#5 Johan Cryuff (Netherlands) - three-time Ballon d'Or winner
Johan Cryuff was one of Barcelona's greatest-ever players.
Ajax and Barcelona legend Johan Cryuff remains the most influential player in history. Despite a list of individual accolades as long as your arm, Cryuff is also the greatest player never to win an international trophy.
However, his club career was as dazzling as it was revolutionary. Cryuff powered Ajax to elite status, winning eight Eredivisie titles in his two spells with the club, along with three straight European Cups. His numbers for the Dutch giants were absolutely staggering; he notched up 194 goals and 140 assists in 287 appearances.
Sandwiched between his two stints with Ajax was a successful spell with Barcelona, where Cryuff won a La Liga title as well as the Copa del Rey. He played 176 games for the Blaugrana, scoring 59 goals and providing five assists. Cryuff even won another Eredivisie title with Ajax's rivals Feyenoord towards the end of his career. He won the Ballon d'Or award three times in his decorated career (1971,1973,1975).
Cryuff's Dutch national team is widely accepted as the greatest international side that failed to win a major trophy. He famously led the Oranje to the 1974 FIFA World Cup final, where they were stunned by Franz Beckenbauer's West Germany. Despite the heartbreak, Cryuff was awarded the Golden Ball for the best player in the tournament. Remarkably, the Netherlands never lost a game in which Cryuff scored.
The reason Cryuff is placed above the likes of Beckenbauer and Zidane on this list is because of his contribution towards the creation of 'total football'.
Together with Rinus Michels, Cryuff pioneered the style of football based on passing and possession that dominates the modern era. The greatest club sides of all time, such as Pep Guardiola and Lionel Messi's Barcelona, were inspired by Cryuff's philosophy.
Almost every game today is a product of Johan Cryuff's ideas, which were way ahead of his time. Franz Beckenbauer, Cryuff's greatest rival during his playing career, hailed the Dutch star:
“He was certainly the best footballer Europe has produced.”
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