Marco van Basten

Marco van Basten was a tall Dutch centre-forward with a playmaker's touch, and his career is remembered as much for how it ended as for what he won. He collected the Ballon d'Or in 1988, 1989 and 1992, yet he played his last match at 28 and retired at 30 after more than two years of failed treatment on his ankle. Ajax signed him at 16, and on his debut in April 1982 he came on for Johan Cruyff and scored. He topped the Eredivisie scoring charts four seasons running, won the European Golden Boot in 1985–86 and struck the winner in the 1987 Cup Winners' Cup final. Milan signed him in 1987 alongside Ruud Gullit. The ankle wrecked most of his first season, but after that he was the spearhead of Sacchi's and then Capello's Milan: two goals in the 1989 European Cup final against Steaua București, the assist for Frank Rijkaard's winner against Benfica a year later, and two Serie A scoring titles. In November 1992 he scored four in one Champions League game against IFK Göteborg, a first for the competition, including a bicycle kick. For the Netherlands, Euro 1988 was his tournament. He scored a hat-trick against England and the semi-final winner against West Germany, then in the final against the Soviet Union hit a volley from an acute angle that is still rated among the finest goals ever, after setting up Gullit's opener. The record has gaps, though. He never scored at a World Cup finals, and at Euro 1992 Peter Schmeichel saved his kick in the semi-final shoot-out against Denmark. What made him so hard to handle was the mix. He was strong enough to hold the ball up with his back to goal, yet his close control, balance and elegance seemed to belong to a smaller man, and his vision let him drop deeper as a second striker and create for others. Tony Adams called him "the quickest 6 ft 3 in centre-forward I've ever seen". Giuseppe Bergomi rated him the strongest opponent he ever faced, because at least Maradona could be beaten in the air. Pietro Vierchowod praised him as "good with either foot", and Arrigo Sacchi insisted no striker ever worked harder for his teammates. He was no delicate victim either: former referee Daniele Tombolini remembered a physical forward who used his strength and fouled often. The ankle decided everything. In the 1993 Champions League final against Marseille, a tackle from behind by Basile Boli forced a third operation, and that defeat was his last game for Milan. He gave up in August 1995, and at his farewell before a San Siro crowd Fabio Capello broke down in tears. In 1998 FIFA banned the tackle from behind outright, a rule the media came to call the "Van Basten law".