Staggering genius

Marco van Basten died to save football. Not literally, and certainly not voluntarily, but his premature retirement was the catalyst for law changes that promoted skill and ended the legitimised thuggery of the 1970s and 1980s. The balance between skill and strength has probably gone too far the other way, but at least the world’s best players no longer have their ankles kicked to smithereens. There’s a reason the last five Ballon d’Or winners have all been in their thirties.

Van Basten played his last professional game at the age of 28, for Milan against Marseille in the Champions League final of 1993. “Marco was the greatest striker I ever coached,” said Fabio Capello, the former Milan coach who broke down in tears when the San Siro paid its respects to Van Basten. “His early retirement was a mortal misfortune for him, for football, and for Milan.” If Capello is crying, you know it’s serious.

Even after retiring at 28, Van Basten left a spectacular legacy. He won the Ballon d’Or three times; he was part of Arrigo Sacchi’s revolutionary Milan team that won back-to-back European Cups; he was also the star when Capello’s Milan went unbeaten throughout the 1991-92 Serie A season. But there is one moment that is shorthand for his greatness: the astonishing volley against the USSR in the final of Euro 88.

Many Dutch sportsmen are obsessed with achieving perfection. They aim for something that cannot be explained and might not even exist; they’re almost striving for Godot. Van Basten came as close as anyone ever will.

The notion of the Total Footballer is romantic nonsense – try putting Johan Cruyff at left-back against Jurgen Grabowski – but Van Basten was a Total Striker. If boffins created the ultimate 20th-century centre-forward, he is what they would have come up with. The things Van Basten couldn’t do weren’t worth doing. He was tall, fast, technically immaculate and with an intimidating elegance that suggested to defenders he was not of this earth. It’s rare to see players of his height with that much grace, and he was nicknamed “the Swan of Utrecht”.

Everything he did was smooth and knowing. His pulse rate stayed the same when he entered the penalty area, and his awareness was such that he seemed to have a bird’s eye view of the pitch. He could finish with either foot or his head and score every type of goal, from tap-ins to delicious long-range chips.

In 1983-84, at the age of 19, he hit 28 goals in 26 games for Ajax and was the Eredivisie’s top scorer. He repeated the feat in each of the next three seasons, at which point a move abroad became inevitable. Serie A was becoming as strong as any domestic league has ever been, and so he went to Milan to join his fellow Dutchmen Ruud Gullit. Frank Rijkaard would also move to the San Siro after Euro 88 to complete one of modern football’s most iconic sides.