German football has been famous for its star players since its inception. From year to year, world-class football players joined the league. I would like to highlight some of them in this article. Let’s start with one of the most famous defenders in the history of not only German but also world football – Franz Backenbauer.
Franz was born in Munich in not the best year for Germany. Surprisingly, the blood and flesh of Bayern took their first steps as part of the worst enemy.
But this “misunderstanding” was quickly corrected – at the age of 13, the future “Kaiser” was in the “right” team. Pointing out the role of Franz Beckenbauer – the defender, I’m a little cunning. Just as a rear center-back, or libero, Franz spent most of his remarkable career.
In fact, he was one of the best all-rounders in the history of world football. He had a chance to perform both in the center, and on the edge of defense, and in attack. For example, Franz led his debut match for Bayern as a winger.
Role in the field
Yes, and on the most now forgotten role on the libero field in football, he made a real revolution. Before him, the players of this role justified the second name “cleaner”, correcting the flaws of their defensive partners. Franz went much further.
Taking advantage of the fact that he did not have a ward (in those days, the defenders played personally on the opponent’s attackers, and the free player should have been relieved of the duties of a guardian), he did not stay behind when attacking his team, but boldly went forward, creating a numerical advantage.
In those years, no one played like that and the opponents simply did not know what to do with an extra player from someone else’s attack.
Excellent technique, amazing vision of the field made him not only the chief of defense, but the whole team. At the same time, his universalism actually knew no bounds – in his second season for Bayern, only in the matches of the German championship, the 20-year-old defender hit the opponents’ goal 16 times!
Not surprisingly, in those years, Bayern were unbeatable not only in West Germany, but also in Europe, Franz’s team was able to win the main European tournament and he led the team in all four matches as captain.
Four final matches in three draws is not a condition, just the 1974 ECCH Final required an extra play. The first meeting against Atlético Madrid ended in a draw 1:1, in the second the Germans, as they say, “carried out” the opponent – 4:0.
By and large, Beckenbauer’s entire career was spent in the Munich club, where he won almost all of his club trophies and, being a Bayern player, was twice recognized as the best player in Europe and in football in general.