Dennis Bergkamp with Ajax

Info

It was Johan Cruijff who took the seventeen year old Bergkamp from the A-juniors to the A-selection. He was still at school so he had to combine football and homework.
His first match for the A-selection followed soon. His debut was on 14 December 1986 against Roda JC (2-0) and a few months later he played his first Europe Cup match against FF Malmų. He scored four goals in this tournament where Ajax ended up as the winner.

Qualities
Bergkamp had a gift for scoring beautiful goals. He scored a total of 239 times for Ajax. Bergkamp feels his strongest in the position behind the strikers, the same position Jari Litmanen had until he left.Bergkamp was top scorer three times in a row in the Dutch League and he got the honors of footballer of the year twice (1991 and 1992)
Bergkamp became famous for his 'stiffies', a shot in the air over the defence of the opponents. He says he never practised these shots, but that it is a natural gift he obtained at a young age. His best 'stiffie' was probably the one in the last minute of the match against RKC on 4 October 1992. Ajax-coach van Gaal described it as 'a goal from another planet'.

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