FourFourTwo UK March 2023

The terms ‘Greatest of All Time’ and slightly more tedious ‘GOAT’ have been common in football lexicon for years. And like all things they get used out of context – there have been references to players being GOATs in League Two and games where it is the battle of the GOATs – by definition both are wrong. Anyway, when it comes to picking the best player of all time, younger fans will say the argument of late has been between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Those a bit older will say that neither are fit to lace either Diego Maradona or Pele’s boots, while others may plump for Ferenc Puskas or Zinedine Zidane as their number one. Many feel the debate is settled now that Messi has won a World…

“The inventors of football thought of it as a collective, attack-minded sport. Italians turned it into an individual, defence-minded one” You have just been made Milan manager, but there’s the biggest of elephants in the room. You’re only 41 years old, you’ve never managed in Serie A, and the highlight of your playing career was a handful of semi-professional appearances a little more than two decades ago. Before you stand Marco van Basten and Ballon d’Or favourite Ruud Gullit, who has just been made the most expensive footballer in history. The assembled journalists want to know: what can you possibly teach two of the world’s finest players – plus Franco Baresi, Paolo Maldini, Carlo Ancelotti and more besides – about football? You smile, and dryly state: “I never realised that…

1 PLAYING THEIR JOKER No pipe and slippers for Sergio Aguero in retirement – after gatecrashing the World Cup final, he made a bizarre return to the pitch in Barcelona. Labelled a clown for going full John Terry in Doha – heading on to the pitch in an Argentina shirt to join his country’s celebrations, a year after his last game for his country – he took the circus show even further in Gerard Pique’s new Kings League, walking out in a ‘Joker’ costume before revealing his true identity. After launching the Balloon World Cup, Pique’s latest mad venture is the indoor league. Games start with players racing from the goal-line to the ball in the centre circle, and each side gets one golden card per game, which can be…

“I PLAYED THE FULL 90 MINUTES AND FELT LIKE I BELONGED IN ONE OF THE BEST ATMOSPHERES I’VE BEEN INVOLVED IN” West Ham 5-4 Bradford February 12, 2000 Premier League “So much drama. I watched it again on Premier League Years a little while ago and the type of football we played was insane – a different sport compared to now. I scored my first league goal for the equaliser after we went 4-2 down – I jumped into the crowd in the place I used to sit. But you also had Paolo Di Canio asking to come off because the referee didn’t give him a penalty, then Paolo and Frank Lampard fighting over who’d take another penalty! The game was end to end – it summed up West Ham…

01 Against which country did Gareth Bale net his first goal at a major tournament, in Wales’ first group game of Euro 2016? 02 Harry Kane is the second Premier League player to score on their 100th, 200th and 300th outing in the competition, after which legend? 03 In which city would you find the Ullevi Stadium, venue for the 1983 Cup Winners’ Cup Final? 04 Aside from Beth Mead, who was the only other player to net six goals at Euro 2022, for Germany? 05 Which team did Julio Cesar, Rio Ferdinand, Jermaine Jenas and 05 Shaun Wright-Phillips all play for during their careers? 06 Seven of the current 92 Premier League and EFL clubs are based south of Canterbury in Kent. Can you name them? 07 Which forward holds the record…

THE TRIGGER Pairing a renowned red-card merchant with a man nicknamed ‘AK47’ seems risky when Fulham recruit Mitrovic from Newcastle in 2018, but it goes pretty well for 11 months. Mitro and Kamara help the Cottagers into the Premier League, where they win a late penalty in a home fixture with relegation rivals Huddersfield. Good news, yes? Er, no. THE FEUD Despite Mitrovic being the designated penalty taker, Kamara grabs the ball and refuses to let go, ignoring a flurry of finger pointing from his team-mate in a furious dispute. AK47 hits the spotkick at keeper Jonas Lossl. “I wanted to kill him,” boss Claudio Ranieri says afterwards. Mitro tells him to get in line. THE REVENGE Yoga is supposed to be calming, but not when Mitrovic and Kamara are…