Jordi Cruyff joins the panel for an unfiltered journey through a life shaped by football greatness – from Barcelona academy beginnings and a bond with Eric Cantona at Manchester United, to the weight of his father Johan’s towering legacy. The panel dig into Cruyff’s turbulent spell as Barcelona’s Sporting Director in the post-Messi era and share the inspiring story of his daughter Danae’s cancer battle and recovery.
00:00 – Intro
05:27 – Jordi’s Man United Experience
22:44 – Leaving Barcelona
25:12 – Growing Up the Son of Johan
39:39 – Tactical Insights and Team Dynamics
43:10 – The Genius of Romário
47:34 – Challenges at Barcelona Post Messi
1:07:27 – Battling Cancer with His Daughter
KEY QUOTES:
Jordi Cruyff on his dad distancing himself when he was at Manchester United…
“I think he always wanted to show respect by not appearing too much in Manchester. He would come for Christmas, for example, but he wouldn’t come to many games because I think he didn’t want to give any kind of presence pressure. My father just stepped away.”
Jordi Cruyff on football in Spain vs England…
“There is a clear fact: there is a difference between the two leagues. Spain had control of the ball, more the technical side, and England was just… every game was a different battle. In Spain, 30 years ago when you had a good team with talent then you would win because you were better – but here being better doesn’t mean you’re going to win games. You need a lot of winners in the team, and you need stability; two bad games and you can’t win titles like that.”
Jordi Cruyff on why he left Barcelona…
“I already knew it was time to go. They wanted to give me the first-team contract and my father said no – he’s going to keep a second-team contract. I was angry: why is this? And he said, ‘I’m protecting you because one day they will want to use it and they cannot use it.’ The advantage was my buyout clause was then less than half. He probably already understood that if he was going to have a fight, they’re not going to hurt him. He’s going to decide his own future.”
Jordi Cruyff on his dad’s issues with club officials…
“He didn’t like board members to give any opinion about football. He used to say, ‘If I have a legal issue I go to a lawyer, if I have a medical issue I go to a doctor – you’re not a football person so don’t give an opinion about football.’ He used to have a lot of media fights with presidents of the club to keep them away from all the football side. That was his character, and he could do it because he had the strength and the power to do it.”
Jordi Cruyff on how he remembers his dad…
“You would see people getting excited when they saw him – all ages, it was something crazy almost. He was always strict with us: if you do bad in school, he would take you off football for a month. He was very demanding about having a plan B in your life; just because you want to be a football player doesn’t mean you’re going to be one. He pushed me to go to university when I was already in the first team at Barcelona. What I most admire about him is he never brought football home. He lost the final against Milan 4–0, came home and you didn’t notice anything – you heard the key, he came inside smiling, how are you, how was school? He never brought any football emotion home, never the negative ones. I’ve never seen that with anyone.”
Jordi Cruyff on the best advice he received from his dad…
“He always said treat people how you want to be treated and live and let live. He never really gave clear advice – he was always a free mind. Even my football decisions, he never told me you should do this or that. Whatever you see or you hear, you don’t know. He never wanted to know anything from a dressing room that I could have heard. He always said separate – I don’t bring football home.”
Jordi Cruyff on his dad’s early career and upbringing…
“A little kid, 16 or 17, already telling 30-year-olds what to do on the pitch. Even when he was a player, he was a coach on the pitch – he had a strong personality, character, so he would just go for it. His mother had to clean the dressing rooms and the toilets in Ajax to make a living, and that really motivated him. The moment he signed the contract the first thing he said was, ‘Mom, you’re out of here, I’m going to take care of you now.’ The difficulties after the Second World War really affected his mindset – he had to succeed to help his family.”
Jordi Cruyff on his dad as an innovator…
“Some people will say he’s an idol, but others will say he was a tough, difficult character. He did some crazy things until he was considered a genius – the line between being a genius and being crazy is very thin, and the moment you win you become a genius. Coaches like Pep Guardiola still mention him every time. I remember my father being one of the first to play with a false number 9, to play with a goalkeeper as if he was a defender, and for him the build-up was more important than actually stopping the ball.”
Jordi Cruyff on the moment everything changed…
“You hear your daughter has cancer… that’s the moment of shock. That’s when my life changes.”
Jordi Cruyff on football suddenly feeling irrelevant…
“Football is a passion, but our kids – that’s what we really have. For me it was a clear decision: football, I’m just out of it. Now it’s this battle. This is the most important one.”
Jordi Cruyff on the doctor who became “the angel”…
“How lucky that the doctor missed his flight, he came back to the hospital, he saw her.”
“Normally any other doctor would say, ‘When you’re back in two months, we’ll have an MRI scan.’ But he said no.”
“For us, he’s the angel. He really saved us.”
Jordi Cruyff on support from Luis Enrique…
“My daughter had the same kind of cancer as Luis Enrique’s daughter, and his strength – the way he talks about it, the way he tries to live on with it – I admire that so much.”
“I flew to London just to sit with him for half an hour and to thank him for everything he’s done for me, even if he didn’t know – for the power he gave.”
Jordi Cruyff on the unfairness of a child getting cancer…
“With my father, I’m at peace – that’s the normal order. But with a daughter… I was very angry with the world: ‘This is not fair. This shouldn’t go like this. It has to go to me, not to her.’”
Jordi Cruyff on trying to stay strong…
“24/7 you have to be strong because your daughter needs to see you’re strong. You cannot show weakness.”
“When she would go with her mum for a weekend, that’s when I would be sick. That’s when everything would come out of me… that’s the moment you can let go.”
Jordi Cruyff on sleeping on the floor…
“She was also in a titanium wheelchair so she couldn’t sleep in her room [on the top floor], so she stayed in my room. She had to vomit every 15 minutes, so I slept on the floor. I just put a mattress there and I slept.”
Stick to Football is brought to you by Arne Clothing – to watch the full podcast episode with Jordi Cruyff, Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher, Roy Keane, Ian Wright, and Jill Scott please visit: https://youtu.be/eu0gk4CR_EY