President Joan Laporta arrived smiling at the La Sagrera School where more than 200 children from different Catalan schools enjoyed a morning of football in tribute to the eighth anniversary of the death of Johan Cruyff organized by the Johan Cruyff Foundation and the FC Barcelona Foundation. Along with Laporta, highly acclaimed by all the students, the presidents of both foundations also attended, Marta Segú (FC Barcelona) and Pati Roura (Johan Cruyff), as well as Cruyff’s wife, Danny Coster and the former Blaugrana footballer and coach Eusebio Sacristán.
The initiative, baptized ‘Go out and enjoy’, in honor of one of the Dutchman’s famous phrases, revolved around the social legacy of the man who was a Barça player and coach, but also served to highlight the collaboration that both foundations began. in 2004. And these tributes materialized with a six-on-six tournament between children between 10 and 12 years old, with different social and health realities who asked Laporta that they want to “win the sixth”, in reference to the Champions League where Barcelona will face PSG in the quarterfinals. “This year, as with our first ‘Champions’ with Cruyff as coach, it will also be at Wembley. We’ll see, we are very excited,” concluded Laporta.
One of the most emotional moments of the day was the playback of some of the messages that Cruyff left throughout his football career through the school’s loudspeakers, which moved Danny and Laporta very much. “This Sunday it will be eight years since Johan left us, but he has never left because we always have him in mind, because he continues to be a mirror for his mastery,” said Laporta, who took the honor kick-off of the tournament. Pati Roura was also moved. “We keep Johan in mind. Every time we hear him we get excited. Today we are here for Cruyff’s social legacy, so that all children in the world can enjoy football,” said the president of the Cruyff Foundation, where most of them participate. of 4,000 children from Catalonia.
To these words about Dutch, Marta Segú added that “(Cruyff) was outside of conventions and rhetoric and went into practice.” Laporta added that Cruyff “gave many life lessons, such as willingness towards people who need it and the use of sport as a tool of solidarity.”
