At a glance
- FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta called Johan Cruyff “the best player in football history” on the day that marked the 10th anniversary of the Dutch icon’s passing.
- While they should be harmless in themselves, such remarks risk stirring up controversy given Laporta’s half-decade conflict with Lionel Messi.
- In many circles, Laporta is still considered responsible for Messi leaving the club on a free transfer to Paris Saint-Germain in 2021.
On what was an emotional day for the known disciple of the Dutch icon, FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta marked the 10th anniversary of Johan Cruyff’s passing by giving him the ultimate compliment.
“For me, Cruyff is the best player in the history of football,” said Laporta, who once made the former Blaugrana player, coach and backroom figure an honorary president while he was still alive, while appearing live on Catalan TV station Esport3.
Comments of that nature should be harmless in themselves and nothing other than complimentary for the figure they’re aimed at – especially when it’s someone as revered by Culers as Cruyff.
But things aren’t as simple as that in Can Barça, where pleasing every section of the entorno environment that engulfs the club, which Cruyff himself once brought to wider attention while he manned the dugout in the early-to-mid-1990s, is impossible.
Praising one FC Barcelona idol risks offending another and his camp
Of course Laporta should be free to name his all-time ‘GOAT’ just like the rest of us.
Yet this is a figure that is currently at loggerheads with another idol widely believed to be the best Barça player of all time, and that to ever lace up a pair of boots in Lionel Messi.
Though Laporta promised to renew the Argentine on the election trail in 2021, he then failed to back his vow up in a turn of events which saw the La Masia product walk to Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer.
Fences have never been mended since between the pair, with Laporta admitting that the number 10 snubbed him at the Ballon d’Or awards ceremony.
It was no coincidence that Messi paid a surprise visit to the new Spotify Camp Nou when he knew the club’s leader would be out of town.
Furthermore, he also became a protagonist in the recent presidential election despite not saying a single word about the race for power between Laporta and Victor Font.
Xavi Hernandez is another FC Barcelona great Laporta is not on good terms with
To La Vanguardia, fired former Barça coach Xavi Hernandez claimed that Messi had agreed to return home in 2023 after his PSG terms expired, yet Laporta effectively kiboshed the potential switch because he didn’t want “a war” with the reigning World Cup champion.
This was Xavi endorsing Font, which didn’t help convince socios to not vote Laporta in again via a landslide victory earlier this month.
And while Messi will probably pay no mind to what Laporta has said about Cruyff, it’s not gone unnoticed elsewhere.
“Look at this, no way,” tweeted a popular account on Twitter, while sharing the Esport3 clip of Laporta’s statement.
“I get that Cruyff is fundamental in Barça’s history, that he’s key to Laporta’s image, and that he’s got his internal war with Messi right now. But denying that Messi is the best who’s ever played this game is just mocking people’s intelligence.
“Neither Cristiano nor Cruyff nor any pickled bullsh*t – there’s no possible debate about who’s the greatest,” the account, dembelismo, added.
Laporta has to offer an olive branch to Messi for FC Barcelona harmony
As the president of the club, it is probably Laporta that will have to swallow his pride and look to make nice with Messi, as he he’s already done with Ronald Koeman.
The much-talked about testimonial for the aging veteran at the Spotify Camp Nou as he nears retirement is certainly a good opportunity to do it, and would provide a perfect send-off neither Culers nor Messi were afforded given the pandemic among other factors.
