Valdano tells me that it seems absurd to compare that everyone was the best in their time.
Not many of us were left to see Di Stéfano play, there are few films by him and the ones that exist don’t do him justice. He didn’t have the virtuosity of Pelé, although he did perform some miracles in a pinch. From the main gate, a gate with a flat heel to catch the ball that passed behind him, to Belgium, is not filmed. Luis Suárez played this game, and with his help, a computer-animated reconstruction was created, which is worth looking for. But his strength was that he put the whole team together. To explain it you have to connect Casemiro, Zidane and Ronaldo Nazario: he took away with science and passion, he led the game like Zidane, he finished like Ronaldo. He was privileged in terms of speed, resilience and character. He was everywhere and scored as many goals as you can expect from the top 9. L’Omnipresent, he called it L’Équipe. It destroyed the rigidity of the World Cup, it changed football.
After those days, there is little to say about Pelé. Virtuoso with both feet and head, powerful take-off and jump, dribbling with dismounts from all sides, insatiable goalscorer. There is a beautiful video circulating that explains how all the miracles that you see later were already invented by him. Another shows him being beaten and it’s terrifying. He and Di Stéfano played in front of cards that didn’t appear until Mexico 70 and on fields that weren’t the billiard mats we see now. It is said that he did not play in Europe. Or when. He’s played a lot of dog-face friendlies here because everyone wanted to beat Santos. Touring at a rate of four games a week, he faced the best in European football. And back then, the South American clubs were no different than ours, just look at the distribution of the Intercontinental titles. From the heart of Europe, L’Équipe, the bible of sport, named him Athlete of the Century.
Cruyff fully understands the age of global information. Ambidextrous like the previous two, he played with more ease than anyone else, elegant as a swan. He played in a revolution at the top of his Ajax and his Netherlands made up of skinny and long-haired players. But he didn’t put on as much passion as the others, he seemed bored at the age of 27 (the age Di Stéfano came to Madrid) when the best could be expected of him. In turn, he completed his contribution to football as a revolutionary coach. His legacy was greater in this second facet.
Like Pelé, Maradona was born of a breath of God. His left leg was perfect, his twists and turns were uncontrollable, he had constant localization of teammates and rivals. Unlike the other four, he hardly trained. His natural constitution, resourcefulness and enthusiasm for football allowed him to do everything he did without working a decent minimum. Training, which you train seriously, was something he did for just a month of his career, for the World Cup in Mexico, and we’ve already seen the aftermath. If he had always done a pretty good job, he would have won maybe 90% of the games he played.
Messi brought things to Maradona from the cradle, including his state of being a closed and exalted left-hander. He polished them in the best academy, the Masia, which raised Xavi and Iniesta. He rode that wave like a diamond from an incomparable team. His dribbling never had an antidote, his vision, resourcefulness, long pass and shot (including the free kick) increased throughout his career. Dejected Xavi and Iniesta were sulking, becoming a nuisance and blinded at the mercy of several European nights walking around with their heads down, knowing nothing. Neither Di Stéfano, nor Pelé, nor Maradona had ever done that. But this World Cup was lavish and redemptive, propelling the champion team at a walking pace. Central protagonist, like the Pelé from 1970.
1926, 1940, 1947, 1960 and 1987 were the years of his birth. Somewhere, someone seems to have taken care that the lights are always on in football. So much time spent on this has led me to conclude that it seems to everyone that the best was the first thing they saw with their youthful eyes and sense of wonder intact. Let’s respect this right.
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