The Spanish national team will face Holland in Sunday’s World Cup final and young Spanish international and Barcelona’s holding midfielder Sergio Busquets (21) thinks that Spanish football, especially Barcelona players, gained a lot under the strong Dutch influence in Barcelona.

“I can talk to you about Van Gaal and Cruyff, who brought important players through from the youth system,” FourFourTwo quoted him as saying.

“Rijkaard also pushed the 4-3-3 philosophy which is important for Barca and has also helped the national team,” he added.

The connection between Barcelona and Netherlands is legendary. From the current Netherlands assistant coaches Frank de Boer and Phillip Cocu, through to the captain of the Oranjes Giovanni van Bronckhorst to Mark van Bommel – they all played at Barcelona.

Former Dutch coaches Johann Cruyff and Frank Rijkaard managed to lead the Blaugrana to the Champions League title in 1991/1992 and 2005/2006 respectively.

Even teammate Carlos Marchena admitted the importance of the Barcelona players in the squad when declaring that they came from “the best team in the world”, and having them was a guarantee of success.

“The (Barcelona) players know each other to perfection and it’s a pleasure being at their side,” he concluded.