Spotters badges to you both
Ronaldinho didn’t take being an athlete seriously and he reached a point where his body could no longer sustain all the partying.
He was similar to George Best in that regard.
While never coming near Ronaldinho’s heights at his peak, Neymar has already shown distinct signs of being on a similar downward trajectory to where Ronaldinho was circa 2006-07.
1 Like
I think that Zidane definitely had those factors. He was a genius.
That’s not taking from Ronaldinho mind.
1 Like
The drugs probably helped with Maradona.
Well we know Messi has been drugged, you think Ronaldinho was clean living?!
1 Like
Rivaldo was another who suffered in this respect. He was amazing at Barcelona.
Garrincha from back in the 50s and 60s played for Brazil but could barely walk. He also lost his virginity to a goat if stories are to be believed.
1 Like
Pele?
What about him?
He didn’t.
Zidane’s greatness was on a similar level to that of Xavi, Iniesta, Pirlo, Platini etc. It was based on mastery of the basics - great technique, great spatial awareness, excellent decision making etc. But it was all within the framework of the basics of football that coaches try to coach into players.
What Maradona, Messi and Ronaldinho had or have could not be coached, these players had or have explosive, special, unique gifts that are just not available to any other players in the world.
I’m sorry but that is complete horseshit.
What Zidane had couldn’t have been coached.
1 Like
He was out of this world, the players who played against him at his peak all say they never encountered anything like him. He was unstoppable in his prime. The performance against Lazio in the UEFA Cup final and the Dutch in the France 98 semi final were truly special. You can stop Messi with tactics, Messi actually relies on a style of play and type of players to link up with. That’s very evident with Argentina.
Ronaldo was a remarkable, self sufficient phenomenon. He even had to learn how to change his game when his knees went and still survived.
Where he destroyed one of your top five - Nesta.
Coaches try to coach technique at youth level. They try to coach spatial awareness, they try to coach decision making.
Zidane was the full expression of the mastery of the basics of football.
But what did he do in his career that merited comparison with Maradona, Messi or Ronaldinho?
What did he do that made you sit up and say to yourself, only Zidane could have done that?
I can’t remember anything.
His performance for France against Brazil in 2006 was outstanding, but it’s not something that you couldn’t imagine any the game’s great midfielders doing.
His goal in the 2002 Champions League final was wonderful, but it wasn’t as good as Marco van Basten’s, and I don’t hear van Basten, great as he was, being mentioned in the same breath as Messi in terms of greatness. And anyway, those type of shots are not unusual in football. They’re “woof” shots which we see regularly.
And Messi has pulled off many performances of the Zidane 2006 v Brazil type in his career, at the very highest level, and that’s before you even add the unique explosive gifts that he has on top of it, which Zidane didn’t have.
Zidane was a great player but below the very top level of greatness, below the greatest of the great.
Exactly, all Nesta could was kick him. Even kicking him could not stop him and that was an era where attackers were not protected like today.
Zidane’s best performance was against probably Portugal at Euro 2000. He was the type of player who flitted in and out of games, his elegance and technique probably make him seem greater than he was in hindsight.
I have already said before why I think Zidane was great. His ability to play a pass in the normal course of possession to completely open the opposition up. I had never saw anyone do that as naturally until Messi came along.
The Brazil 2006 match was beyond the execution of coaching skills. It was a masterclass for a player at the end of his career.
To give another example, I recall Zidane equalising from a free kick for France against England in a 2004 Euros group game. England were 1-0 up and it was in the last number of minutes. He stood up and put it through a tiny gap in the wall to score. It doesn’t sound much but there was an inevitability that he was going up score, much like Messi last night.
Totti was a better passer than Zidane. Totti is the greatest passer to play the game.
ZZ was probably the most graceful player to ever play the game… He glided around the pitch like he was ice-skating. A wizard…
2 Likes