Along with Maradona, Platini, Cruyff, Pelé, Eusébio and a handful of others, he is part of the pantheon of football.
The German Franz Beckenbauer lost this Thursday evening, with the death of Pelé, more than a football idol, but a true companion in the legend of the king sport.
“Football lost the greatest in its history today – and I lost a unique friend, Beckenbauer paid tribute to him on Twitter.
Football will be yours forever.
Rest in peace.
Beckenbauer was not only the contemporary - and a formidable adversary - of Pelé.
He was also his teammate, during a season at the New York Cosmos, in 1977.
Lifelong adversaries, one-year teammates
In an interview for FourFourTwo in 2017, Pelé said of Beckenbauer that he was, along with England's Bobby Charlton, the toughest defender he had ever faced.
“You see, no matter who I was playing against, I had the best defender that marked me, but the best were Bobby Moore and Franz Beckenbauer.
Beckenbauer was fantastic - very smart, very hard to beat.
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The tribute to Franz Beckenbauer mingles with many others who fell, unanimously, in the evening to pay tribute to King Pelé, who died this Thursday at the age of 82 following colon cancer.