Marco van Basten, one of football's greatest volley-scorers and owner of one of football's coolest Dutch names. A striker who has never been offseason and has only played 281 games in his career. He has played for two clubs, only for Ajax and AC Milan, and is slender at 6'2".
Despite his height, he exhibited the elegance of Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze when making pottery. Known as the "Swan of Utrecht", his playing style is reminiscent of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, and his first touch of the ball certainly inspired much of the ballet's performances.
Van Basten is undoubtedly one of my favorite 90s strikers, and he paved the way for similar attackers in many ways. Names like Bergkamp and Robin van Persie come to mind, with the former heavily influenced by the striker as Bergkamp broke into the Ajax squad in Van Basten's final season at Ajax.
Van Basten's illustrious career came to an abrupt end in his prime, when the Dutch Flyers retired at the age of 28, but he won three Ballon d'Or awards.
Born on October 31, 1964 in Utrecht, the Netherlands, Marco van Basten began his involvement in football at the age of 6 and signed with a local team in the Utrecht region.
A year later, he was discovered by the Utrel detachment, where he spent the rest of his formative years.
Although he was born and raised in Utreve, he began his career at Ajax. Signed at the age of 16, he was labelled early on as destined for great things. This proved later in the same season, when at the age of 17 he was replaced by Johan Cruyff and scored his debut goal, making his presence known to the whole of the Netherlands.
The whole country took note and just a year later, he made his debut for the Dutch national team, a team that boasts young talent such as Ruud Gullit, Ronaldo Coman and Frank Rijkaard.
Just two seasons after his debut, the 20-year-old cemented his position as Ajax's main striker, finishing as the top scorer for four consecutive seasons from 1983-84 to 1986-87.
Following this extraordinary performance, the 'Utrecht Swans' flew to Milan, known for their elegant culture, in the hope of being able to replicate his performance in the competitive Serie A, but many have failed to do so.
Fittingly, Van Basten's entry into Serie A is like a swan drinking water. In more competitive waters, his superior technique, superb touch, and cool finish remain the best in the world. His graceful ball handling and ability to score from any angle or position made him one of the most lethal strikers of his era. Even if the ankle is badly injured and requires surgery.
In 1987, he was promoted to the league that all the great players of the time wanted to join. Due to an injury in March 1986, Van Basten did not perform well in his first season in Serie A. However, by 1988, he was on fire, and his first year was just an opportunity to integrate into Italian football.
That volley against the USSR at Euro 1988 was no longer the best example, and the whole world stood up to pay attention to such a particular striker, who finally won his first Ballon d'Or in 1988. In 1989, he won his second title. Incredibly, there's still room for him to grow.
By 1992, Van Basten had reached his peak ......
The 27-year-old Van Basten has been on fire in the new year, easily beating last season's paltry 11 league goals, with nine before January. This is already a nice return and a sign for the player after a difficult season.
Almost no one, not even the "swan" himself, realized that as soon as the New Year arrived, something changed in Van Basten's heart. He's a different beast, as if he knows his career will soon be over.
The rest of the season will be the stage for Van Basten's insatiable greed. In the first few months of the season, he didn't score more than one goal in a game, but by the time the season reached 92, he scored three hat-tricks in two months to change the score to four. 1 win over Calgiri and 3-1 wins over Foggia and Atalanta.
Milan were unbeaten throughout the 91-92 season and won the league title thanks to Van Basten's 25 league goals. However, at the 1992 European Championships, Van Basten looked different than usual. He failed to score in any of the Dutch semi-finals and even missed the only penalty kick in the shoot-out against Denmark, which ended up being beaten by the eventual winners.
But those who had begun to have doubts about the striker were suddenly proven wrong, and as the 1992-93 season began, Van Basten seemed to be as good as ever. He scored a hat-trick in the second game, a thrilling 5-4 against Pescara, before netting twice in the next three matches, including two braces in 7-3 and 5-3 victories over Fiorentina and Lazio.
Even though the start of the season may sound like a FIFA game, Milan are really good at scoring goals and playing exciting expansive football, which occasionally leads to Milan sending some goals themselves.
However, Van Basten added four more goals to his tally before the end of the season, all of which came against Napoli, this time in a 5-1 victory over Napoli. Despite missing a few games from time to time, he scored 28 league goals during the year and eventually became a three-time league champion on par with Platini.
His performances at club were simply too good to compete with him. Diego Maradona once called him "the best player he has ever seen alongside Romario in Brazil". Van Basten won by 18 points during the voting process, beating future champion Hristo Stoichkov and Dutch teammate Dennis Bergkamp, who rounded out the top three, with Van Basten leading the way in football.
The ankle injury he dealt with a few years ago slowly became more and more severe, and Van Basten struggled in discomfort for a while until the pain finally became too severe. He underwent another ankle surgery and was supposed to keep him out for three or four weeks. It's a nightmare for strikers who are hungry to play, but it's still necessary.
Those three weeks or so became five months ......
After returning to the league in 1993, he was understandably a little behind, but he still scored a goal in a 3-1 win over a struggling Ancona side in the league.
However, there is something to be thankful for, with Van Basten returning for the Champions League final against Marseille. He even missed the league before the final because of a recurrence of ankle pain, but he managed to get on the pitch anyway.
He lasted a full 85 minutes, but in fact, although I would love to portray his last game as a brave and heroic performance, he was far below his ability, which was certainly brave, but Milan had a terrible performance. Van Basten played 50 per cent of his strength, and for the sake of victory, in hindsight, Capello certainly played smarter as a substitute.
In the end, Van Basten could no longer **. Someone tried to take a last resort to save his career, but they didn't.
The 28-year-old Van Basten retired despite winning the Ballon d'Or six months ago. Van Basten would not blame the tackle that injured him in '86, nor the numerous fouls, kicks and scratches he suffered as a skilled player. He would have placed the blame on countless surgeries.
In football, it's all about getting better as quickly as possible and doing everything you can to get up to speed. For Van Basten, that will only reduce his chances of being fully **.
The abrupt end was a long one for Van Basten, whose elegant style of play, coupled with his tenacity and composure, will always be remembered. The 28-year-old has a lot to do if he doesn't get injured and having won 4 Ballon d'Or in just 3 years, he has every chance of competing with Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi in a Ballon d'Or victory.