The Dutch Marco van Basten, former star of the great Milan of the late 80s and early 90s, recently presented his autobiography ‘Basta’ and spoke of his relationship with the world of football with Being Catalonia Y Catalunya Ràdio, One of the headlines he left was to praise the task being carried out by his compatriot and generational partner Ronald Koeman on the bench FC Barcelona. “Koeman is doing a great job at Barça, because it has a very complicated atmosphere and he remains calm, he has the players close by and is alive in the League and in the Cup final,” he said before adding: “Being a coach It is already difficult, but above all it is in Barcelona. Staying calm is already a great thing. “
Van Basten reviewed the cast of contemporary stars by highlighting that each era has its own. “Of course there are high-level players, like Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi, Lewandoweski, Zlatan… it is not exceptional that there are players of my quality ”, he pointed out. Regarding the comparison between Diego Maradona Y Leo messi, Van Basten highlighted the differences he appreciates. “Mentally Maradona was a phenomenon. Messi is a calm person, who does magical things on the field. Maradona was a leader, he commanded the field. They are both exceptional in their own way, ”he described.
“Guardiola’s Barça was the best team there ever was”
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The former Dutch striker was part of one of the most remembered teams in football history, Milan from three decades ago, but in his opinion there was one team above all. “I don’t think our Milan is the most important in history, but at that time we were the best, we dominated football and it was a pleasure to be part of it, but if you see Barça from Guardiola, with all the stars, like Xavi The IniestaThat was the best team ever and also the most spectacular ”.
Of all the known figures in football, Van Basten is left with one: “Cruyff, if I talk about football, is the most important figure in my career. He was my idol and my example. I had him as a coach and as a friend ”. Precisely, that good relationship kept him with the option of meeting with Johan at Barça. “There was always talk of going to Barça with Johan, since we made a good team at Ajax. But I was fine in Milan, I had friends, I was in the best league in the world at that time and Berlusconi’s club was a great club, so it was not easy to leave, not even to a great club like Cruyff’s Barça, which he was always close ”.
Of the differences between the football of today and that of his time, one stood out above all. “In the 90s, soccer was more about players and today coaches are much more important. Soccer should always be about footballers, the most important thing in soccer ”.
By last. Van Basten recounted his hasty forced retirement. “I don’t know how far I would have gone if I hadn’t retired at 28. At first, I wanted to live football more but I couldn’t bear the physical and mental pain. It was very difficult to assimilate that he would not play again. Until the end of 1992 I felt good, but they told me about ‘cleaning’ my ankle to play for five more years. The operation was bad and I couldn’t play anymore. At least, I was active for ten wonderful years, so I see the bottle half full, although I would have played more ”, he concluded.
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