All Things Footie | Friday, March 12 | Jordan
Drawn together
Well, if Arsenal are going to win the Champions League, it’s not going to be done the easy way. After meeting them three times already this season, the Gunners must first see off Chelsea; then (most likely) Real Madrid, and finally the most difficult of all, AC Milan. Sure the Galacticos are a collection of wonderful players, but they concede goals, and Arsenal score them. AC Milan arguably have the best defence in Europe, and they score goals too. Of all of Europes strikers, Andri Shevchenko and Raul are perhaps the ones I admire most (with the exception of St. Thierry), and of all the World’s players, Zinedine Zidane and Paolo Maldini are up there with anyone in my eyes. This is what football’s all about, seeing your team take on the very best, test themselves against the real masters of Europe. Arsenal have been building up to these games for six years, Real Madrid, AC Milan, knockout matches. I’m excited at the prospect, but the first task is to beat Chelsea, something Arsenal should do without too much trouble—an early goal from Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink in the first leg should be enough the rile the Gunners into action. 2-1 to Arsenal at Stamford Bridge, 1-0 at Highbury.
To celebrate FIFA’s centenery year, Pelé has picked his 100 greatest living players (why they didn’t ask Maradona for his I don’t know); and with no disrespect meant to the likes of South Korea’s Hong Myung Bo, Ghana's Abedi Pele and Senegal’s El Hadji Diouf, it’s a load of cack. Every man loves making lists, and picking all time XIs has to be even better than ‘top ten war films’ or ‘top ten albums of the 90s’. Selecting from living players only, here’s my effots:
| Yashin | ||||||
| B’bauer | Adams (C) | Baresi | ||||
| Platini | Zico | |||||
| Best | Van Basten | Cruyff | ||||
| Pele | Maradona | |||||
Feel free to leave your own XIs in the comments below.