Which 11 non-Italian players would you select for an All-Time Serie A XI? I leave it up to you how you treat Oriundi players.
Gosh, I'm not a big fan of making lists of all star teams, but I'll throw out a few names from the past just to get things started - John Charles, Michel Platini, Gabriel Batistuta. Or you could just take the early-90s Milan teams - Van Basten, Gullit, Rijkaard, Desailly, Savicevic, Boban. They might not ALL make the all-time list, but it'd be a good place to start.
This is just since I've been watching. --------------------Dida Cafu------Thuram---------Aldair------J. Zanetti ------------------Rijkaard ----Gullit-------------------------Nedved -------Sheva----Batigol---Van Basten
Just for fun. ----------Dida---------------- Cafu---Rikjaard-----Aldair----Brehme ---------Desailly-----Matteus----- ------Platini--------Maradona----- --------Nordahl-----V.Basten------
I won't even try to make an all-time XI but i'l give from what i have seen of Serie A! Only really got coverage from 1998/1999 season! GK- Edwin Van Der Sar (Netherlands) DF- Lilian Thuram (France) DF- Javier Zanetti (Argentina) DF- Marcos Cafu (Brazil) MD- Edgar Davids (Netherlands) MD- Didier Deschamps (France) MD- Zinedine Zidane (France) MD- Pavel Nedved (Czech Republic) FW- Gabriel Batistuta (Argentina) FW- Andriy Shevchenko (Ukraine) FW- George Weah (Liberia) Notable Mentions:- Manuel Rui Costa (Portugal) Hernan Crespo (Argentina) Zvonimir Boban (Croatia) Leonardo (Brazil) Oliver Bierhoff (Germany) Youri Djorkaeff (France) Marcelo Salas (Chile) Ivan Zamorano (Chile) Notable Flops:- Thierry Henry (France) Gaizka Mendieta (Spain) Rivaldo (Brazil) Robbie Keane (Republic Of Ireland) Players Who May Soon Be Worthy:- Adriano (Brazil) Kaka (Brazil) Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden)
------------------Dida ----------------Liedholm --------Desailly----------Passarella ----------------Rijkaard Hamrin-----Suarez------Maradonna---Schiaffino -----------Nordahl------Van Basten Quite tricky this. Dida wins the keepers job pretty much by default - there are very few foreign keepers I can think of who were successful in Italy (probably due to Italy's ability to always produce quality stoppers). I've excluded the likes of Monti, Sivori and Orsi as they later played for Italy - if they were to be included then Orsi would replace Schiaffino (who I'm playing slightly out of position, but I'm sure he would cope). Hounourable mentions to John Charles, Michel Platini, Gunnar Gren, Lothar Matthaus and Ruud Gullit (nice bench though). Biggest flop has to be Ian Rush.
I'll take Dida for the time being until I think of someone better. ---------Dida Cafu Charles Desailly Krol Platini Rijkaard Shiaffino ------Maradona --Nordahl Van Basten I think people are being pretty harsh on both Rush and Keane. Neither were anywhere near as bad as is often made out.
Keane I agree with - he never got a good chance. Rush on the other hand scored 7 in 29 games for Juventus. Not bad, but consider that over the previous 6 years for Liverpool his record was 139 in 217 games. He also came completely unprepared for life in Italy - his famous quote "It was like living in a foreign country".
I agree with you but consider this. In his first season in Italy, Van Basten scored 3 goals in 11 games, Rush 7 in 29. I agree that he was certainly no success, but I think most players take time to adapt to foreign life. Rushy is clearly not the world's most comsmopolitan figure and couldn't settle.
This one is for the 80s & 90s only: ----------van Basten--------Shevchenko -------Maradona----Platini------Gullit ------------------Matthäus -----Brehme----Thuram---Rijkaard---Cafu ----------------------Dida
Rush was not suited for the game in Italy. He was used to the English style long ball and run onto it. Could not play a skilled game ,