Messi or Ronaldo? - The grazing angle

Johan Cruyff

3. Johan Cruyff

Three-time Ballon d'Or winner is the next in this list. He was active from 1964 to 1984. In this period his most notable appearances are with Ajax and Barcelona. For Ajax, he appeared in 364 games scoring 266 goals and for Barcelona, he appeared in 227 games scoring 85 goals. For Netherlands he appeared in 48 games scoring 33 times. Overall he played in 704 games scoring 392 times for club and country. (Source: https://www.worldofjohancruyff.com/cruyff/cruyff-as-a-player/)

He ran into won the player of the tournament in 1974. Netherlands finished runners-up in the tournament. Though Johan played excellent to won the player of the tournament but credit goes to the Total football played by the entire team. In this type of football players switch their positions and need to adjust accordingly. Without having a strong squad it would not have been possible to adapt the system. This suggests that the World cup run was more due to the team then Johan alone.