The Netherlands, the cradle of Barça

The history of Barça is not understood without the weight that Holland happens. Since the 70s and with the arrival of Rinus Michels on the bench, The Netherlands became the cradle of the ‘Barça style’. The pioneer lit the fuse of total football that Cruyff would stoke with positional play and that his successors would work to keep burning. The Dutch school has shaped Barça culture, especially when it has been on the bench. Five have been the coaches who have left their stamp on the Barça idiosyncrasy: Michels, Cruyff, Van Gaal, Rijkaard and Koeman. 22 the players who have worn the two flags that venerate their style above the rest, the Orange and the Barça.

Now, four representatives of the Netherlands-Barcelona connection are staging that link (Koeman, Frenkie De Jong, Memphis and Luuk de Jong) that filled the culé entity with glory and that redefined the intricacies of the club forever.

The best coach ever for The Times, FIFA and France Football, three authoritative voices that recognized the Dutchman as the most influential person who had passed through the benches. Michels created a philosophy that broke with the established and whose doctrine still persists in our football. Michels was a figure of inspiration. Before Cruyff it was Michels. Without Michels, Cruyff would not have built the Dream TeamNeither the Netherlands, Ajax and FC Barcelona would have founded their religion around “that” specific way of understanding football. Michels was the one who inaugurated the bridge that, since then, communicates the tulip country with the Barça shield.

Agustí Montal Costa, president of FC Barcelona between 1969 and 1977, sought to overthrow the hegemonic regime that Real Madrid had established in Spain. In 1971 he wanted to hit the table and he opted for Rinus Michels to uncork the champagne of the titles. Although he only achieved a Fairs Cup, a League and a King's Cup, what he did was deposit the seeds that would change the identity of the culé and that still echo between the walls of the Camp Nou.

'El General', nickname by which Michels was known, implanted in Barça the model with which he conquered Europe at Ajax (four leagues, three cups and a European Cup) and with which he sighed for the planetary throne ( Holland's defeat in the '74 World Cup final against Germany). His journey as a Barça coach was divided into two stages. The first (1971-75) was the most disruptive. He made his debut winning the Fairs Cup, but his ‘total football’ needed the dynamite that denoted the bomb. In 1973 with Johan Cruyff came dynamite. Whoever was the banner of his project in Amsterdam landed in Barcelona to magnify the work that his mentor had been chiselling. With the coach on the wing and the tall battering ram in the playing field, Barça would break the drought that haunted them for 14 years. The League returned to the showcases. In addition, that League came with a 0-5 to Real Madrid at the Bernabéu. A feast where Asensi (2), Cruyff, Juan Carlos and Sotil raged against the whites.

Despite Neeskens joining the project (second Dutchman to join the team), hunger for titles and impatience for results led to his dismissal in 1975. A year later he would return to finish his job with a King's Cup in his last season. In his second stage (1976-78) he reinforced the germ that he planted and that years later Cruyff would grow. ‘Mister marble’ (nickname for his seriousness) introduced the concepts and methods that would define the new Barça, already immersed in the modernity of football. Michels explained his idea like this: “Harassing the opponent without respite or respite to regain possession of the ball, and not cede the initiative of the attack to the opponent at any price, having two basic requirements: an unwavering fighting spirit and perfect physical preparation, without which the system will irretrievably collapse ”.

On these pillars, Michels based his baptism as 'Total soccer' where movement was the constant on which the game ran. They all attacked and defended. Everyone was pressing. They all looked at the goal. Tactical freedom (constant exchange of positions), pressure, defending forward, 4-3-3 and possession as the maximum, were the concepts that marked the new Barça. To be able to crush them, Michels attached great importance to physical preparation. Suffocating pressure would be born from his demand. In Spain, football was more technical than physical, until the Dutch equaled both aspects. What's more, introduced the figure of the manager, with which he would be involved in the organization chart and model of grassroots football.

For the Culé fan, his legacy is not as relevant as Cruyff, although Michels was the initiator of the process that ended with the birth of the Barça style of the Dutch school. “Nobody taught me more as a player and coach than him” affirmed Cruyff, who for all intents and purposes became his most gifted student. Together they touched the glory with the Netherlands in the '74 World Cup. A Clockwork Orange was the asterisk in the history of the runners-up. It marked a before and after in European football. As happened in Can Barça after his arrival. Michels and Cruyff changed the history of the club.

The one that changed everything. From the perspective of the player and the coach. The first Dutchman to wear the Barça shirt wrote a new chapter at the club with the ball at his feet. Ten years later, he returned to rewrite the entity's present and future history, in the way Michels taught him, but with even greater impact. His first steps when he hung up his boots were identical to when he put them on. As a coach, both at Ajax and Barcelona, ​​he permeated an idiosyncrasy that remains anchored to the acronyms of both entities. “Probably immortal”, Cruyff recognized, knowing the eternity of his legacy at Barça, where his name floats whenever the ball runs, and in football.

Cruyff always wanted to be master of his destiny. In 1973 he rebelled against Ajax's intentions to sell him to Real Madrid to go to FC Barcelona. His character and elegance coexisted in an aspect that served the label of El Flaco and under which he dazzled Europe by winning three Ballons d'Or and three European Cups. He came to Barcelona through Michels and left with him. In his memory he left 85 goals in 227 games, a League, a King's Cup and an indelible memory that only he could overcome from the bench with 11 titles. Four consecutive leagues (1990-1994), a European Cup (1992), a Recopa (1989), a Copa del Rey (1990), three Spanish Super Cups (1991-92-94) and a European Super Cup (1992) .

“The influence of Johan Cruyff has been immense”

Pep Guardiola

On May 4, 1988, between the storm caused by the supremacy of the Quinta del Buitre and the ‘Mutiny of the Hesperia’, the Dutchman became a Barça coach. Núñez tried to redirect the team by giving Johan the keys to open each door and clean every corner. That freedom of decision that brought them together was what would finally separate them. From the restructuring drawn, the Dream team that it would bathe Barça in successes and that it would reach the top at Wembley'92. That night to the Guardiola, Koeman, Laudrup and Stoichkov he transmitted the message that has been part of that immortality that he was building: “Come out and enjoy”. The phrase, which became a motto and whose symbolism is more or less correctly intended to preserve over time, reads on the lawn and the statue of Johan himself that guards the Camp Nou.

“Come out and enjoy” explains Cruyff's vision. He saw complexity in the simple and to make the complex simple, he forced his players to play excellence. “Playing soccer is very simple, but playing simple soccer is the hardest thing there is.” His philosophy began in the center of the field, where he pursued a superiority that came accompanied by possession to dominate what happened to the ball. Cruyff sought attacks by creating scenarios for his players in which they felt wrapped up through the famous triangles with which no one was trapped. For this, he established the pass as a commandment and canonized the rondo, the two teachings that have penetrated with more force in the culé religion.

His ambition to win and be a protagonist at the same time led him to an offensive football that broke with the “total football” of his mentor to make room for the “position game.”. The new style allowed him to redefine roles in the 3-4-3 and 4-3-3 that outlined his lineups. The 9 became false to connect with the midfielders, the full-backs disguised themselves as interiors, the midfielders as midfielders, the pivot lived between the midfielder and the central position, while the goalkeeper had to start playing. The convergence of all these guidelines made the Dream Team a reference.

Disagreements with the directive led to its break with the directive in 1996, engulfed by dark nights like the one in Athens where the team fell 0-4 against Milan in the final of the European Cup. Eight years after arriving, Cruyff had shaken each and every level of the club. He lit the way to the quarry, designed the style, impregnated a new character, brought identity and breathed greatness into the institution. “Cruyff“,”Cruyffismo“or”Cruyff philosophy“These are terms that have been petrified in Barça culture. Since 1988, Barça stopped looking at football in the same way. It had gone on to look at it with Cruyff's eyes.

Bobby Robson picked up the witness from Johan Cruyff on the Barça bench. A very difficult task for the English coach, who despite winning three titles: Super Cup, Recopa de Europa and Copa del Rey in one season, was not enough for the Catalans. In addition, very far from the style of play implanted by the Dutch legend who gave so many joys in Can Barça, including the long-awaited European Cup. Therefore, again the Blaugrana club set its eye on the Netherlands, exactly on the figure of Louis Van Gaal. The tulipán coach closed one of the golden stages for the Amsterdam team with the achievement of the Champions League in 1995. A philosophy with parallel overtones to the way of training of Cruyff made Núñez, former president of Barça, tighten the fence with Van Gaal to be the tenor who returned that style of play that the Camp Nou longed for so much. Jose Mourinho was part of the staff of the Dutch coach, whose function was to make reports on the tactical disposition of the rivals.

From day one, Cruyff's “successor” tried to make Barça a mirror of that Ajax that earned the respect of Europe in the 1990s.. The successful 4-3-3 was again implemented with the 3-4-3 alternative, depending on the tactical disposition of the rival. A system based on construction, circulation, creativity and completion. Although in subsequent interviews he has recognized that 5-3-2 is the evolution of 4-3-3, being a formation that allows you to attack, defend and pressure the opponent in any area of ​​the field.

The cast of Dutch promises that was created at the end of the 20th century landed in Barcelona, ​​at the request of Van Gaal, since most were knowledgeable about the style that the technician implanted. In the first season, Reiziger, Hesp and Bogarde were the first, reaching the figure of eight players in three seasons. Kluivert was one of the most outstanding of the Van Gaal era, surpassing a hundred goals in six seasons, and is the Dutchman with the most goals in Barça history with 121. In addition to the promise of Ajax, the culé team set their sights on PSV Eindhoven to get the services of their two best players, Cocu and Zenden. Not only did the Dutch gene emerge at the Camp Nou, stars like Figo, Stoichkov, Rivaldo, Guardiola or Luis Enrique were the main bastions for the harvest of titles. In addition to these legends, Van Gaal, with a keen eye on the youngest, as he already did at Ajax, gave opportunities to those promises who became posterity in football history: Iniesta, Xavi, Puyol and Valdés marked a time that the fans of the Catalans will never forget.

The result of this philosophy already known in Barcelona returned a double (League and Cup) after four decades of drought, plus a Spanish Super Cup. Then, in the following season, the culé team revalidated the league title. On the contrary, his third year did not obtain any title, and Núñez's decision to proclaim elections for the presidency, led to the Dutch coach resigning from his position with one year remaining on his contract. The drought of titles of the culés after the departure of the Dutchman lasted three seasons. Gaspart, president of the club, convinced Van Gaal to come back, and he did. However, expectations were not met and the coach was dismissed in the middle of the course.

Everything indicated that Antić was going to continue as coach of the Blaugrana club in the 2003-2004 season after six intense months on the Barça bench. Merits were not lacking for the Serbian, he managed to rescue the team from the bottom of the table to place it in the sixth position that gave access to the UEFA Cup. His work and the good performance that the team offered in the second part of the season gave him a renewal offer from the outgoing board. But, the victory of Laporta in the elections, decided that the best thing was to change of scene. His position would be filled by an old football acquaintance, Frank Rijkaard.

The Dutch coach arrived at Barcelona in one of the worst moments in its history, resurfacing like a phoenix. Recovering the style of play of the old Dutch school that positioned Barça as a reference team. Experts in the field consider that Rijkaard tried to capture Cruyff's football ideology. A philosophy marked by the famous 4-3-3, since it allows players to be closer together and have a greater involvement. In addition, the incorporation into the winter market of the Dutch Edgar davids gave a leap in quality to the game of the Catalans. Although the first season for Rijkaard was not easy, since the culé club did not win any title.

The arrival of players such as Eto'o, Deco, Larsson, Belletti or Giuly in the following season caused a metamorphosis in the Blaugrana game, translated into great successes, including the league championship after six years of drought.. Not only this Barça began to emerge in Spain, the Rijkaard era also dazzled in the old continent with achieving their second Champions League history against Arsenal (2-1). Also, he revalidated the league title in a season that the Catalans stormed the Santiago Bernabeu with a great performance by Ronaldinho, which won the recognition of the merengue public. The IFFHS awarded Rijkaard the best coach award of that season thanks to that historic double.

However, in the following seasons the other side of the coin lived, since in his last two years on the bench culé only won the Spanish Super Cup. Although he set up a block of players who would be fundamental years later in the club under Guardiola's orders. To those that had already debuted Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol and Valdés, another product from La Masía was added that would become a legend, Messi. In the 2006-2007 season, under Rijkaard's orders, the Argentine star scored with a hat-trick in a Clásico against Real Madrid (3-3). Not forgetting the Maradonian goal against Getafe in the Copa del Rey, which was catapulted into an embarrassing elimination after an epic comeback by the azulones in the second leg.

In the last season of the Dutch coach, a group of players landed in Can Barça that made the club take that leap in quality that was extinguished after the final in Paris, including Henry, Yaya Touré, Abidal and Gabi Milito. With the arrival of the French striker from Arsenal, they got together ‘The fantastic four’: Ronaldinho, Etoo, Messi and Henry. However, it was not enough, as Rijkaard's men finished third in the league, behind Real Madrid and Villarreal and eliminated in the semifinals of the Copa del Rey and Champions League, against Valencia and Manchester United, respectively. In the following season, Guardiola was chosen for the bench, thus closing the Rijkaard stage after 283 games, with 167 victories, 64 draws and 52 defeats in five years.

The fifth and last Dutch coach to join the Netherlands-Barcelona bridge. Ronald Koeman arrived in August 2020 in the midst of an institutional, economic and football crisis after the Lisbon debacle, where Bayern acted as executioner (2-8). Bartomeu's last bet was directed towards a ‘recovery’ of the Dutch school, but after a year in office, that conception cruyffista, that Laporta and Ronald himself have ratified, has been a breeding ground for the controversy surrounding his figure.

The Koeman player is a heroic character with whom the fans were twinned after his goal at Wembley'92.. The memory of the fan joined his discouragement with the present to face the arrival of the Dutchman on the bench with enthusiasm. But it was his fortitude to weather the storm and take charge of the situation, which made him win the approval of the culé parish. In addition, the Messi conflict subsided, giving the Argentine an ecosystem in which he would once again sketch a smile, unify the dressing room and face the problems, He opted for what dazzles the most inveterate cruyffista: the quarry. He discovered the talent of Pedri, whom he trusted to the point of exhaustion, of Mingueza, Araujo, Ansu Fati and Ilaix and now he is preparing to develop Gavi, Nico, Balde and Demir. By the way, uncovered the best version of Frenkie De Jong, carving him the stage in which he could be at the same time brain, point guard and finisher, he brought Busquets to the area, unleashed Jordi Alba and acclimatized Griezmann and Messi in the same drawing.

To do this, he put aside the style, a pact that the culé accepted until the results stopped smiling at the team. The Copa del Rey title was diluted when the team dropped out of the fight for the league, at which point criticism awoke, hungry for the philosophy they had been claiming for years. Koeman sacrificed the idea to suit his players, to which he found accommodation in the 3-5-2 after trying the 4-2-3-1 and the acclaimed 4-3-3 without results. The protection of the area (he is still looking for the formula to be solid behind) and the concentration of the game on the inside to unload it on the outside were the axes on which the Dutch coach structured the game. Possession was a sign, but not in the way that the representatives of the tulip country had taught.

Koeman was hardened as a central and midfielder with Cruyff and Michels in the band. He was an accomplice of Johan's work, at Ajax and Barcelona, ​​where he became a capital footballer. From 1989 to 1995 he dressed as a Barça player 267 times and scored 90 goals. When he hung up his boots, he was an assistant to Hiddink and an assistant to Van Gaal before launching himself to lead a bench. His methods differ from the prophets of the style who wrought it and now with Laporta, the crossfire has been triggered by the president's doubts. The clock of time has already started ticking for Koeman. Overcoming Messi's traumatic departure entails a redefinition of the collective idea where the Dutch clan and the consecration of young people are postulated as their way of survival on the bench. De Jong and Memphis have jumped into the ring with airs of greatness and Luuk de Jong is the last Dutch passenger on the airlift, although his football gave the philosophical perception of the Barça idea. In the quarry is his other stronghold. Betting on her in the present to break the past is the route that is presented to Koeman to reconcile with the fan, the board and the style book.