Jordi Cruyff: "Messi Dreams are free, but footballers are not"

 Jordi Cruyff: "Messi's Dreams are free, but footballers are not"

Jordi Cruyff, whose eyes light up when he talks about football, welcomes us to his office at Camp Nou. He is Barça's sporting director and his ideas are unmistakable and unquestionable. If so, he does not show it and uses the same apparent ability to speak logically, overwhelmingly, and 'brutally', and above all to protect the interests of the club to which he belongs. In addition, he achieves all this without clichés and always keeps the interlocutor's interest.

Spain eliminated. The good or bad news?

Depending on how they look, it's always good to see a football player arrive happy, happy, and with a sense of accomplishment.

How have you seen them?

The better you start in the World Cup, the more complicated it becomes later on because of the expectations. If this result is achieved in the third game instead of his 7-0, another sensation will be set in motion against Morocco. It's strange how sometimes the teams that make the furthest get off to a stricter start and grow as the tournament progresses. 7:0 puts more pressure than necessary. In this World Cup, the individual outweighs the collective.

Do players win matches and squads win tournaments?

In the World Cup, I think more of a team than an individual. There are indeed few players who can make that difference. Fewer people take the ball, you know something will happen, and you can count it on one hand. Who doesn't have them depends a lot on the team as a whole.

Does Barça have those differential players?

I think Barça have individual quality, and players with proven goals behind them, so I think they've balanced a lot and in La Liga, 11 out of 14 games, they don't concede. . It is a sign of good, efficient organization. At the top, we scored a lot of goals. Teams are balanced in that sense.

The midfield is the same as that of Spain. At Barça he does not arrive to continue in the Champions League and in the World Cup, to reach the quarterfinals.

First, the trio playing is not always the trio playing at Barça, where you have more players:

Frenkie, Kessie... Midfielders are sometimes overrated, but it's a matter of balance. In the end, there has to be a finish, a goal, or a second pass, it all depends on what's behind and what's in front. Often the midfielder depends on what is in front and what is behind him.

Should the Barça model evolve?

In football today, there is less time in the midfield and more about transitions. Twenty years ago, if you won the midfield battle, you won the game, you won the war. Today, this battle is not so decisive. Ultimately, defensive and offensive power is what helps you win or lose. It is dynamic. Compared to Barça, we have already analyzed. If you look at the signings, their typography, and the areas we've tried to strengthen, we've taken steps to better compete in this football.

The same idea adapted to current football. De Jong?

There are fewer and fewer slot six left, and more and more mobile six. My father liked people with positions. These days, they're harder to find and that means there's a trend. Frenkie started like that and you can't tell him not to start, stop one of his best runs.