Apart from his prowess on the pitch he was a magician off the pitch too evident from his insightful opinions. Here are his 10 best quotes about the beautiful game.
1. "Quality without results is pointless. Results without quality is boring."
2. "People who are not of my level can't affect my integrity."
3. "Why couldn't you beat a richer club? I've never seen a bag of money score a goal."
4. "We must make sure their worst players get the ball the most. You'll get it back in no time."
5. "Technique is not being able to juggle a ball 1000 times. Anyone can do that by practicing. Then you can work in the circus Technique is passing the ball with one touch, with the right speed, at the right foot of your team mate."
6. "Playing football is very simple, but playing simple football is the hardest thing there is."
7. "If you have the ball, you must make the field as big as possible, and if you don't have the ball, you must make it as small as possible."
8. "Every trainer talks about movement, about running a lot. I say don't run so much. Football is a game you play with your brain. You have to be in the right place at the right moment, not too early, not too late."
9. "If you play on possession, you don't have to defend, because there's only one ball."
11. "Choose the best player for every position, an you will end up not with a strong eleven but with eleven strong ones."
12. "Messi will be the player to win most Ballon d'Or in history. He will win five, six, seven. He is incomparable."
13. “In small space a player has to be capable of acting quickly. A good player who needs too much time can suddenly become a poor player.”
14. "Choose the best player for every position, and you’ll end up not with a strong XI, but with 11 strong 1’s."
15. "Football is a game of mistakes. Whoever makes the fewest mistakes wins."
16. "What is speed? Speed is often confused with insight. When I start running earlier than the others, I appear faster."
17. "Football is the only sport played purely with the feet. That's why the chance of mistake is so much greater. There are no time-outs which means coaching during the match is even more difficult... The best solution to both is to find the plan which makes the fewest mistakes, to find the solution that solves or creates the most mistakes."
18. "Statistically players have the ball 3 minutes on average, in a match. So, what do you do during those 87 minutes when you do not have the ball determines whether you are a good player or not."
19. “If you have second thoughts about playing for Barça, then you are no longer of service for us.“
20. "Possession for itself is worthless if you don't know what to do with the ball later. Possession creates space, But understanding space creates purpose"
21. “Iniesta disprove entirely the theory that only physically strong footballers with a lot of running ability can play in their positions. A lot of coaches think that way, and choose muscle over technique in midfield.”
22. “One day. Romario asked me if could miss training to go to Brazil for Carnival I said: ‘If you score two goals goals tomorrow.’ He scored twice in 20 minutes against Madrid and asked to be replaced: ‘Coach, My plane leaves in one hour.’”
23. "In a way I'm probably immortal."
24. “The most important part are the fans, that people going home are happy. It's their time off, and you should give them something to enjoy.”
25. "There are many people who can say that a team are playing badly. There are few people who can say why they play badly. And there are even fewer people who can say what should be done to make them play better."
25. "Can't play dominant football with 4-4-2. Triangles disappear. You should always have triangles, only then you've passing options."
26. “The easiest way is often the hardest. I see touching the ball once as the highest form of technique. But to be able to touch the ball perfectly once, you need to have touched it a hundred thousand times in training.”
27. “[When Barça won the league title in 1974] the fans didn’t say ‘congratulations’. They said ‘thank you.’ That was really something. That will always stay with me. It was all they said: ‘thank you,’ everywhere. That made a very deep impression.”
28. "Everyone that understands football knows this. It's absolutely ridiculous to me that some actually think Messi isn't the best."
29. "Winning is just one day, a reputation can last a lifetime. Winning is an important thing, but to have your own style, to have people copy you, to admire you, that is the greatest gift."
30. "Xavi unites talent and intelligence. His assist to Alba in the European Championship final was so beautiful it was perfection. Timing, pace, direction..."
31. “Why fight? Keep your distance, anticipate where he’ll head the ball and wait for the bounce. You’ll be in control while he’s jumping around.” - Johan Cruyff to Guardiola, who lacked the physique to win aerial duels
32. "Being critical is always something positive. Because you are pointing out things that need improvement."
33. "Even a blind man can see what a great player Neymar is. Anyone who doesn't think he's a good player doesn't know the game.”
34. “I deliberately avoid talking about a player’s stamina. It’s started a process whereby the footballer has to run more and gets to spend less time playing football. While the trick is to use space on the pitch in such a way that, it’s the ball and not the feet that do the work."
35. "Guardiola sees the game as God intended, I'd say he was my best student."
36. "It's better to fail with your own vision, rather than following another man's vision."
37. "Eleven men cannot do much without a leader."
38. "In possession, eleven men have to be in motion. Busy fine-tuning distances. It’s not a question of how much you run but where you run to. Constantly creating triangles means that the ball circulation isn’t interrupted."
39. “Football is an international language. Put a guy from Senegal, US, Russia, Holland, Brazil together in a room. Bring up music, science, politics, they'll have difficulty getting somewhere. Give them 2 goals, a field & a ball and they can play football together without speaking."
40. "It isn’t the man on the ball who decides where the ball goes, but players without the ball. Their running actions determine the next pass."