Valdano tells me that it seems absurd to compare, that each one was the best at the time.
Not many of us were left to see Di Stéfano play, there are few films of him and the ones that do exist do not do him justice.
He didn't have the virtuosity of Pelé, although he did do some prodigies in case of need.
Of the main one, a goal with a flat heel to catch the ball that was passing behind him, to Belgium, there is no filming.
Luis Suárez played that game and with his help a computer-animated reconstruction was made that is worth seeking out.
But his forte was that he put together the whole team.
To explain it, you have to connect Casemiro, Zidane and Ronaldo Nazario: he took away with science and ardor, he led the game like Zidane, he finished like Ronaldo.
He was privileged in speed, resistance and character.
He was everywhere and scored as many goals as can be expected from the best
9
.
L'Omnipresent,
he christened it
L'Équipe
.
He destroyed the rigidity of the WM, he changed football.
There is little to say about Pelé after these days.
Virtuoso with both feet and with his head, tremendous in the start and in the jump, with exit from any side in the dribbles, insatiable scorer.
A beautiful video circulates that explains how all the wonders seen later had already been invented by him.
Another shows how he was beaten and it is frightening.
He and Di Stéfano played before the cards, which did not appear until Mexico 70 and on fields that were not the billiard mats we see now.
He did not play in Europe, it is said.
Or if.
He played here many
friendlies
dog face because everyone wanted to beat Santos.
He toured at the rate of four games a week, he faced the best of European football.
And at that time the South American clubs were not inferior to ours, just look at the distribution of Intercontinental titles.
From the heart of Europe,
L'Équipe
, the sports bible, proclaimed him
Athlete of the Century
.
Cruyff is fully grasping the era of global information.
Ambidextrous like the previous two, he played with more ease than any, he was graceful as a swan.
He starred in a revolution at the head of his Ajax and his Netherlands of thin, long-haired players.
But he did not put as much passion as the others, he seemed to get bored at the age of 27 (the age at which Di Stéfano arrived at Madrid), when the best of him could be expected.
In return, he completed his contribution to soccer as a revolutionary coach.
His legacy was greater in this second facet.
Maradona, like Pelé, was born from a breath of God.
His left leg was perfection, his twists and turns were uncontrollable, he had permanent location on teammates and rivals.
Unlike the other four, he barely trained.
His natural condition, his ingenuity and his enthusiasm for soccer allowed him to do everything he did without working a decent minimum.
Training, what is said to train seriously, was something that he only did during a month of his career, for the World Cup in Mexico, and we already saw what consequences.
If he had always worked fairly well, perhaps he would have won 90% of the games he played.
Messi brought things from Maradona from his cradle, among others his condition as a closed and exalted left-hander.
He polished them in the best academy, the Masia that raised Xavi and Iniesta.
He surfed that wave like a diamond from an incomparable team.
His dribbling never had an antidote, his vision, ingenuity, long pass and shot (including the free kick) increased as his career progressed.
Downcast Xavi and Iniesta sulked, became annoying and dazzled on several European nights walking around with their heads down, ignorant of everything, delivered.
Neither Di Stéfano nor Pelé nor Maradona had ever done that.
But this World Cup has been lavish and redeeming, driving the champion team at a walking pace.
Central protagonist, like the Pelé of 1970.
1926, 1940, 1947, 1960, and 1987 were his birth years.
It would seem that somewhere someone has taken care that football always had the light on.
So much time involved in this has led me to the conclusion that it seems to everyone that the best was the first one they saw with their adolescent eyes and their sense of wonder intact.
Let us respect each other that right.
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