Johan Cruyff and Hristo Stoichkov enjoyed a close relationship during their time together at the Camp Nou and they became good friends, but the coach was still able to tell his star striker off in front of the rest of the squad when he thought it necessary.
Stoichkov has recalled his days as a member of the late Dutch tactician's 'Dream Team', revealing an interesting story about a confrontation they had in training. "One day I told him 'I'm not going to play wearing the No. 8 anymore because that's always the number you substitute'," the Bulgarian told Panenka magazine.
"I told him 'I'll wear the No. 3 or No. 14, then would you sub me?'"Cruyff killed me in front of the rest of the team and then in private he told me that I was the best."He became more of a friend to me than I could have expected.
"In front of the group he was able to tell me that I was a disaster, that I wasn't going to play the next match and that he was going to sell me, but at the end of training we would go to eat together.
"One of the things Stoichkov was most grateful for was the opportunity afforded to him and the ex-striker pointed out that he wasn't the only one to enjoy a better life because of Cruyff.
"Cruyff changed my life and the lives of many players," he said."He took me out of a closed and communist country like Bulgaria in order to come to Catalonia and play for Barcelona."He worked in his particular way.
He dedicated many afternoons to teaching me the things I had to do on the pitch.
"As for the philosophy which he installed at the Camp Nou, the 51-year-old was clear that it cannot be implanted in any club.
"Cruyff's theories aren't applicable to other teams and don't work for every player," he said in the interview.
"First of all you need the idea and then you need the people who know how to put it in practice.
"Not everyone knows how to play like that."Under Cruyff's leadership, Stoichkov formed part of the team which won the Blaugrana's first European Cup in 1992, while he also won five LaLiga titles during his time in Catalonia.
