Photo: Barcelona star pays tribute to Johan Cruyff

Barcelona star Arda Turan has paid tribute to Dutch footballing legend Johan Cruyff who died of cancer aged 68 today.

Turan shared a picture on Instagram of Cruyff alongside the caption: ‘Cruyff’.

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Cruyff rose to fame at Ajax and Barcelona winning European footballer of the year three times.

The former Barca man lifted three consecutive European Cups with Ajax from 1971 and helped the Netherlands national team reach the 1974 World Cup final.

Cruyff also coached Barcelona to their first European Cup triumph in 1992 and is widely credited with reinventing the club.

The former Barcelona boss proposed the idea of founding the youth academy that became to be known as La Masiah giving birth to the likes of Lionel Messi, Andrés Iniesta  and Xavi Hernández.

Former Barca boss Pep Guardiola described Cruyff by saying: “Johan Cruyff painted the chapel, and Barcelona coaches since merely restore or improve it.”

Cruyff is also one of the only ever players to have a skill named after him – the Cruyff turn.

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