The signing of the Dutch for the club was a bombshell and the first occasion to contemplate was the first game televised in Valencia.
It was December 30, 1973, and Cruyff's party was going to be televised.
"Cruyff's party", that's what we called it when we referred to him. It was a Valencia-Barça de Liga, but we called it "Cruyff's match" because it was the first of Barça that was televised since his arrival.
Today it is difficult to take charge of the bombing that led to his signing for Barça. After the failure of Spain in the World 62, in Chile, the border had been closed to the arrival of foreigners, on the idea that they hurt the national team. And closed was (except for natives, many of them false) until 1973-1974. When it opened, Barça had a sensational success: he signed Cruyff.
It was a well-planned operation. A year before he hired Dutch coach Rinus Michels, while pressing the Federation to reopen the border. We had not gone better without foreigners or in the World Cup in 66, much less in the 70, for which we did not qualify.
The signing was not consummated until August 18, with the consent of the Dutch parliament. It was a personal success of the club manager, Armando Carabén, married to a Dutch woman. The club gave a million dollars (one hundred million pesetas) to Ajax, and another to Cruyff for three seasons.
His incorporation was delayed by the negotiations. He could not play the Gamper, nor the first League games, nor the UEFA Cup tie against Niza, which eliminated Barça. He did not want to appear until he felt fit, and the club rode him four friendly matches (Brujas, Kickers Offenbach, Arsenal and Orense) to that end, in which he scored five goals.
The Barça delayed in the League. He lost three starts, tied two home games, one against Madrid. These were days when the joke was that there was an invasion of frogs on the Ramblas, because this constant noise was heard: "Cruyff, Cruyff, Cruyff ...".
At last he appeared, on the eighth day, with Barça four points ahead, shared by Valencia and Atlético. He scored two goals, won at Barça 4-0 against Granada. It caused a sensation.
Now came the 16th day, Barça had not lost again, was in the lead, visited Valencia, Cruyff had just been awarded his second golden ball ... And he was going to televise the game! It would be the last game of the year and the first occasion to see the phenomenon, summaries aside, since he came to Barça. That changed the focus of attention of the country, overwhelmed for days by the deadly attack of ETA against Carrero Blanco, on December 20. That opened a parenthesis of extreme concern, which closed somewhat on Saturday 29, when Franco appointed Carlos Arias Navarro as the new president of the Government.
That same day, Cruyff gave a press conference in Barcelona before leaving for Valencia, with his second Golden Ball as the central theme. It sealed a peace with the Barcelona press. He had come with the pretense of charging for interviews, and that his colleagues did the same. There were weeks of silenzio stampa, happily broken from that date. Immediately, the club traveled to Valencia, where in the afternoon there was an act in tribute to Cruyff at the headquarters of Valencia, on behalf of the association of journalists in Holland, who gave him his annual prize. The symbolism of that party was highlighted: Cruyff always said that he had two idols, Faas Wilkes and Di Stéfano. Wilkes had played at Valencia, Di Stéfano was now the coach.
It was raining heavily, but Mestalla was full and all of Spain went to the television to see the phenomenon. The good fans had already seen some complete match in European broadcasts, but for the general public it was novelty.
It was the Valencia de Sol, Jesus Martinez, Claramunt, Quino and Adorno, among others. The Barça attack was composed by Rexach, Asensi, Cruyff, Sotil and Marcial. Barro, strong marks of Valencia and the trap of the offside by Bara. That was seen in the first part. Michels was not the inventor of that formula, but he was the one who accredited it in Spain. Each advance of Valencia died when the defense of Barca was ahead. Sparks, very watched, sparked, but only that. The panorama at the break was bleak. Zero to zero, tie to nothing at all.
But there was Cruyff. In the 60th minute, he finally got a good ball, opened it to Rexach, accompanied the play and nailed the center of the Catalan with a great header. Valencia moved tried to squeeze, sought to break the trap of offside. But in 80 Cruyff hit again. The local goal, Melendez, sent to Claramunt, located about ten meters from the area. Cruyff, who was doing the clueless, started as lightning as the ball came from Meléndez foot, snatched it from Claramunt, drew Aníbal and Meléndez himself in his desperate exit and scored a great goal. Zero to two. Barça consolidated as leader.
People turned off the TV thinking that now understood everything: the hundred million, the anxiety of Barcelona until it appeared, the Golden Ball and even their haughty ways. We were before a superior player.
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