Johan Cruyff dies: Best quotes from the late Dutch master

“Playing football is very simple, but playing simple football is the hardest thing there is.”

“If I wanted you to understand it, I would have explained it better.”

"There is only one ball, so you need to have it."

“Jack [Charlton] makes out he is not really interested in football, and tells the world he’s going fishing. But we know what he’s thinking about when he’s fishing. Football.”

"Quality without results is pointless. Results without quality is boring."

“Liverpool are like Bayern Munich, they are all about name and prestige. In footballing terms, we are talking about two horrible sides. In my opinion, a team is horrible if it is incapable of putting three passes together” – in 2001, of the Champions League and UEFA Cup winning teams.

“I only decided to become a manager when I was told I couldn’t.”

"If I start running slightly earlier than someone else, I seem faster."

“Look, the thing about [Filippo] Inzaghi is he can’t actually play football at all. He’s just always in the right position.”

“I find it terrible when talents are rejected based on computer stats. Based on the criteria at Ajax now I would have been rejected. When I was 15, I couldn’t kick a ball 15 meters with my left and maybe 20 with my right. My qualities technique and vision, are not detectable by a computer.”

“Why couldn’t you beat a richer club? I’ve never seen a bag of money score a goal.”

"We must make sure their worst players get the ball the most. You’ll get it back in no time."

“We showed the world you could enjoy being a footballer. You could laugh and have a fantastic time. I represent the era which proved that attractive football was enjoyable and successful, and good fun to play too.”

“You play football with your head, and your legs are there to help you.”

“Sadly they played very dirty. This ugly, vulgar, hard, hermetic, hardly eye-catching, hardly football style. If with this they got satisfaction, fine, but they lost” – Holland losing the 2010 World Cup final."

"Technique is not being able to juggle a ball 1000 times. Anyone can do that by practicing. Then you can work in the circus."

"In a way I’m probably immortal."