Who was the first footballer you admired?

xD

Well mine was Figo.... shame where he is now ...

Hmm... Cantona!?? I can't really tell for sure...

Paolo Maldini!!!
All the Way!!

Marco Van Basten

Probably the Laudrup brothers because I was living in Denmark at the time (early 80s) and it was my first real exposure to football.

I'd say MVB.

Maldini for sureee.

Franco Baresi

well.. my favs are the great milan players.. maldini nesta pirlo kaka.

but dennis bergkamp is someone i always liked. he plays very cleanly. rarely gets angry. GREAT forward

Bebeto

Maldini and Baresi
WC 90 in Italy then I knew Milan

Well...of course there are

Jürgen Klinsmann


Thomas "Icke" Häßler

But the first player I honestly admired was Mario Basler

Definitely Van Basten for me.

1994 US men's national soccer team

those guys made soccer famous in this country for the first time since the New York Cosmos. the MLS was formed after the World Cup and these guys are largely responsible for its success.

more specifically from that team...Coby Jones...as a kid I wanted nothing more than to be just like him

Gabriel Batistuta.

Michael Owen and then Ballack then Kaka !!!

Oliver Bierhoff

I don't know if this sounds wierd to you guys, since he was not exactly a star forward or anything,

But Albertini. Demetrio Albertini was the person who first made me take interest in football. After that I discovered a religion called Paoloism.

I went straight into it

What? I'm a big Paoloist as well....maybe we should establish "The first church of Paolo".

Possibly Andy Cole when he was at Manchester United, yes I know, my dad and many close relatives support them.

Just as well I learnt how to turn on the TV onto Channel 4 on Saturday mornings (the English representatives on this forum will understand!)

Paaaolo, Paaaolo, Paaaolo

me maldini, kaka, gattuso,gila and ambrosini !!!!

Sure, with dst as Pope?? He'd make a holy trinity of Nelson, Paolo and Alves.

Nesta is our god's son!!

Nelson and Alves are only saints.

The third one to complete the trinity is Baresi...

ps I don't like Alves that much. I mean... I regard him as the best RB in the world for the moment but that's just about it...

noooooo nesta is not the son but the archangel!!!

Thomas Brolin when he played for Sweden back in 1994.

Alessandro Del Piero got me into football and Serie A, but then Shevchenko came, stole my heart and i became a Milan fan

Dennis Bergkamp was another of my very early heroes those were the two footballers i greatly and still do admire

Bergkamp was a great player, but a 'clean' player he was not.
One of the dirtyest players in the game. All the cheaky elbows, stamps, two footed tackles, ect; he made were shocking.


Back to the threads topic:
Maldini.
Simple as.

You talking about Dennis Bergkamp the Dutch player!?? The one that played for Inter and Arsenal!??


_____what??_____

Yes, Bergkamp was definitely no saint on the pitch.

Nobody's saint but... "One of the dirtyest players in the game"????????

That's just crazy...

"One of the dirtiest players in the game"... that garbage.
Bergkamp played hard, but mostly fair, and tell me about ONE player who has never got a yellow card (except Gary Lineker.)

Plus his goal against Argentina in 98' and Newcastle in 02' are genuine masterpieces, the one against Newcastle is arguably the most beatiful goal throughout history.

If you haven't seen it, go to youtube.

If you haven't seen it... How was your trip to Mars!??

Im not saying Bergkamp wasnt a good player. Far from it. He was amazing at times.
But he was extremely dirty and had a rep over here for being so.
Alot of the time he'd have moments of magic, followed by moments of malice.

Jari Litmanen.


After that R99 and then i discovered Paolo.

Id u discovered Paolo after R99, then u most likely missed out on Paolo

Check him out when he was younger (mid 20s) ... Something else, nothing passes him .. No Zidane, no Maradonna ... #1 defender in the world

The one and only:

right now he's at Red Bull Salzburg the co-coach lol
They are Nr.1 azt the table
He's under Trapattoni...

btw,....
watch this

No one kill me for this!!!!!!!!!!

I am Eastern European but live in London AND DON'T SUPPORT CHELSKI!!!!!!! Abramovich is a CHEATING LYING MAFIOSO WHO BRIBES PEOPLE!!!

Andriy Shevchenko

Good choice

Boo!

+1

Dean Saunders. Was our top goal scorer for a few season when I was a youngster.

Ali Daei
Age: 38
Nationality: Iran
Caps: 149
Goals: 109



He was the main reason why i started liking soccer so much and Paolo maldini and Andriy Shevchenko were the reasons why i love milan to this day. I didn't get to see MVB or any other legends play but seeing paolo is good enough for me.

^^^^
I know this guy. He's like the Paolo Maldini of the Iranian NT right?

yeah he is the all-time top scorer in internationals level: 100 and something!

He wasn't too cool at the WC. But then he's 38 isn't he.

yes he's past his prime.

Ali Daei at his prime, I mean we talk about Zidane, but compared to the footballing level of Asia, he was top of the line. The Iranian national team earned it's respect in Asia, because of him; he has been a first team choice from the early 90's till this years WC

But now, he isn't as good (obviously) .. Bayern have, his supposed successor in Ali Karimi, or did he leave them this season In any case, he is good too