The man from Osona who often wondered why he was such good friends with Johan Cruyff

TorellóEvery March 24th for the past decade, he has placed a bouquet of orange tulips at the door of Johan Cruyff's house in Montanyà, at the foot of Montseny. "To remember him, to be with him for a little while," says Josep Font (Aiguafreda, 1961). A few days ago, his 13-year-old daughter asked ChatGPT who Cruyff's best friends had been. Initially, she answered Carles Rexach and Johan Neeskens, and when asked about Josep Font, her father, she replied that he was "one of his closest friends outside of football." "It's unbelievable. Where the hell do they get these things?" Font says. His daughter wrote Cruiff And he says ChatGTPEvery era has its words, but some names transcend the passage of time.

Font will never forget the first time he saw him, by an "amazing coincidence." In 1973, Cruyff had just arrived at Barça and was invited to the opening of the restaurant in Montanyà, a newly developed housing estate within the municipality of Seva, in Osona. Valentí Leiro, a businessman and developer, gave him one of his first houses. The father of Font's best friend was also invited to that lunch because he was a close friend of Armand Carabén, one of the key figures in Cruyff's signing. And that man brought his son, Rai, and his best friend, Josep, to the lunch. "We ate at the same table," Font says with a smile.

Cruyff arrived at Camp Nou after winning three European Cups with Ajax and a Ballon d'Or. He was the idol of a whole generation who fell completely in love with him while watching him play for Barça. "He was spectacular, with a unique mental capacity and quick thinking. He was different from all current players and even more so from those of his era. He had nothing to do with the rest. He was on another level. He was the best player of his time and is one of the five best players of all time. They are Maradona, Messi, Pelé, and Dité."

The 1974 league title, the first for a whole generation, was "absolute madness": "We hadn't won the league for fourteen years." "In Franco's time it was impossible, unthinkable." He celebrated the 5-0 victory at the Met Serra inn. "It's where Carmen Sevilla used to stay when she came to spend her summers," he adds. Aiguafreda has been a popular summer resort for Barcelona residents for a century because it's connected by train and because it's in an idyllic setting, but in the 60s and 70s it experienced a boom due to housing developments and second homes, doubling its population. Cruyff found "tranquility." Peace. "Since people knew him so well, nobody bothered him." When you went out for lunch or dinner in Barcelona, ​​your food would get cold because it was one photo after another.” Cruyff was part of the village scenery, both as a player and even more so after retiring: in the morning he would go down to buy the newspaper and bread. His wife, Danny, is still alive from May to September.

Font became a Barça member at fourteen: when he started working as a mechanic and had enough money to pay for his membership. At first, he was an apprentice and earned about 150 pesetas a week, about 90 euro cents. He went to the European Cup final in Seville, forty years ago, “horrendous,” and to the one at Wembley, “impressive, indescribable.” In 1992 or 1993, he met Cruyff in person. Their shared passion for golf led to a “very strong” personal bond. “We were like family.” The Dream Team often trained in Montanyà. "Sometimes when training was over, he'd call me to go drill nine holes. Then I'd go back to work," he explains.

Lunches at Emilio Botín's house

They had been everywhere, besides all the matches at Camp Nou: on vacation, skiing, and especially golfing. All over the country, all over Europe. He greeted and dined with Bobby Charlton, Marco Van Basten, Ruud Gullit, Gary Lineker, and Andriy Shevchenko, as well as many Barça players, and also with Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Kevin Costner, to name a few. "We'd be hanging out with people like that, and I'd think, 'Where am I? What am I doing here?' These are experiences money can't buy," he smiles. He also remembers a visit to Severiano Ballesteros in Santander, which ended with lunch at Emilio Botín's house. "We had a great time," he adds, overcome with nostalgia.

"He was a really good guy, very approachable. I've been to his training sessions, and Johan the coach is completely different from the person he is off the field." "It was incredible," Font emphasizes. "Many times I had asked Danny, 'How is it that we have this relationship? I can't quite understand the friendship we have.' She told me that everyone who approached Johan did so because they wanted something." He used to say that people who touch your shoulder are bad people because they want something from you.

The last shared memory is of them playing golf. He passed away a few days later, on March 24th. "My daughters saw me crying and asked me what was wrong," Font admits. They were three and five years old. "It hit me very, very hard," he says in a whisper. He says he missed him and still misses him terribly. "I think about him almost every day." He ordered the tulips days ago. Ten years have passed, but he remains as close as ever, just a five-minute drive away: his ashes rest in Montanyà. "When he's on TV, my daughters go crazy and shout 'your friend, your friend!'"