The figure of Johan Cruyff is seen in Madrid from the perspective of sports rivalry, something that is natural to someone who was an emblem of FC Barcelona. For fans, especially of Real Madrid, but also for those of Atlético, Cruyff was at all times a character as admired as he was little loved, always standing out along with his quality as a football genius and his arrogant character.
With the arrival of Cruyff in Spanish football in the 73-74 season, the cycle of that time changed. The Blaugrana club won that League and had not lifted the title for 14 years. Of those 13 dry seasons, nine leagues went to Madrid, three to Atlético (including the last one) and one to Valencia coached by Di Stéfano.
Of the 73-74 League, what hurt the madridistas the most was the historic 0-5 loss that Barcelona inflicted on them at the Bernabéu. But it was not the first negative experience for the whites with Cruyff. A season earlier, in 72-73, Cruyff had a very special significance when he eliminated Madrid with Ajax in the semifinals of the European Cup. Ajax won 2-1 in Amsterdam and won again 0-1 at the Bernabéu en route to the final in Belgrade, where they would beat Juventus, their third consecutive Orejona.
After that tie, Madrid considered signing Cruyff as soon as the Spanish market was opened to foreigners. In Madrid there are two versions that explain the impossibility of the signing. The first talks about the difficulties in the Concha Espina treasury at that time. They say in Madrid that the key was on August 1, 1973 in A Coruña, where Ajax was to play Teresa Herrera. Representatives of Madrid and Barcelona attended to negotiate with the president of Ajax, Jaap van Praag. For Madrid it was Agustín Domínguez, along with Raimundo Saporta, Bernabéu's right-hand man. Madrid offered Ajax 30 million pesetas, an amount much lower than that offered by Barcelona and, therefore, discarded.
There is another version, the one recounted by Santiago Bernabéu himself in an interview with Pueblo newspaper journalist Martín Semprún, origin of the biography Santiago Bernabéu, la causa. In it, the white leader is caustic: “I had never been told so much or so well about a player as the Dutchman, but neither he nor the president of his club were men of their word. We had everything agreed, but Van Praag asked us for a million dollars and threatened to go to Barcelona. I released Van Praag from his commitment. I didn't give a damn about the president's face, but the player's face was essential.
That Madrid began the 73-74 season without Cruyff, but with two quality foreigners: the German Günter Netzer and the Argentine Óscar Pinino Más.
Few Madrid players remember Johan Cruyff as much as José Antonio Camacho, who was his marker: “I prefer the first game in which I played against him. I was 18 years old and I had to mark Cruyff; I will remember that for the rest of my life. It was what gave me my football name. We won 1-0 and I don't remember now who scored our goal, but I do remember that we later won the League. The previous year had been 0-5 and well, Cruyff was the best player in the world and I was a kid that no one knew. What did he tell me? I didn't listen much, I was doing my thing. In fact, later I had to defend him many times and he never said anything to me, the other way around. He always had an exemplary behavior with me, ”says Camacho.
From that season marked by 0-5, the Madrid players prefer to remember that they had their revenge by winning the Cup final against Barcelona, 4-0 at the Calderón, a final played without foreigners. Carlos Santillana has spoken about that: “Before that final we didn't have good precedents. They had humiliated us at the Bernabéu with the 0-5 loss, but we showed our pride. I don't know if with Cruyff or Sotil, who was also a great player, that final would have been different. After a bad season and seeing Barcelona champion, for us it was a revenge. It would not have been bad to score one more goal and return that affront to them. For those of us who participated in the 0-5, that was a very big thorn that we had stuck in and with that 4-0 in the final it was not completely removed, but it was a little thinner ”.
There are few official Real Madrid opinions on Cruyff and what he represented. Among them stands out that of Florentino Pérez on the day of the death of the Dutch star: “A football legend has left us, a myth of sport. I want to express my deepest dismay at the death of Johan Cruyff. He was an extraordinary player who marked an era, so today is a very sad day for the world of football ”, read the statement from the white club. The Real Madrid squad through social networks also showed his condolences. The most significant case was that of winger Álvaro Arbeloa: “Someone who was so great and did your enemy much better can only receive honors. He was a genius”. The then captain, Sergio Ramos, wrote: "Farewell to one of the legends in football history, a player and coach ahead of his time."
But if there is someone who is a symbol of Madrid who has especially praiseworthy words for Johan Cruyff, it is Vicente del Bosque, at the white club from 1973 to 2003, eleven seasons as a player and then head of the youth academy and coach of the first team before his time as coach. Spanish, from 2008 to 2016. Says Del Bosque: “Cruyff was absolutely unique. He was not governed by the canons of the whole world. As a coach he has also meant a lot to Barcelona and to Spanish football. He transferred to the footballers what he felt as a player. He had a very big influence with his Dutch school”.
And he ends: "All the teams, more and more every day, are moving towards the meaning that Cruyff gave to football," says Del Bosque.
