i cant take seriously Bearzot saying Vialli was the best in the world. Cmon...and Michels saying that Maradona was not even top 3, with not only Gullit but also Sanchez and Madjer ahead of him? They explain their opinions in the newspaper vegan?
From a pure talent perspective, and the weight that he carried based on reputation, he was generally viewed as the premier player in the game until at least 1990. But by the end of 1988, with the Euro fresh in memory, Van Basten, originally not mentioned at this stage of February 1988, would be heralded best player in the world in front of Maradona, according to IFFHS poll: https://iffhs.de/history-iffhs-awards-1988/
He was mentioned by a few coaches... And of course the low activity hampers his ranking. Cruijff ranked him 6th, Michels 5th. In the same way: only Beckenbauer gives a mention to Lothar Matthaus somehow. The others ignore him.
Basically Bearzot understands there’s a difference between the two but clarified that Vialli is currently going through a great patch as a younger lad with a promising future. At that juncture he liked Vialli more and praised his talents. Vialli, at the time was Italy’s ‘poster boy’ and lots of hype surrounded his name. There’s no reasoning behind Michels choices, apparently.
Well i now understand Bearzot point of view, but i cant Believe that in 1988 Someone could rank a near prime Maradona out of the top 3 in the world with Madjer ahead of him. And this with Napoli looking for a 2nd straight scudetto and Diego top scorer in serie A!
Things like that happen, Mazzola has Gullit at number 6 when the AC Milan player was viewed as Europe’s top player at the time Some like to be contrarians, which isn’t always a bad thing.
Meanwhile Italian readers of GS casted their final votes, which took months to choose between the two best players in the world : Maradona-Gullit Slight win to Maradona thanks to a large camaraderie of Southern Italian voters. March 1988
GS (March 1988) As with the people’s vote, now Italian journalists across all Italy and some international players casted their votes to choose the best player in the world: Maradona vs Gullit The edge belonged to Maradona. Traditionally, Gazzetta dello Sport and GS were the most reputable sources, followed by some others like Corriere and Tuttosport, according to polls around Italy in the 1980s.
They didn’t bother to break down the final results of each newspaper source. I’ve gathered the information myself, and these are the final results (only journalists): Corriere dello Sport Gullit 81,5 points Maradona 85 Gazzetta dello Sport Gullit 83 points Maradona 93 Tuttosport Gullit 84,5 points Maradona 90 Supergol Gullit 10 points Maradona 10 L’Arena Gullit 9 points Maradona 9,5 Ansa Gullit 18 points Maradona 18 Avvenire Gullit 7 Maradona 8 Corriere della Sera Gullit 43 points Maradona 46,5 La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno Gullit 8 points Maradona 9 IL Gazzettino Gullit 16 points Maradona 18 IL Giornale Nuovo Gullit 25 points Maradona 27,5 IL Giorno Gullit 23 points Maradona 24 IL Lavoro Gullit 8,5 points Maradona 9 IL Mattino di Napoli Gullit 23,5 points Maradona 27 IL Messaggero Gullit 23,5 points Maradona 26 La Nazione Gullit 16 points Maradona 17,5 La Notte Gullit 22,5 points Maradona 28 La Repubblica Gullit 17 points Maradona 17 IL Resto del Carlino Gullit 17,5 points Maradona 19 Secolo XIX Gullit 16 points Maradona 17 La Sicilia Gullit 8 points Maradona 8 La Stampa Gullit 26 points Maradona 26,5 Stampa Sera Gullit 8 points Maradona 10 IL Tempo Gullit 25 points Maradona 26,5 IL Tirreno (Gullit win) Gullit 9 points Maradona 8 I’Unita Gullit 18 points Maradona 19 GR 1 Gullit 15 points Maradona 17,5 GR 2 Gullit 17 points Maradona 19 TG 1 Gullit 43,5 points Maradona 45 TG 2 Gullit 32 points Maradona 34 TG 3 Gullit 24,5 points Maradona 28,5 Odeon TV Gullit 9 points Maradona 9 Capodistria Gullit 24,5 points Maradona 26 TeleMontecarlo Gullit 18 points Maradona 19 Guerin Sportivo Gullit 89,5 points Maradona 97,5
Do you also have (or will you show) the Gazzetta dello Sport version of this? Interesting call by the progressive Nils Liedholm. He must have recognized a like minded person.
Great posts in this thread, kudos! I think we must admit that we all have limited knowledge about things from 30-40 years ago. I did watch Serie A matches back then and even saw Diego live once (against Spezia in Coppitalia 1988), so I may not be the most superficial observer after all. One thing must be understood about Italian "pagelle": they are never altogether neutral. Gazzetta dello Sport is/was sometimes anti-south-of-Umbria, Tuttosport is very much pro-Juve, Corriere dello Sport-Stadio quite filo-Roman. La Repubblica is not as "territorial" as La Stampa (Turin) or Corriere della Sera (Milan) and they did have Gianni Mura, a friend of Diego's, in their crew. As for the season 1986/87, I included the UEFA Cup matches vs Toulouse as well. Napoli crushed out and Diego was heavily criticized and even said in an interview a few days later: "I'm a man in crisis from head to toe". I've allowed myself to include the ratings published here on my website. If you check this link you'll see ratings from his Barcelona and Boca days as well: https://football-ratings.blogspot.com/search/label/MARADONA Keep up good work! Cheers
Your are welcome, mate! Which one was that one ? Is there a particular date ? I checked the January 1988 month and didn’t find one. That’s why I ask if there’s an exact date ? Or perhaps it was a running poll that had not been finished yet or mentioned by the passing utilizing another source ?
Meanwhile, around March 1988, it has been 80 years since Inter Milano was established. Just like the Juventus and Napoli ideal teams before that were mentioned, now important figures were asked to choose their ideal all-time squad. The voters: The ideal squad of all-time of Inter Milan:
Photos of previous rounds of the famous players: Maradona, Voller, Rush, Passarella, Gullit, Briegel, Junior
I noticed an error here, in regards to Maradona. He makes the top 10 in round 22 but his overall standing of 8 top 10 finishes remained the same as in round 19. In reality it should be 9 but it seems an error was made. I will see if it’s corrected in later rounds, because if not it can be a decisive game-changer by the end of the season to see who ends at the top. At this point he would have the lead with 9 top 10 finishes after 22 rounds over his contemporaries; Gullit is right behind.