Goodbye To Johan Cruyff, The Man Who Invented Modern Soccer

Barcelona FC claims more than 91,000,000 fans on Facebook -- the highest number from any professional sports team, and the fifth most liked page overall. Fans of the beautiful game flock to consume and revel in the year-to-year brilliance of Barcelona's soccer, a club adorned with a dizzying amount of trophies, legends past and present, and above all, Lionel Messi.

But to understand how Barcelona became the most beloved, powerful and successful soccer club on the planet, one only has to trace its successes back to the influence of one man: Dutch soccer player Johan Cruyff, who died on Thursday from cancer at 68 years old.