Johan Cruyff’s radiant smile and beatle mane already shine in a corridor of the Hostal de la Gavina, in S’Agaró, immortalized in a 1975 image and right next to photographs by Salvador Dalí, Montserrat Caballé, Josep Pla, Sean Connery, Jack Nicholson, Elisabeth Taylor, John Wayne or Orson Welles, among other great figures. “A few years ago we decided to collect part of our story and reprint it on the walls. It is a pleasure to do this act. Johan was a great guy “, said Josep Encesa, one of the owners of the space, at the event held to present the photograph. Shortly afterwards, he gave the floor to Joan Laporta, president of Barça and in charge of hanging the painting on the wall. In the image, captured during a stay that the Barça team made at the hostel from February 28 to March 4, 1975, Cruyff smiles next to the goalkeeper Salvador Sadurní and a boy: Joan Vehils, former director of the newspaper Sport.
Laporta, a well-known face at the Hostal de la Gavina, began by claiming that it is “the best hotel, the most beautiful corner in the world, where I feel best.” And he admitted that he was very “excited” to know that Cruyff, “Johan”, had also stepped into the corridors of the hostel at the foot of the Mediterranean. “I have the privilege and honor of saying that we were friends, very friends,” Laporta said.
Accompanied by the directors Rafael Yuste and Xavier Puig and the Encesa family, Laporta was sincere: “The dwarves we were eleven years old combed our hair and ran like him. We imitated him. It was a revolution. It was awesome. Barça had not won for 14 years and the 1974 league was legendary. It is one of the great virtues he had: he made us winners: at Barça and in Catalonia. It changed our mindset. That way of winning made us all fall in love “, he pointed out.
And he added that Cruyff “is the best player I’ve ever seen, a magnificent conductor. It was magical. He transformed football into art. Laporta also argued that the impact of the Dutchman transcended the margins of the turf: “It brought fresh, modern air. These were difficult times, at the end of the dictatorship.
Already at the end of parliament, after apologizing more than once because his passion for Cruyff always leads him to linger, he acknowledged that he has “a contradictory feeling. Because he is no longer with us physically, but he is very present spiritually. “We miss him a lot. And sometimes you have a feeling of sadness, but also a certain peace of mind because he taught us a lot and continues to teach us. We remember him with great affection. And whenever you think about him, they sell you good pictures.
From this Saturday, the Hostal de la Gavina treasures one of these good images of Johan Cruyff, with the radiant smile and the beatle mane. Rest just above Dalí. “Two geniuses together,” as Laporta said.
