“Best Barça in many years:” Johan Cruyff

Former Dutch legend Johan Cruyff has expressed his support for current Barcelona manager Josep Guardiola in a column for El Periodico de Catalunya.

Barça received great criticism after their first games of the season, from which they only managed to earn one point.

“This match had two bad things,” said Cruyff. “The result, and Hleb’s injury. Other than that I’m excited. Barça showed a brilliant way of playing. I don’t know which match you’ve been watching, but the one I watched had a higher pace than ever at Camp Nou.

“I think Barça played its best football in many seasons, last Saturday. The positioning, pace, the forward pressure were excellent, and there was a good balance between won and lost duels. What’s left to improve? Eight attempts on goal is a small amount when you dominate like this.

“But I don’t have any doubts. The goals and the results will come eventually when you play like this. And this Barça plays very, very well.”

Cruyff knows Guardiola from his time as Barcelona coach in the nineties, when ‘Pep’ was one of the side’s most influential players.