Johan Cruyff praises Lionel Messi

It had the world talking but not everyone appreciated Barcelona’s pass penalty shenanigans against Celta Vigo at the weekend. Some thought it was disrespectful to their domestic opponents.Johan Cruyff didn’t.Seen by many as a tribute to the legend after he gave an update on his cancer battle, saying he was 2-0 up against the vicious disease, Cruyff praised Messi for making football fun. He certainly does that.Spanish football outletSportpublished quotes from Cruyff on the unorthodox penalty that he made famous during his playing career:“Football is to have fun and Messi is making it fun for all of us. It made me very content because I share ideas with the players who dare to do these type of things”.As a player, Cruyff was famed for his invention, his willingness to try new thingson the pitch and his ability to pull them off.In Messi, a fellow all-time great, he sees a kindred spirit.Nutmegs, rabonas, back-heels or impossible pieces of control make football great, and “you can’t criticise them”. The Dutchman understands these type of moves are executed by the brave and the bold.Speaking about Barcelona, who he achieved success with as a player and a coach, Cruyff said:“It’s a team I love and I enjoy the three up front a lot, Iniesta, Busquets and Bravo. It’s a beastly team.”He also praised Celta:“A great team, with identity. They maintained their philosophy until the end against Barcelona at Camp Nou. It’s something to applaud. And at 2-1 they had chances to come back.”Speaking about his own famous penalty, Cruyff said he didn’t know Rik Coppens didit first, in 1957: “I was 10 years old and in my house we didn’t have a TV. Until I was older I didn’t know what this device was!“It was born in a training session talking toJesper Olsen, a left-footer. Left footers always are always ready to do this type of thing! At first he said it was crazy, but later he changed and said, ‘OK, I’ll do it’. And they did it. And nothing happened.“The referee, after the penalty, asked me ‘What have you done? Is that valid?’ and I said yes, the ball always moved forward, it wasn’t offside. He gave it. The press of thetime praised the play. They saw it as genius. And it’s been like that since, so I don’t understand the controversy we saw. Football’s to have fun, not to get into wars or provocations.”