Johan Cruyff matches and goals scored

Yes, that's the right one. The picture James shows is not the correct arrangement of the names.

Anyway, this is a good occasion to update the international friendlies list. A lot of thanks to Arsenij. The biggest change is the addition of the Kaiserslautern 1965 game, where Cruijff played as left-winger for an injured Keizer.

[assists are not in boldface because that info is incomplete]

1. 14/03/1965 - Ajax - Kaiserslautern 2:1
2. 08/06/1966- Cherno More - Ajax 3:1 1 goal
3. 12/06/1966 - Spain NT - Ajax 1:2 1 goal [unofficial]
4. 03/08/1966 - Ajax - Aston Villa 2:0 [assisters unknown]
5. 07/08/1966 - Ajax - CSKA Sofia 7:1 3 goals [assisters unknown]
6. 01/02/1967 - Ajax - Anderlecht 1:4 [subbed out in second half, ~55th minute]
7. 06/08/1967 - Ajax - Anderlecht 3:1 2 assists
8. 09/08/1967 - Ajax - Everton 3:0 2 goals 1 assist (PK drawn)
9. 23/08/1967 - Standard Liege - Ajax 0:1 1 goal [played only one half]
10. 07/12/1967 - Ajax - Slovan Bratislava 5:1 3 goals 1 assist (PK drawn)
11. 13/12/1967 - Israel NT - Ajax 1:6 2 goals 1 assist (at least)
12. 20/03/1968 - Ajax - Duisburg 1:1 1 goal
13. 16/03/1969 - Ajax - 1860 München 2:0 1 goal [played only one half]
14. 26/07/1969 - Ajax - Manchester City 3:3 2 goals
15. 27/07/1969 - Alemannia Aachen - Ajax 1:2 1 goal
16. 30/07/1969 - Wuppertaler SV - Ajax 1:1 1 goal
17. 02/08/1969 - Hertha BSC - Ajax 2:0 [played only 60 minutes, injured]
18. 27/08/1969 - Juventus - Ajax 2:1 1 assist
19. 10/09/1969 - Ajax - Slovakia NT 1:1 [played only second half, unofficial]
20. 19/10/1969 - Ajax - Rot Weiss Essen 5:0 1 goal [assisters unknown]
21. 26/07/1970 - Ajax - Chelsea 1:1 1 goal
22. 06/08/1970 - Club Brugge - Ajax 2:2 1 assist [played first 55 minutes, injured after 27th minute]
23. 29/12/1970 - Ajax - Eintracht Frankfurt 6:2 [assisters unknown]
24. 14/02/1971 - Ajax - Dinamo Zagreb 1:0
25. 30/07/1971 - Eintracht Frankfurt - Ajax 2:1 1 assist
26. 08/08/1971 - Ajax - Borussia Mönchengladbach 4:3 1 goal 1 assist
27. 10/08/1971 - Borussia Mönchengladbach - Ajax 3:1 1 assist
28. 24/11/1971 - Ajax - Spartak Trnava 2:0 1 goal 1 assist (PK drawn)
29. 02/02/1972 - Olympique Marseille - Ajax 2:2
30. 27/05/1972 - Beerschot - Ajax 2:3 1 goal [played 60 minutes, assisters unknown] (or: 1 assist)
31. 27/07/1972 - OGC Nice - Ajax 1:3 1 goal [assisters unknown]
32. 04/08/1972 - Bayern Munich - Ajax 0:5 [played first half]
33. 08/08/1972 - Ajax - Bayern Munich 2:1 1 goal
34. 14/02/1973 - PAOK - Ajax 1:1 [played 30 minutes]
35. 16/02/1973 - Olympiacos - Ajax 1:2 [played 30 minutes]
36. 25/07/1973 - Norf/Budericher Kombination - Ajax 0:14 4 goals [assisters unknown]
37. 27/07/1973 - FC Metz - Ajax 1:2 [assisters unknown]
38. 04/08/1973 - Ajax - Spartak Trnava 3:5 1 assist (at least)
39. 05/08/1973 - Ajax - Ujpest FC 0:0
40. 08/08/1973 - Ajax - Tottenham Hotspur 4:1 2 goals 2 assists [played first half]

41. 05/09/1973 - Barcelona - Cercle Brugge 6:0 2 goals (1PK) 1 assist
42. 26/09/1973 - Barcelona - Kickers Offenbach 2:0 1 goal 1 assist
43. 16/10/1973 - Arsenal - Barcelona 0:1
44. 12/03/1974 - Arsenal - Barcelona 1:3 2 assists
45. 23/04/1974 - Anderlecht - Barcelona 1:1 1 assist
46. 01/05/1974 - WAC - Barcelona 1:3
47. 13/05/1974 - Barcelona - Hertha BSC 5:3 2 goals
48. 19/05/1974 - PSV - Barcelona 2:1
49. 07/08/1974 - Hamburg SV - Barcelona 3:2 1 goal
50. 13/08/1974 - Barcelona - Penarol 0:1
51. 20/08/1974 - Barcelona - Ajax 3:0 1 assist
52. 21/08/1974 - Barcelona - Glasgow Rangers 4:1
53. 25/08/1974 - Barcelona - Austria Wien 3:2 1 goal
54. 26/08/1974 - Barcelona - Stal Mielic 2:1
55. 31/08/1974 - Barcelona - Palmeiras 0:2
56. 01/09/1974 - Barcelona - Santos 4:1 1 assist
57. 09/10/1974 - Reims/Paris - Barcelona 1:5 2 goals 2 assists
58. 15/10/1974 - Barcelona - Duisburg 1:1 1 assist
59. 12/11/1974 - Barcelona - Manchester City 3:2 1 goal 1 assist
60. 27/11/1974 - Barcelona - East-Germany 2:1 1 goal [unofficial]
61. 08/08/1975 - Ajax - Barcelona 3:1
62. 11/08/1975 - Feyenoord - Barcelona 1:1 1 goal
63. 13/08/1975 - Alemannia Aachen - Barcelona 1:1
64. 18/08/1975 - Olympique Marseille - Barcelona 3:1
65. 26/08/1975 - Barcelona - Ujpest Dosza 3:2 1 goal 1 assist
66. 27/08/1975 - Barcelona - Feyenoord 3:1 1 goal
67. 07/01/1976 - Barcelona - Cologne 1:1
68. 04/08/1976 - Vitesse - Barcelona 0:2 1 goal
69. 07/08/1976 - VVV - Barcelona 1:2 1 goal 1 assist
70. 10/08/1976 - Duisburg - Barcelona 2:0
71. 13/08/1976 - Barcelona - Glasgow Rangers 2:1 1 goal
72. 14/08/1976 - Barcelona - Spartak Moscow 2:2 1 assist
73. 24/08/1976 - Barcelona - Sparta Prague 2:1 1 goal
74. 25/08/1976 - Barcelona - Eintracht Frankfurt 2:0 1 assist
75. 01/09/1976 - Barcelona - Stade Reims 2:0 1 assist
76. 19/04/1977 - Paris Saint Germain - Barcelona 1:1 1 goal
77. 19/06/1977 - Barcelona - Ferencvaros 3:0
78. 26/07/1977 - Hamburg – Barcelona 6:0 (out 17')
79. 25/05/1978 - Napoli – Barcelona 1:1
80. 27/05/1978 - Barcelona – Ajax 3:1 1 assist (out 70')

81. 07/01/1982 - Oranjestad - Ajax 1:3 2 assists [no substitution info]
82. 08/01/1982 - Curacao - Ajax 0:2 [unofficial, no substitution info]
83. 10/01/1982 - Transvaal - Ajax 0:3 [no sub info, assisters unknown]
84. 18/02/1982 - Toulouse - Ajax 0:9
85. 02/06/1982 - Belgium NT - Ajax 4:2 [unofficial, played first half]
86. 20/05/1983 - KV Mechelen - Ajax 1:1

87. 05/08/1983 - Feyenoord - Standard Liege 1:3 PK drawn
88. 07/08/1983 - Feyenoord - Liverpool 3:3 1 goal 1 assist
89. 12/08/1983 - Manchester United - Feyenoord 1:2 1 assist
90. 14/08/1983 - AS Roma - Feyenoord 1:1
91. 11/01/1984 - Glasgow Rangers - Feyenoord 3:3 1 goal 1 assist
92. 15/05/1984 - FC Antwerp - Feyenoord 3:4 [played 70 minutes]
93. 25/05/1984 - Queens Park Rangers - Feyenoord 1:3 [played one half; played in Indonesia]
94. 29/05/1984 - Torino - Feyenoord 1:1 1 assist [played one half, Torino equalized in 80th minute through PK; played in Turin]

 

@PDG1978

Do you remember that you and me wondered what another volley goal for Barcelona (that's often included in compilations and videos - unlike the PSG volley goal of above) was supposed to be? Seems like that often repeated goal is from his Primera Division debut match.


Near the end he also makes an easy tap-in goal (as often discussed, in his first season he played more as a forward/striker as later on his Barcelona career, and that's a typical tap-in goal).

 

This is a profile from the Sunday Times Magazine. June 2, 1974. Not everything they write is necessarily true, or an interpretation beyond doubt, but it's interesting to share. Eventually it is not only about himself, but a look back at the life a 1970s public sports figure lived.

"

Johan Cruyff - Superstar

Holland has failed to qualify for the World Cup Finals in every previous post-war tournament; this time they could well be in contention until the very climax of the competition. Rob Hughes talks to the extraordinary footballer who has inspired their success.


The metallic silver-grey Maserati is in firm hands as it spurts through Barcelona's main thoroughfare. "Watch now. I'll beat all the lights except the last." There are eight sets of traffic lights; seven are passed on green. The £7000 Maserati eats up £400 a year in insurance; the last fine, £150, was the owner's 15th speeding conviction.

When Johan Cruyff moves, he moves quickly; on a football field, or on the road. The motor, with its masculine, throbbing sound, attracts attention; the driver far more. To the left at those eight lights a cluster of Spanish maidens move excitedly towards us; to the right grown men begin thrusting programmes towards the window for the autograph. It's like sitting in a goldfish bowl. But the lights change and, again, Cruyff doesn't wait.

Born a grocer's son in Amsterdam's poor east district, Cruyff is the 27-year-old footballer who was transferred to Barcelona last autumn for 100 million pesetas (which leaves only small change out of £1million). The car he drives is symbolic for the way he plays; with quicksilver movement and expensive elegance. He has become the first European sports superstar, marketed as richly and thoroughly as Pelé, Muhammed Ali and the great American athletes.

He earns more than £100 a minute whenever he plays, yet the Maserati is camouflage. His major concession to wealth, it contrasts sharply with the private, homely family life in which he is protectively immersed. In his flat he shelters, a recluse from his public, from the tensions and the temptations which could dilute his precious talent. Outside is a world of football fields on which he has so much to achieve, and so much ability to use up.

Johan Cruyff began to take football seriously when he was five years old. With a ball at his feet, a vigorous self-belief overwhelms innate shyness. An infancy of conflict with a neighbouring rose-grower who cut up stray balls dissolved into a contrived and curtailed adolescence - learning to make wall passes, to restrain his genius while others breathed the freedom of youth. The discipline is not lost; for all the reassurance of possessing soccer gifts more varied than anyone else of his era, Cruyff can see the dangers of complacency as clearly as any liontamer must do.

"I have one man I admire," says Cruyff, "It is Di Stefano. I like his way of football, going everywhere on the field, doing everything. He is doing all the donkey work and besides that he is technically very good - two of the things which most of the time don't go together in the same man. I'm his apprentice now; trying to do the same, but in a way that is my own."

Di Stefano, an Argentinian, was the brain behind Real Madrid's peerless golden era of the 1950s. In his wake, Cruyff too has gone to Spain, but to Madrid's great rival. "Fantastico Cruyff Barcelona" is how the Catalans have affectionately redubbed their club to embrace the phenomenal impact the lean young Dutchman has had on its fortunes. F.C. Barcelona £1million investment turned out the quickest killing since Poseidon, the Australian mining miracle. The transfer appears blessed by two miracles: one on the field, the other on the balance sheet.

Before Cruyff arrived, Barcelona were fourth from bottom of the Spanish League, displaying about as much uplift as a spaniel's ear. Less than five months later, with Cruyff, they had won their first championship for 14 years, gaining outright victory in 18 games and drawing three more.

Success had long ago become a habit for Cruyff. With Ajax he won every major club tournament on earth, including the European Champions Cup for three consecutive seasons, and he is captain of the Netherlands for the World Cup finals. When that ultimate test begins he expects to taste similar tension to that which muted his normally talkative presence in the Barcelona dressing room before the first matches in Spain. "I knew the tension", he admits. "I needed to separate a little before the play. It was not so much a nervous feeling, more a big concentration. Barcelona had been waiting a long time for the championship. They paid a lot of money, so they expected everything." The worry evaporated immediately he took to the field. Everything then is forgotten except football.

----

Yet not all the debts are absorbed by the simple process of putting the ball into a net and inducing others to do the same. Miracles have to be paid for, and Cruyff (being groomed in steely Dutch commercial reality by Cor Koster, his father-in-law and business manager) is learning to appreciate that where money is lost there is no success.

Cruyff was one of the 59 foreign players admitted to the Spanish League last season for a total of £2.5million. "There are very big clubs in Spain", he explains. "The money is not only from football." Barcelona is a multi-sport and social centre which before Cruyff's arrival had 52000 members and opened from 8a.m. to midnight, with takings in excess of £1000 a day. "I was happy," he says, "that after the transfer they took 14000 more members and sold 10000 more season tickets. I think Barcelona too are happy."

For all this income, Barcelona could not have paid cash for Cruyff. Yet by the end of 1973, the money was recouped and the club began drawing interest. Even before he kicked a ball in the League, Cruyff's appearance in exhibition games raised four-fifths of the fee. The first friendly, last September, attracted a capacity crowd of 90000. They paid between £1.50 and £6 a head to watch Barcelona drub a Belgian club side 6-0 - a total gate of 23 million pesetas.

While the club had begun selling tickets months in advance (each full house bringing in £175000) Cruyff's bankers were hardly inactive: his share of the initial fee was reportedly one third, his salary with win and championship bonuses £100000. In his first week in Spain he received £9000 for articles and endorsements and he has contracts for Bols, Puma and Citroën which put him firmly in the super-tax bracket.

A credit, you may think, to words George Canning wrote over 150 years ago: "In matters of commerce the fault of the Dutch; Is giving too little and asking too much." Neither Cruyff nor Barcelona would agree. "Sure," he says, "I'm earning plenty right now. But football is a very short life. I want to ensure good living for my wife and children when it's over." Yet his appetite for money is not as avaricious as many people believe. Last summer he rejected an offer of £5000 to play four exhibition matches in America. "I turn down such offers every summer," he says. "I'm not physically a big bloke. I weigh 67 kilos [ten and a half stone] when for my height I should be a stone [6.35kg] heavier. I need my rest. Also for me the mental break is important if I am to give my best the next season."

"

This will be finished later on...

The author is referring to winning chances of Barcelona without their star player. For a complete statistical overview of that, see this:
https://www.bigsoccer.com/community/threads/win-loss-statistics-of-legends.1976043/#post-26561974

 

2nd part:

"
And, since Barcelona were prepared to pay a genius's purse, they were entitled to expect adjustments. "I have had to make a change basic to my way of doing things," Cruyff reveals. "I'm having now to train physically which I never did before. I used to do all my work with the ball. But it is not possible for me to come here, a Dutchman trained by a Dutchman, and do no physical work. There would be no discipline for the trainer if I tried to change it. There are too many players who come to Spain and think they have arrived because of the big money. They don't work and it's impossible."

Cruyff's impact on Barcelona has as much to do with attitude as individual talent. He believes, as the great players do, that football is for 11 men working as one; that even the best have to work at their game. One match which demonstrated these points more than any other was played in Madrid last February. Barcelona won 5-0, inflicting on Real Madrid its most humiliating defeat for 43 years. Cruyff, scoring twice, making two other goals, and controlling the effort and movements of his side, was able to influence and inspire. And while Cruyff pulled the strings, it was his opponents who were made to move like puppets, cumbersome and uncertain in his wake.

Gunter Netzer, the subtly gifted West German for whom Real paid £250000, persisted in curling cunning and artistic long passes for which no Madrid forward had either the will or anticipation to move.

In the extreme, where Netzer stroked 40-yard passes which colleagues ignored; Cruyff was prepared to run 30 yards and give a simple pass. Where the German falls short of greatness, spraying unharnessed individualism around, Cruyff works instead on raising the threshold of awareness of his team, metering out his scheming, disciplining his own instincts to their ability to respond.

Yet Cruyff does not totally agree with the analogy. "Netzer has a bigger problem in Spain than I have," says the Dutchman. "Spanish players are used to running towards the ball, not into space like in Germany. For me it was different because at Barcelona, Rinus Michels had been there for two years and started them thinking tactically to understand my way."

Meanwhile, as Cruyff became the architect building up Barcelona's stock, that of Ajax plummeted. The team which had dominated the European Cup with almost soporific nonchalance could suddenly no longer even maintain a grip on the Dutch domestic championship. Cruyff is genuinely surprised and sympathetic. Yet Stefan Kovacs, the trainer who left Ajax at the same time as Cruyff, poignantly observes: "Ajax without Cruyff is now a choir without a soloist, without a conductor, and without a leader."

When he left the city of his birth, Cruyff had expected a heavy sense of loss (which of course the Dutch cynics remarked would be cushioned by his millions). Again he has been surprised. To an experienced traveller, Amsterdam to Barcelona is no distance to commute and while his wife was in Amsterdam expecting their third child at the beginning of the year he leap-frogged between the two cities with less inconvenience than he sometimes encounters in Barcelona's traffic-choked rush hour.

Driving once more through the centre, he points out the pulsating night life. "This place is fantastic; that place is marvellous. Alive. The best city in Europe." How does he know? Does he go to nightclubs often? "For me it's not possible. We cannot have a normal meal because of the fans, we don't go out to dinner, to clubs, nothing. High life is fun to do, but it affects your form."

As he lights up another Camel cigarette (which he thinks does not affect form) he offers an unconvincing explanation: "As a professional footballer I have to take care I have the sort of relaxing home life that allows me to give my best on the field." And then a far more likely one: "Anyway, I like to be home. I'm away so often, it's nice when I come back to the family." A few seconds in the home is enough the confirm that, what makes it easy to turn down the lure of outside entertainment, is plain, uncomplicated love of family union.

Mrs Cruyff, daughter of a dealer in Swiss watches and diamonds, is delicious, blonde, confident and a touch more extrovert than her husband. The introduction gives little away and the ensuing hours even less as she sits silently besides him, occasionally disciplining the children. Then, when he is called to the phone, she speaks, in unsuspected English, about his football. She isn't supposed to know anything about the game, but she feels he is more consistent now he no longer has arguments over pay and teamwork.

It is the children who are best able to unwind him, to spring the boyish smile across serious, hungry-looking features. With them he is totally safe from the cautions, suspicions, jealousies. The two blonde daughters, Chantal and Susila, reflect neither his undemonstrative manner nor the scrawny build he must have been as a lad. Dressed like their mother in fashionable bright colours, they are sturdy, rumbustious, outgoing and curious; fascinating little beings who clearly captivate their father. The main target for their mischiefs always seems to be his cigarettes.

Last February, the one the Cruyff family had been waiting for, Johan Jnr. ['Jordi', PvH], was born. "A boy. It's now perfect, fantastic. That's it now, complete," he declares with great decisiveness. The he adds: "Anyway, I think so. You never know."

The three-year contract in Spain has postponed Cruyff's grand plan to move his family into a £70000 dream home in Holland. Building is nearing completion and the house "in grounds two football fields long" will be sold "if somebody comes. After this I have two years more in Barcelona, so it cannot wait."

Interviewing Cruyff follows a specific patterns. The initial questions are met with wary courtesy. Then, as he does his opponents, he draws you in, wraps his personality and determined opinions into the exchanges and finally prolongs the discussion well into the night with his own probings into British football. He is now asking the questions. George Best ("a nice guy, I think so") is never far from the theme.

As he talks, the fingers are rarely still, toying with cigarette packets. His English, once superb, is becoming intimidated by the attempts to master Spanish too and he now gropes for words he used with ease two years ago.

While his wife was in Amsterdam, his mother, widowed when he was 12, made the transition from cleaner at Ajax to homely Mum of the world's Number One footballer [capitals not my own emphasis, PvH] with great charm and assurance, interrupting the conversation delicately and a little shyly to serve coffee and cakes. She and her second husband sit in silence, patiently observing as Johan speaks on for three hours in a language neither understand. You sense, like any English family, they are dying to turn on the telly. They seem almost grateful when the phone rings, which it does remarkably seldom, yet wait for Johan to answer it.

Cruyff talking is like a spring unwinding from its shyness, then recoiling as he becomes engrossed, particularly in English football. His defensive instinct is slightly aroused by suggestions that George Best has been unable to cope with stardom. "It's very difficult for him. You have to understand. Being alone and not responsible for anything but himself. I think I too, if I had not married, would have the same problems. It's good to have the responsibilities of the family; it's my way of leaving alone the pressure of public life."

His understanding is the more acute because Cruyff, like Best, has been around the night spots and in and out of the disciplinary courts. "Sure, when I was 17 I had a lot of friends and went to pubs. I used to take the first drink to see how it is, the second to feel a little cosy, and the third to keep going. Most footballers come from an ordinary family and it's normal for them to be a little silly when they get money." Nowadays, even in his own home, while offering beer and spirits, Cruyff sips soft drinks and feels the need to explain: "It's soda water I'm drinking most of the time."

Cruyff has been through the Best syndrome. Today, rid of the hangers-on and dedicated to family life, he has re-emerged as probably the best-adjusted as well as wealthiest superstar of his time.

Yet, if he is reluctant to play the full superstar role, Cruyff is prepared to accept the burdens it carries. A genius in any other sphere has a lifetime and more to be recognised as such. Not in sport, where (with the exception of boxing which does posthumously hail its heroes) any embellishment time may add is negated by a belief that past players could not survive today's pace and method. Cruyff, of course, has been able to exploit the regimented formations which opponents are so programmed to they cannot function against real wit or flair.

The superstar's life tends to be too crowded on the field, almost isolated off it. "I have now only one real close friend," says Cruyff. "That is Johan Neeskens." Neeskens, who plays for Ajax and Holland, is one of the players who has not become inhibited towards Cruyff through envy, the only one whose comradeship has penetrated Cruyff's independence.

On the field it becomes almost anyone's privilege to try to stifle his skill. It isn't often attempted gently and Cruyff is aware of the hard fact that his courage will be sternly tested in West Germany. There will be paid hatchet men intent on inflicting physical harm, just as Pelé was kicked into submission in the 1966 World Cup.

Cruyff met some himself in Buenos Aires two years ago when he suffered tackles so fierce they threatened to rearrange his anatomy. He came out of Ajax's two-match victory in the World Club Championship needing to use painkilling injections into badly damaged ankle ligaments. When, months later, he finally refused the injections, he was publicly accused of selfishness.

After an ordinary League game, he rolls up his trouser leg to reveal five fresh wounds to me. There are more stud marks on his body than thumb-prints on the average 100 peseta banknote. "This I call routine," he says without emotion. "Once I had problems with my temper and hit back. Now I've learnt to take the charges and not do anything back. Sure, sometimes I jump out of the way. I play for the ball. It's not good for the team, my wife or anyone if I cannot play the next game."

Yet the Press, who one day hoist him onto a pedestal, the next insinuate he is a coward. "The Press? They don't know what they write from one day to another; one day I'm a superstar, the next a disaster. But I don't think I'm ready to let someone break my leg to prove I'm not afraid."

As far as one can tell, it is mere coincidence that the initials happen to be J.C. Yet there is many a defender prepared to swear that his phenomenal control, his elusive movement and his unanswerable plots are positively supernatural.

"

This was the 2nd and final part of the piece. Here a somewhat similar profile/interview from two years earlier, which is a bit more spicy in terms of commentary: https://www.bigsoccer.com/community/...nd-goals-scored.1865250/page-75#post-28710426

 

Hello msioux,

For the 'why' question I think James as well as Cruijff himself mention plausible reasons (Netzer his age as well as the playing style of Netzer).
Based on what I heard and read, I think Breitner was more of a success than Netzer, who I think liked it very much if people came towards him to set-up one twos and such. Breitner was a reasonably dynamic player. One of Breitner his strengths was moving around the field with the ball at his feet; that's at least the stereotypical image of him. Team-mates coming short to him, rather than moving into distance, was something that he utilized well I feel.

You can for example see his reasonable success at the # of times he was booed by the fans of the opposition. Sure, that has something to do with his controversial stigma (ironic how a 'Mao-follower' ended up at a 'fascist' club?), but usually booing doesn't happen when the target is a very peripheral figure of his team.

Breitner was after all signed in the summer of 1974 (as well as a number of other signings and staff changes), with as result that Real Madrid won two back-to-back titles (1975, 1976) as well as a Copa del Rey in 1975 (thus a double in 1975). With as important footnote though that foreign players could not enter the Copa del Rey until 1977 (named 'Copa del Generalisimo' until 1976), thus the 1974-75 Copa del Rey was won without their foreign acquisitions.

For their national team, Netzer lost his place mostly because of lack of form (with Overath retired), while in case of Breitner the quarrelling with staff and team mates played a larger role. This was still not resolved when he played at Braunschweig (1977-78). After an Germany-Italy friendly in 1977, a TV reporter interviewed the national team manager (Schön). The reporter said that Germany did not field their strongest team, reportedly hinting at the absence of Breitner; the manager responded "sourish" to this statement ( http://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:011200824:mpeg21:a0319 ).

But if we go by the match ratings from 'Marca' (the Madrid-based sportspaper openly supporting Real Madrid), the individual ratings of Breitner and Netzer do not look spectacular in the double-winning 1974-75 season - where Real Madrid rebounded to dominance.
http://football-ratings.blogspot.com/2012/12/memory-lane-la-liga-1974-75.html

Other interesting ratings:
http://football-ratings.blogspot.com/2013/05/memory-lane-average-ratings-in-clasicos.html
http://football-ratings.blogspot.com/2014/03/memory-lane-la-liga-197576.html

 

Oh, I accidentally copied the wrong link. I'll combine it with 'answering' a previous question (this is for 1970-1980 period instead of 1976-1980 above).

http://football-ratings.blogspot.nl/2012/04/average-ratings-in-clasicos-1970-80.html

Also:
http://football-ratings.blogspot.nl/2012/12/memory-lane-average-ratings-in-clasicos.html

I gave a bit of an unsatisfying answer. Maybe it is interesting to look at The Guardian/Observer headlines which games were covered & well-received (ofc, they didn't cover each game).
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/guardian/search.html
In libraries it is fully accessible.

Netherlands - Poland 3:0 [european championship] (15/10/1975)
"Holland blossom once more"
"Powers swing to Dutch"

Barcelona - Liverpool tie [UEFA Cup 1975-76 semi-final]
"Revived Cruyff is main threat"

England - Netherlands 1977
"The lessons still remain after twenty-five years"
"Cruyff, architect of Holland's punishing alliance of accurate passing, malicious runs and practical finishing" (general article from 4 days after the game)

Barcelona - Ipswich Town 1977-78 tie, 2nd leg [UEFA Cup]
"Magic of Cruyff in overdrive"

Barcelona - Aston Villa 1977-78 tie, 2nd leg [UEFA Cup]
"Cruyff's last goodbye"

The Cosmos friendly Tour of 1978 (in which he played two games)
"Cruyff has the Cosmos in his hands"

That are some I've seen (against English opponents obviously).

 

Esquire Magazine (USA) asked several football writers, basically supporters dressed as journalists, to make a glowing appraisal for a 'World Cup hero'. This is what David Winner made of Cruijff



It had six different covers.

Show Spoiler Hide Spoiler

It was already said before but in above Sunday Times article a wage of 100000-200000 pounds a year was back in 1974 seen as enormous. It would only become more and more with the years though.

Show Spoiler Hide Spoiler

[it has one 'big' fault: in 1974-75, 1975-76 and 1977-78 he reached the semi-finals of the European club competitions with his club, in 1976-77 the quarter-finals, not the 'third round']
Like the article says, the chairman tried to withhold him from retirement with an offer in the 600000-700000 pounds a year range, to no avail.

40 years later, players are close to earning that in one week.


This is also interesting, concerning the NASL period.
http://washingtondiplomats.blogspot.com/
http://washingtondiplomats.blogspot.com/2014/04/from-inside-1980-pre-season.html

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1095079/2/index.htm

 

I know it might be confusing but the video was already found/posted earlier, and also quoted again on this same page (because of a similar volley goal at the debut match in Primera Division).
https://www.bigsoccer.com/community/...nd-goals-scored.1865250/page-77#post-29901019

It's however a good occasion to post some videos I created in the past few months, that aren't posted yet on the thread.

1968 vs Nurnberg (European Cup)

It's noticeable that he was very quick in that stage of his career, for example the dribble at 7:30. Pre-assist at 5:20, goal at 9:20.

1972 vs Arsenal (European Cup) (based on 30min footage)


1974 vs Feyenoord (European Cup)

Assists at 2:00, 3:15, 9:40. Quality pass at 8:15

1974 vs Linz (European Cup)

Assists at 1:20 and 9:00

1978 vs Las Palmas (Copa del Rey final)
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1qmfsq_crffpalm78_sport
This one is maybe the most interesting, because he played as defender for large parts of the match. Esp. after Neeskens fell out with an injury around the 45 minutes mark.

 

Thanks a lot. This shows the difference in goals between 1973-74 (16 goals, 0PK; 26 games, completed 23 games) and 1976-77 (13 goals, 1PK; 29 games, completed 23 games as well) is to a large extent because he scored more headers in 1973-74 (5 headed goals vs 1 headed goal). Possibly/likely because he played more often as a forward.

Hello,

If you're really curious you can try to get a hand on the biography. On Ajax team photographs, in books, he's pictured, no doubt.

Looking at the press catalogue, it seems - accidentally - he has been interviewed recently. A rare interview, it seems. Here's the proof on twitter.

Show Spoiler Hide Spoiler

@Friedlanderfoto super Bob! Kun jij mij morgen uitsluitsel geven?

— Vincent Schot (@V_Schot) March 7, 2014

(the journalist had trouble finding him:

Voor het #NHD op zoek naar Gerrie Splinter, generatiegenoot van Johan Cruijff. Vooralsnog een zoektocht zonder succes. Wie helpt mij verder?

— Vincent Schot (@V_Schot) February 26, 2014

).