5 great players who have been forgotten
Football always has and always will be a cyclic sport; teams will take turns being at the very top of the pile for a few years and then, of course, having to do with spending the next few fighting it out in the rough with the rest of the so-called ‘lesser’ teams.
The same could be said about footballers – the previous decades saw greats like Pele, Maradona, Platini, Beckenbauer and Cruyff display remarkable skill and hone their craft at the highest level, while rightfully picking up a host of individual and team honours.
With the turn of the century, new names began cropping up; Ronaldinho, Ronaldo Nazario, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Michael Owen, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard mesmerised us all and gave us many unforgettable moments.
It would be foolish not to mention Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi – it is very likely that we will never see two footballers who are as good as these two grace the football pitch, let alone in the same generation or even the same league.
However, for each of these household names, there are many who have faded into the background, not getting the recognition or attention they deserve, often disregarded in conversations concerning the best footballers of our time.
Here, we reminisce about 5 great players who have all been forgotten in the continuously shifting tides of world football.
#5 Pavel Nedved
A two-footed, clever and hardworking midfielder, Nedved epitomised a time when you didn’t need to score an ungodly number of goals to win the Ballon d’Or. Simply being an excellent and reliable midfielder could win you football’s most coveted individual trophy.
Nedved picked up the Ballon d'Or in 2003, adding to an already bulging trophy cabinet consisting of four league titles across a club career spanning Sparta Prague, Lazio and Juventus.
Starting out in his homeland, he was allowed to spend his military service playing for Dukla Prague, a team run by the Czech army. He later joined Sparta Prague, where he was infamously red-carded 3 times in his first 6 games for the club. But it was in Italy where he well and truly became a world-beater.
(Video Courtesy: Legend HD YouTube Channel)
Playing alongside the likes of Diego Simeone, Juan Sebastian Veron, Alessandro Nesta and Roberto Mancini at Lazio, he came into his own, winning a league title, two Coppa Italia’s, two Super Coppa Italiana’s, a UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup and a UEFA Super Cup in his time at the club.
He achieved legend status at Juventus, when he decided to stay with the club, despite their relegation into Serie B after the Calciopoli scandal and helped them get promoted back into Serie A.
Nedved is now the vice-president of the club.