JERZY DUDEK WILL FOREVER BE A LEGEND ON MERSEYSIDE. His heroics in Istanbul have gone down in footballing folklore, and that crazy night is rightly remembered as the zenith of his long…
Tag: real madrid
THE RECENT NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN Flamengo, Real Madrid, 16-year-old whizzkid Vinícius Júnior and his agency Traffic were lengthy, eventually concluded by a €45 million sale that will see the Brazil under-17 star officially…
Illustration by Federico Manasse The headlines the morning after seemed hyperbolic, but those that witnessed it knew there was no exaggeration. “What a bully!” read Marca’s front page. “Sensational”, effused Mundo Deportivo.…
ON THE HILLY COUNTRYSIDE of Serra Riccò, deep inside the bowels of a parish church, Don Stefano Vassallo cracked a wry smile. After days of painstaking research, scrolling through copious archived documents,…
Both overrated and underrated, Claude Makélélé’s public perception changes with each passing year. Perhaps it’s the idea that we’ve already seen his upgrade in the form of the high-speed blur that is…
Illustration by Federico Manasse Steve McManaman: England’s greatest ever footballer? Not the obvious choice, I freely concede, but hear me out before you reach for the pitchforks and flaming torches. I believe…
Illustration by Federico Manasse When Gareth Bale struck the ball from 30 yards towards England goalkeeper Joe Hart, there was a pause of tentative expectation from the watching Wales fans. It felt…
Illustration by Federico Manasse The Maradona of the Carpathians, Gheorghe Hagi is a complex character. There is a dividing line between the hero of the masses he undoubtedly was in Romania, and…
Illustration by Federico Manasse Very few players have united a whole country quite like Hugo Sánchez, but then there have been few players like the Real Madrid legend. When Mexico’s hottest property…
Illustration by Federico Manasse “Zidane is a myth,” said former France coach Raymond Domenech. “A myth capable of setting off emotions in people, and not only positive ones.” Domenech’s assessment of a player…
Illustration by Federico Manasse Peter Schmeichel frantically back-peddled as Aljoša Asanović sent a wonderfully precise diagonal pass from his own half, a pass which Davor Šuker, situated on the far left, took…
Illustration by Federico Manasse The parameters for defining greatness are increasingly measured quantitatively. Players are judged by trophies won, goals scored and appearances amassed. But can such a mutable construct solely be…
Illustration by Federico Manasse Few sportsmen have been the subject of as many words or column inches as Cristiano Ronaldo, a footballer whose achievements are so vast, varied and staggering it is…
NOTICEABLY QUIET AND EMOTIONALLY DETACHED, when young Casemiro finally opened up about what had been tormenting him since he was a boy, he told his mother Magda one day while playing of…
That Real Madrid Castilla were in Europe at all was a minor miracle, but it was made all the more spectacular with two infamous ties against West Ham
There was a time when Francisco Pavón was considered a future leader at Real Madrid – sadly, Florentino Pérez’s Galacticos policy put an end to that
IF FOOTBALL IS A GAME of thrills and spills can someone pass Pedro León the mop bucket? For throughout his remarkable and, as yet, unfulfilled career, there have been plenty more of…
Illustration by Charis Tsevis. View more of his work here The collective radar of world football is an enigmatic mechanism at the best of times. Sometimes it unearths tantalising treasures made to entrance…