Patrick Kluivert gave an interview to the English newspaper Daily Mail, in which he shared his memories of his career. generation orangeLike him, he gave the world many great players, many of whom played for Barcelona at the end of the last century. The striker remembers his time at Barcelona well, but he also feels dissatisfied.
Kluivert played with Barcelona in the 1998-2004 season, participating in 257 matches, scoring 122 goals and providing 61 assists. Despite good individual statistics, he managed to win only one championship in his first season. This modest achievement is the greatest pain for him at this stage of his career: “I scored a lot of goals, we went far in the Champions League, but I want to win more titles. Perhaps this was not possible due to other strong teams at that time in Spain. Valencia, Real Madrid… The Galacticos were really good“.
The former Ajax striker was brought to Barcelona at the request of Louis van Gaal, with whom he won the Champions League trophy a few years ago while playing for the Dutch side. Kluivert admits that he cannot complain about the teammates he played with in the Catalan capital: “It was like stepping into a warm, pleasant bath. Rivaldo on the one hand and Vigo on the other? It was easy! As long as you make the right move, they’ll hand you the ball on a silver platterLater, he also had the opportunity to play with Ronaldinho, whom he described as his favorite teammate.
His son, Shane Kluivert, plays in the youth teams at Barcelona, and Patrick believes he has a great future ahead of him: “Maybe he will become a better footballer than me. He is the most determined of my four children. For me, as a father, it’s a really beautiful sight. I didn’t have to force them to do anything, they wanted to play football themselves. Things are not easy because they have Kluivert’s name on their shirt. This raises expectations. However, they handle it well“.
You can find the entire interview in English here.
Below you can see a sample of Shane Kluivert’s skills. Do you think he has a chance to become a world-class player like his father?
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