Rave Trellis

The only footballer to rival Ronaldo Nazário as the best pure striker of all times. Three Ballon d'Ors, two European Cups, a European Championship, FIFA World Player of the Year. He never played a single match after his 29th birthday. This is Marco van Basten. 283 goals in 379 matches. The most complete striker of his generation. He played at one World Cup. Didn't score a single goal in it. And it wasn't his fault. Born in Utrecht. Nicknamed "The Swan." 6'3", balletic, devastating in the air and on the ground. At Ajax he scored 128 goals in 133 league matches. Three Eredivisie titles. A Cup Winners' Cup. Golden Boot. In 1987 Milan signed him alongside Ruud Gullit. Injuries wrecked his first season, 11 appearances. Then he exploded. Ballon d'Or in 1988 and 1989. Two European Cups. Three Serie A titles. A team unbeaten for 58 consecutive league matches. His goals were impossible, pure art. Euro 88. West Germany. Hat-trick against England. The winner against West Germany in the semi-final. Then the final against the Soviet Union, a volley from the right side of the box, an angle so tight commentators still argue about how the ball found the net. Top scorer, MVP. The best version of Van Basten the world ever saw on a major stage. Then 1990. Italy. His one and only World Cup. The Netherlands arrived as European champions. Van Basten, Gullit, Rijkaard, Koeman, all at their peak. Expectations were enormous. It fell apart before a ball was even kicked. The players had voted for Johan Cruyff as national coach. Rinus Michels overruled them and installed Leo Beenhakker instead. Off the record, federation officials called Cruyff a psychopath. Gullit and Van Basten publicly criticised Michels in the press. Michels wrote back. The chaos never settled. Three group games. Three draws. Van Basten was invisible. Round of 16. San Siro, his own home ground. Against West Germany. The match the Dutch trio were supposed to dominate on their own turf. Instead Frank Rijkaard spat in Rudi Völler's hair. Twice. Both men sent off. The Netherlands lost 2-1 and went home. Van Basten, the best striker on the planet, fresh off winning back-to-back Ballon d'Ors, didn't score a single goal at his only World Cup. The criticism in the Dutch press was brutal. He had been built up as the man to finally deliver a World Cup. He left with nothing, blamed alongside everyone else for a tournament that had imploded around him before it even began. He never got another chance. Missed the 1994 World Cup through injury. By 1998 he was retired. An ankle injury, first sustained in 1987, operated on repeatedly throughout his career, ended everything in 1993. He was 28. Spent two years trying to come back. Multiple surgeries. None of them worked. In 1995, after two years trying and failing to recover, he announced his retirement at a press conference at Milan's headquarters. The next day he walked out at the San Siro one last time to say goodbye to 60,000 fans who adored him. Fabio Capello, his coach, broke down in tears on the touchline. He never played again. 24 goals in 58 caps for the Netherlands. One World Cup. Zero World Cup goals. One European Championship won as the best player alive. Still, with Ronaldo Nazário, the only name that belongs at the very top of the conversation for greatest striker who ever lived. The streets will never forget San Marco. 🇳🇱