Barcelona Barca faced Sao Paulo

Johan Cruyff and Tele Santana made a pact by putting their right hands on top of each other that on December 13th, 1992, if players from either Sao Paulo or Barcelona failed to live up to their image of good football that they preached almost like a religion, then they would take them off the field of play.

"'Done deal,' said a contented Cruyff, while Santana asked if I would participate as well and so I put my hand on top,'" explained former referee Juan Carlos Loustau.

The scene was at a hotel in Tokyo, two days before the Intercontinental Cup final between Cruyff's Barcelona and Sao Paolo of Santana, in which Loustau would be the match official.

It was a match where on one side Hristo Stoichkov, Michael Laudrup, Pep Guardiola, Ronald Koeman et al, would face Muller, Palinha, Rai, Cerezco, Cafu etc.

Loustau revealed it was a privilege for him to see the two coaches chatting as friends two days before the game and how their pact came about late into the night after four hours of talking.

"They were convinced that to lose when playing well was not a failure and in a true game, respecting their philosophies, then there are not winners or losers," he explained.

Loustau was considered 25 years ago to be the second best referee in the world and officiated at the Italy 1990 World Cup.

"In a 40 year career I was never moved as much as on that occasion when I took part in the conversation between Tele and Cruyff," continued Loustau who was staying at the same hotel as both teams, with Barcelona having won the Champioons League and Sao Paolo the Libertadores Cup.

"That night I couldn't sleep due to jetlag as it was 12 hours difference from Argentina. I went downstairs where Tele saw me and asked me to go over to introduce me to Johan Cruyff.

"They talked about football as if it was sacred. They said to break up a game through play-acting, kicking the ball away or time wasting was wrong.

"Cruyff and Santana wanted to win but not anyway, through anything sneaky. It had to be a result of their arguments that were very similar. For example they spoke excitedly of the challenge of combining pace with precision to surprise the opponent."

Loustau felt that night that neither felt losing was a failure, such as when Cruyff lost the 1974 World Cup final or when Santana's Brazil was defeated by Italy in 1982.

"They wanted to win through their creed and that by respecting that was the route to success. By watching their teams you could see that what they said was practicised by their players."