.73 --- Barcelona 5-1 Sporting Gijon 1 goal
09.12.73 --- Barcelona 4-0 Malaga 1 goal - 1 assist
16.12.73 --- Oviedo 1-3 Barcelona 1 goal
22.12.73 --- Barcelona 2-1 Atletico Madrid 1 goal - 1 assist
30.12.73 --- Valencia 0-2 Barcelona 2 goals
06.01.74 --- Barcelona 3-0 Las Palmas 2 goals
13.01.74 --- Barcelona 2-0 Elche 1 goal
20.01.74 --- Racing 1-3 Barcelona 2 assists
27.01.74 --- Barcelona 5-2 Celta 1 goal - 1 assist
03.02.74 --- Espanyol 0-0 Barcelona
17.02.74 --- Real Madrid 0-5 Barcelona 1 goal - 2 assists
27.02.74 --- Barcelona 4-1 Real Sociedad 2 goals
03.03.74 --- Barcelona 5-0 Castellon 1 goal - 1 assist
10.03.74 --- Granada 1-1 Barcelona
12.03.74 --- Arsenal 1-3 Barcelona 2 assists [Friendly]
17.03.74 --- Barcelona 1-0 Murcia
24.03.74 --- Athletic Bilbao 0-0 Barcelona
31.03.74 --- Barcelona 2-0 Zaragoza 1 assist
07.04.74 --- Sporting Gijon 2-4 Barcelona 2 assists
14.04.74 --- Malaga 0-0 Barcelona
21.04.74 --- Barcelona 6-2 Oviedo 1 assist
23.04.74 --- Anderlecht 1-1 Barcelona 1 assist [Friendly]
28.04.74 --- Atletico Madrid 2-0 Barcelona
01.05.74 --- W.A.C 1-3 Barcelona [Friendly]
05.05.74 --- Barcelona 1-0 Valencia
11.05.74 --- Las Palmas 1-0 Barcelona
13.05.74 --- Barcelona 5-3 Hertha Berlin 2 goals [Friendly]
19.05.74 --- PSV Eindhoven 2-1 Barcelona [Friendly]

La Liga: 26 games – 16 goals + 14 assists
Friendlies: 11 games – 8 goals + 8 assists
Total: 37 games – 24 goals + 22 assists

A very nice review of that season, Vegan.

While watching those individual stats, it really looks like Cruyff was very effective and consistent. A nuclear weapon that brought to Barca the title after 14 years drought. In a way, that kind of form was a prelude to his brilliant WC performance.

According to your info (I checked bdfutbol, that differs slightly).

Barcelona scored 66 goals in total with him on the pitch (in 26 games), according to your info. Barcelona made 75 goals in the whole season (34 games). Stated differently, Barcelona made 9 goals in 8 games without him.

He was directly involved in 30 of the 66 goals. According to your reports it seems that he was often indirectly the instigator or sustainer of the attack as well.

Yeah thanks to Vegan and you for such info ...

Many younger fans quickly think Messi now is "just as good" or even "better" than Cruijff - hmmm

Thank you very much. I hope you have enjoyed the timeline of events.

That would be correct, and this in despite of generally having a defender shadowing and breathing down his neck. We also must take into account the other factors of adversity of that time as well – previously mentioned in this thread.

Yes. He has been mostly the spearhead to their offense and at times the anchor to their defense. And numbers cannot reflect the leadership that he has brought to the team.

I will start with his next season soon.

You are welcome.