Farewell Legends …
Zinedine Zidane. Dennis Bergkamp. One an artist. The other a surgeon. Both visionaries with intelligence, guile and skill far above their contemporaries, destined to shine in the pantheon of stars of the beautiful game long after they have left the pitch.
The precocious talent of Zinedine Zidane was first spotted by Cannes FC after Olympique Marseille did not deem him good enough. It was at Juventus however that he made his name. The schemer of the Juventus team of late 90s that reached 3 Champion league finals and won 3 Scudetti, Zidane was acknowledged in Turin and Paris as the true heir to the legacy of Michel Platini. His exquisite control on the ball, his comfort in running with it and his ability to shoot implied that for a decade nothing scared defenders more than Zizou with the ball at his feet. With him, magic was just a touch away. He made things happen. The flicks, the turns, the chips, the volleys will all be remembered for both their skills as well as the audacity of their execution.
Louis Van Gaal, Bergkamp’s coach at Ajax termed him a shadow striker. A more apt term cannot be conjured for him. Notwithstanding his ability to shoot at the goal from anywhere and probably the best first touch in contemporary soccer, he did as much with the ball as he did without it. He would appear out of nowhere in open spaces and thread his passes through nonexistent gaps. His ability to read the game implied that he set up more goals than he scored (not counting the goals he facilitated pulling defenders out of position with his intelligent running). Aspiring strikers might well compulsarily be made to see the videos of Bergkamp’s games to understand what being a complete striker means.
And yet how different their farewells to the sport were. Bergkamp signed off with a testimonal match in the new home of Arsenal, Emirates Stadium, between Arsenal and Ajax. Zidane went out in disgrace on a red card for headbutting a player in the World Cup finals. While Zidane has all the honours that a professional footballer can achieve, Bergkamp goes out a legend at Arsenal, with fans demanding to retire his number 10 shirt. While Zidane became a Galactico making a strong team stronger, Bergkamp preferred to cement his place amongst the Arsenal faithful by being instrumental in bringing their glory days back.
When asked to make a dream team, I tend to prefer including players I have seen play over the legends whom I, by my misfortune of being born in early 80s, have never seen. In any such list I make, these names will figure at the very top. They will remain the players watching whom I grew to love the game of football.
