25 years without Van Basten

Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Platini and Cruyff. Comparing players from different eras is one of the most useless but favorite discussions of all football fans. Now, there are some posts that are used as a starting point that cannot find an answer. One of these could be that the players in the first sentence are top-3 of their respective positions. For something they are the only four who have three Ballon d'Or or more, and there is a fifth that no one expects if you list this little list: Marco van Basten.

Van Basten was the forward of the Dutch national team and from Milan from the late 80s and early 90s. And maybe your Holland She is not the most remembered (hello, Cruyff), but she is the only one to have won a title. Nor his Milan the most successful (greetings, Ancelotti), but yes the most remembered. The star was him, but as he looked back at lines he always saw Gullit and Rijkaard.

At 25 he was already an absolute legend. And at 28 he played his last game. Not by choice, of course, but because his right ankle wanted it that way. They called him the Swan of Utrecht for her elegance, but it might as well have been the fragility and delicacy of her ankles. “You get to a point where anything is better than pain, better than feeling crippled… At least he's at peace with himself now. That is not little, “said his wife, Liesbeth, the day of his farewell. Also an August 18, but 1995.

Like so many other young footballers of the AjaxMarco van Basten was signed as a mature man. You can not be considered a youth club Amsterdam taking into account that he only played one year in the subsidiary (at a rate of 500 florins a month, a figure that his teammates did not reach). If it were so, Odegaard or Casemiro could be considered homegrown players Madrid. We already talked about Ajax's transfer policies in another special.

Like everyone else, Van Basten came with his own story. His father Joop He was a defender in his youth and a coach after his retirement. He was the one who led the race and did not want to heed the recommendations of Rein Strikwerda, doctor of FC Utrecht. The Van Bastens were informed that their son had ankle problems and could end up in a wheelchair if he did not leave elite sport. Too potential to waste for a doctor's prophecy.

It was the year 1981 and while I was waiting for a new star, the very sun was returning. After his years in U.S (and his walk through the I raised), a 34-year-old Johan Cruyff was returning to Eredivisie to win the league that had just snatched the AZ. Marco made his debut replacing Flaco on April 3, 1982. A win at NEC 5-0 in which the young forward was able to score his first goal, becoming the debutant and the youngest scorer in the club's history behind his teammate Gerarld Vanenburg, who had already done his thing a year before.

That game was a simple anecdote, because when it began to count for the first team it was in the following season. It was not indisputable far from it, but let's see how many 18-year-old players score ten goals alternating days with the subsidiary and in professional football. And in 1984 the explosion came: 28 goals in 26 games (November, December, January and the first week of February were lost due to mononucleosis), Silver Boot being a teenager and only behind Ian rush (32). In October he had also made his debut with the national team.

At the collective level Ajax punctured. Cruyff, who had come out badly with the board, had signed for the eternal rival and the Feyenoord removed them from the KNVB Beker and the Eredivisie beat them. Having taken his revenge, Johan retired and returned to his club, Ajax, to be sporting director and a year later head coach. In between, a 1984/85 season in which Van Basten and Van’t Schip, with a close relationship with Cruyff, they managed to get them to dismiss Aad from Mos after a defeat in which both were substitutes. Free track for coach Cruyff.

He was only 21 years old, but he already had the power to throw out coaches. An absolute star of the league who in the next two years dominated the championship (without winning the title, it must be said) scoring 37 (Golden Boot) and 44 goals under the command of Cruyff, an absolute outrage. But it is worth stopping in the 1986/87 season, that of more than forty goals, but also that of his first injury in professional football.

In December 1986 the Van Basten household remembered Strikwerda, that pessimistic doctor from Utrecht. A month after scoring her most famous goal with Ajax, a spectacular Chilean against him Den BoschHe couldn't take it anymore and underwent surgery. He thought the problem was his left ankle, but that same week he had made a totally unnecessary tackle playing against him. Groningen which led him to ask for a change due to the pain in his right ankle. Call it recklessness or energy what moves youth, but Van Basten had surgery on his left ankle and not his right. Nor would he want to jeopardize his signing for Milan, whose contract he had signed in the summer (he practically announced it Silvio Berlusconi in a press conference prior to Joan Gamper Trophy) and that it became effective twelve months later.

Marco ended the season with this tare. He always played with his ankle bandaged and after each match he had to take care of it with ice. Once having lost to him PSV at the end of March, which left the league very complicated, and seeing himself in the semifinals of the Recopa, agreed with Cruyff to rest in the league matches prior to the two semi-final matches against him Saragossa and in the end. He did not score against the Spanish, who they swept 6-2 on aggregate, but he did score 1-0 that gave them the final and the first European title since the European cups of the seventies.

After achieving the goal of the season, he said goodbye as best he knew how: he scored ten goals in six games, including two in overtime given by KNVB Beker, his last title. ajacied. His balance ended with two leagues (three including the one he won playing a single game), three cups, a Recopa and 148 goals in 163 games.

From the times of Van Basten in Milan there will be time to talk later, because what was his first season can be called a real failure. Not because of his performance, because he scored an important 1-3 against him Naples of Maradona three days from the end that allowed Milan their first A series since before TotoneroBut because of an injury to his battered right ankle.

René Marti He was the surgeon who operated on him at Ajax and it was the same surgeon who intervened this time. Now yes, his right ankle. In scans he found that he had cartilage damaged during his youth. Strikwerda's “I told you so” can still be heard. The rehabilitation was long and hard. It was not two and a half months like the previous season, but it was five months without dressing short. I was afraid of this at Ajax.

However, it was time to play the Eurocup from 1988. Surprisingly, it was the first national team tournament I had ever played. The coach was Rinus Michels, an absolute legend of the benches (‘Mr. Mármol’, author of the Holland of 74), but the block was that of the PSV of Guus Hiddink. It was their first experience on the bench, but PSV began to notice the money from Philips and they brought him everything he ordered. In 84 they signed Van breukelen (starting goalkeeper in the Eurocup); at 85 Gullit (forward, if he can be pigeonholed as such); in 86 a Koeman (defender) and Vanenburg (far right); and in 87 a Van Aerle (right side) and to Wim Kieft (substitute forward). Under Hiddink's command and before that Euro Cup they won three leagues, a cup and, above all, the European Cup. The starting eleven was completed by one of the Mechelen (Erwin Koeman), one of one Anderlecht (Van Tiggelen), three from Ajax (Mühren, Wouters and Rijkaard) and Van Basten.

In the first match, Michels bet on Van’t Schip on the wing and Bosman as a forward. He would not repeat the mistake that the defeat cost him against the USSR and brought in Erwin Koeman and Van Basten for the remainder of the tournament. The 9 himself, in that tournament with the 12, cleared all the doubts of the selection with three goals against England, the one of the victory before Germany in the semifinals and one of the best goals in history in the final.

They took revenge in the last game on those who had beaten them in the first, but in the semifinals of something more important. Germany awaited them, with the memory of the Nazi invasion already distant, but not so much that of the end of '74. Hamburg, a city just over two hundred kilometers from the Dutch border, there were more than ten thousand visiting fans. “It would have been better to have played the game in Germany,” he ironically Frank mill after the game. It was a very tough game, even, but very tough. In minute two there was already a German flying through the air and in minute ten it was Van Breukelen who, taking advantage of the immunity of the goalkeepers in the area, placed his knee at Frank Mill's stomach. Klinsmann, who gave a recital in midfield, forced a penalty on Rijkaard, Marco van Basten threw the team on his back and managed to turn the scoreboard. First by forcing a penalty and then teaching the world how to cross a shot. Even falling off, a perfect play. Four passes and a shot in 18 seconds. Thus, Cruyff's little brothers, Neeskens or Ruud krol they were able to reap the fruits of the generation of the seventies. It was they who won in the final, but not before having learned in front of the television how they should do it.

Had one A series already in his record, but very bitter. However, the Eurocup, of which he was the top scorer with five goals, was enough to win the Golden Ball. The first of them. The best times of rossonero.

To understand Van Basten's time at Milan, we must talk about Arrigo Sacchi. He took a fancy Berlusconi in the 1986-87 season, when he had to face his Parma (from Serie B) in the group stage of the Coppa Italy. Berlusconi warned him after leaving them second in the group: “I will follow you throughout the championship.” He did not have to wait long, since they met again in the second round and, as in the story, he fell Goliath. That summer of '87 the young coach (42 years old), the young Van Basten (23) and the not so young Gullit (25) arrived. Too Claudio Borghi (“It will undoubtedly be better than Maradona”, Silvio would say). In the last year of the limit of two foreigners, there were two Dutch and one Argentine on the squad, who never had a gap. After the European Championship the quota was increased to three, but by then they had already had their eye on Rijkaard.

With Van Basten fully recovered, Milan faced the 1988-89 as great favorites to revalidate the Scudetto. However, a losing streak between November and January (they won a game of seven) left them practically options for the title. Van Basten received the Ballon d'Or and the team was dropped from two of the three competitions. They had the European Cup left and they reached the semifinals not without suffering, passing on penalties against him Star Red and with a goal (the only one who saw the tie) by Van Basten against him Werder Bremen. In front of Real Madrid, the king of Europe. A true rival, a turning point.

For many Madrid fans, the name Marco van Basten is associated with one of Real Madrid's darkest times: the era of the Quinta del Vulture and his inability to win the Seventh European Cup. The goals of El Cisne de Utrecht (three in four games) were key to surpassing (and eliminating in passing) the whites in their fight to green the laurels of the maximum continental club competition. But Marco was a lot of Marco. It was the spearhead of a very solid team, like a rock. A granite wall that ended in the figure of a tall Dutch diamond, discovered by Leo Beenhakker and polished by Johan Cruyff, who finished off everything that approached him while being close to the rival goal. In that, he was quite similar to other great auctioneers of the time (second half of the 80s), such as the Mexican Hugo Sanchez, English Lineker or the Welshman Ian Rush.

Yes, it was Beenhakker himself, as a Feyenoord coach, who discovered him when he was just 12 years old. But he collided with the father figure. Papa Joop, former player of the TWO Utrecht, always wanted to have a soccer son. Stanley, the second scion of the Van Basten dynasty (named after Joop's recognition of Stanley Matthews), he tried all sports except soccer. So it had to be Marco. And it was. It would not be in Rotterdam, but in Amsterdam, in the ranks of Ajax, where their great idol Johan Cruyff shone. He himself was noticing the movements of Johan, his great idol: he took advantage of the space and calculated the time to be in the right place and at the right time to get the most out of it. It was Cruyff himself who gave him the alternative in April 1982. El Flaco had already realized what Ajax had in their ranks. And it was Johan himself who would be in charge of forging such a diamond. His physical and athletic conditions made him a perfect dominator of all facets of the auction: he masterfully handled anticipation, he was intelligent when making decisions (he could well position himself as a center forward, or he embedded himself between the centrals to stretch to his team, and even delayed at times to have a better composition of the play that was developed), had a good hit with both legs and had a remarkable head game (either to unload, well to finish).

And all that was suffered by Madrid in Europe … and on their own Bernabéu Trophy. If in 1988 it was PSV who robbed him of the possibility of contesting the final, a year later it was Milan who would separate him from the fight for La Orejona with a historic slap: after drawing in the Bernabeu (with a splendid Van Basten header), the rossoneri they inflicted a defeat ad aeternum for a resounding 5-0 that went down in the history of the top European competition. A defeat that already had its starting point in the match that celebrated the Tenth edition of the Santiago Bernabéu Trophy. That night (summer 1988), Sacchi's men thrashed the whites (0-3, goals from Donadoni, Mannari and Maldini) making it very clear who was going to govern in Europe in the following years based on two clear premises: order and pressure. He catenaccio he was going to pass away. A system that would end up blowing up a spectacular team: while Sacchi tried to explain the benefits of an organized and pressuring system (in terms of limiting, controlling and managing the space) in which all the players worked without fainting, and that was partly looking for the Rival error, Van Basten understood team football as a steamroller that sought the rival goal over and over again and where Marco appeared to finish the play (perhaps it was the offensive mentality and vocation that Cruyff printed on his teams). Orchestras in front of soloists. The duel of concepts was resolved by Berlusconi by firing the coach and staying with the player.

The following season (1989-90) the same thing would happen again: a 2-0 in Milan was going to be an uphill wall for the whites (they could only win by the minimum in the second leg), and that they would be grass again of the milanistas in another edition of the Bernabéu Trophy (lost to Sacchi's 1-3, with a garrafal own goal of Jaro). The black beast of the Madridistas wore red and black at the end of the eighties.

Beyond the cups Mr. WonderfulBelieve it is the first step. Before beating Madrid there was faith, not trust. Having been exhibited in such a way, the Steaua, who had won the European Cup three years earlier and now had a young HagiIt was not scary. He was no rival. Two doublets by Van Basten and Gullit were enough to win the title and for Marco to deserve his second Ballon d'Or (again with a podium rossonero: if in '88 Gullit and Rijkaard accompanied him, in '89 they were Rijkaard and Baresi). Ten goals in a European Cup that, at most, consisted of nine games and not thirteen as today, it was well worth it. In that edition he was also given the Super Ballon d'Or to Di Stefano.

Serie A was also an important achievement, but the Champions League is the best. At last Silvio Berlusconi could feel that the investment he had made was the right one. He could be seen on the lawn of the Camp Nou lifting the European Cup as one more player, although he did not wear shorts. He savored the peak again twelve months later, this time in Vienna. “After these two European Cups he, as they say in Italy, was in seventh heaven. He was a great motivator. He felt the club far beyond the investments he made, he felt part of that group and he felt the victories as his own. I would not say that he was another player on the field, but we always felt him on the field ”, says the former player Filippo Galli in Berlusconi's Milan.

Van Basten scored seven goals less in this second consecutive European Cup, but all three were key. They met again with Madrid, this time that of Toshack, and on the 9th he scored a goal and assisted Rijkaard to close a 2-0 in the first leg they defended at the Bernabéu. In the next round they faced Mechelen. With a draw after 180 minutes, Ancelotti injured and Donadoni sent off, Van Basten scored 1-0 in the 106 '. And in the semifinals with him Bayern his pulse did not tremble to score a penalty that, without him, the 1-0 of Munich would have meant elimination. In the final Rijkaard scored, but it was Marco who, with a first-touch pass, gave him a free pass to the goal of Silvino Louro.

But from the final with Benfica the downhill started. First, the world it was a disaster after failing to pass the round of 16 (and not winning a single match in the group stage, that is to say). He went to zero. And in November, before the Witches, he wanted to take justice into his own hands after a very ugly tackle from behind to Ancelotti and took advantage of a divided ball to put his elbow in the face of Pascal Plovie. That cost him several sanction games and, among them, the blackout in Marseilles (A quick summary is that the fans invaded the field early, there was a blackout and, when the referee wanted to resume the game, Milan refused to go out on the field) which meant the 3-0 elimination that season and the expulsion for the following season. At the end of the season, Sacchi left.

Sacchi and Van Basten did not hit it off. The Dutch striker had been led by Johan Cruyff, his idol since he was a child, and did not consider the coach of Fusignano like a high-level coach. Most of the time Marco paired up with his compatriot Ruud Gullit in training sessions, where they used to perform at his own pace. One day of technical talk, Van Basten exploded. He, as good ajaciedHe had a mentality based on an offensive bet installed, and he did not understand that Sacchi forced him to carry out defensive tasks as he was the spearhead of the team.

The coach, seeing that he could go further, proposed an exercise for the following training: ten offensive players would face Galli (the goalkeeper) and four defenders (Tassotti, Baresi, Costacurta and Maldini). Starting from the center of the field, the attackers had 15 minutes to try to score a goal from behind. But with one condition: if the attackers lost the ball or lost possession, they would start the next play 15 meters further into their field of play (between their area and the point in the center of the field. The attackers' team spent about two hours without being able to score a single goal… For Sacchi it was the demonstration that an orderly team had many more chances to win than a disorderly one, what he called a 'short team': short distance between lines to drown out the opponent's game. Ugly but convincing Useful but decisive Simple but dominating.

Van Basten recognized in Tuttosport in the autumn of 93 that he went to talk to Berlusconi to tell him that Sacchi or him. “It was not just a party for me, the whole team was happy that Sacchi was leaving. Only I was facing the coach, but many others agreed with me. Baresi, Tassotti, Gullit and Rijkaard. Eighty or ninety percent were from My own idea. Only Carlo Ancelotti was always on Sacchi's side. ” Some statements that surprised among his, still, colleagues.

With Capello he lived a second youth (he really was not yet 26 years old). Freed from Sacchi, Capello looked like the most modern coach in the world. He swelled again to goals (29 in 38 games), managing to be the Capocannoniere and returning to win Serie A (undefeated) four years later. Truly the first, only, and last that he thoroughly enjoyed.

In summer they arrived Savicevic and Papin, in addition to a very expensive Lentini, and added Boban, who was on loan the previous season at the Bari. A super squad that had to strive not to exceed the limit of foreigners in the lineups. Marco started as a shot: twelve goals in thirteen league games. In November he scored four on Gothenburg (first player in history to play poker in the European Cup) and as many to Naples to celebrate his three-year renewal. He was not European champion either at the club or national level (absolutely regrettable: not a goal in the four games and, moreover, he was the only one who missed a penalty in the semifinals against Denmark), but in December he won the Ballon d'Or. At the gala held in Lisbon arrived touched, had to retire from the field at halftime in front of the Ancona for pain in the ankle.

Up to ten pieces of bone could be removed from his ankle. In the words of his doctor, René Martí: “The ankle was mechanically obstructed.” It had been dragging him on since the 1987 surgery. Going into the operating room would only alleviate the symptoms, but it would not end the problem. I had no solution.

Again to the operating room and another five months without playing. All the players are eager to shorten the deadlines of any injury, but Van Basten had in mind the European Championship and the possibility of reaching the final of the first Champions League in history. He pushed hard, had to play undercover, and it went wrong. Since he returned, he played four games and scored only one goal. He was not him.

Capello, who respected greatness, ranked him as a starter in the final with Marseille (nightmares with Marseille again). It even lasted 86 minutes. Pero no era capaz de hacerse a ese ritmo de juego, demasiado nivel físico para su maltrecho tobillo. Su último partido profesional. Era su retirada y no se había dado cuenta.

Tuvo que pasar otra vez por el quirófano. El fútbol casi era el menor de los problemas, lo importante era salvar ese tobillo. Volver al deporte de élite era una utopía, tanto como intentar ir al Mundial de Estados Unidos, para el que la selección holandesa le ofreció un aplaza que le negó el club que todavía le pagaba la nómina. He Dr. Martens, nuevo cirujano en su carrera, le extrajo trozos de cartílago. Aquello fue el 9 de junio de 1993 y el 14 de junio de 1994 pasó otra vez por sus manos para que le aplicase unos soportes metálicos que asegurasen la creación de nuevo cartílago, un experimento que no funcionó como se esperaba.

El 18 de agosto de 1995, en la quinta edición el Trofeo Luigi Berlusconi, Marco van Basten se despedía de lo que había sido su afición desde hace ocho años. Era la primera vez que saltaba al césped de San Siro en vaqueros. Una imagen que hizo llorar a Fabio Capello.

“Después de tres años de dolor, quería llevar una vida normal. ¡Imagina sentir dolor cada minuto del día en alguna parte de tu cuerpo, y eso durante tres años! El dolor dominaba mi vida; pasaba de mi tobillo a todo mi cuerpo. Mientras existe la esperanza de poder recuperarse, uno acepta todo tipo de torturas. Pero después de tantos tratamientos y experimentos médicos me di cuenta de que me hallaba en un callejón sin salida”, dijo un año después de su retirada.

En marzo de 1996 decidió hacerse una operación para bloquear su tobillo. Le dejaría cojo, pero también sin dolor. “Me alegro de haber tomado la decisión, ya que finalmente estoy libre de dolor y acepto cada vez mejor mi minusvalía. El pasado verano incluso llegué a jugar mi primer partidito de fútbol de playa con amigos”.