Franco BARESI | 1988-1990

[Brezza]

Nickname: "The Steel Man" "Piscinin"

Club: AC Milan



Growth type: Standard/Lasting

INFO:

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What more can be said about a man who made defending an absolute joy to watch. Such a reader of the game, brilliant technique, his decision making was absolutely brilliant, he knew when to slow the game down and play it out from the back or when he just needed to hit it into Row Z, you could argue Franco was no nonsense but a defender with flair at the same time, as I've said he based every decision on it's own merits and knew what was best to do in every scenario. Brave as anything as well, would stick his head where most would struggle to put their boot.

Despite the '94 World Cup Final being an absolute dire affair in the attacking third, any fan of the true art of defending would say that Franco's remarkable MOM performance at the ripe old age of 34, snuffing out Romario and every other Brazilian attacker that day was sheer genius.

Also as well as being a brilliant defender he was also fantastic at bringing the ball out from the back and often finished off his own moves he started from defence, with his amazing bursts of acceleration, technique and brilliant positioning at both ends of the field.

Franco Edges it for me over Maldini as the best Defender of all time. I've never seen a defender command a line as well as this guy.

HONOURS:

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European Cup: 1989, 1990, 1994
Intercontinental Cup: 1989, 1990.
European Supercup: 1989, 1990,1994.
Italian Championship:1979, 1988, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996.
Italian Super Cup: 1988, 1992, 1993, 1994.
Mitropa Cup: 1982
FIFA World Cup: 1982

1989: European Silver Ball Footballer of the Year France Football
1990: Italian League The Best Player of the Year.
1989: Best Silver Player World of the Year IFFHS : 1989
2004: Named in FIFA 100
2004: Named Player of Italy of the Century XX by FIGC

VIDEOS:

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[youtube]

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ADDITIONAL LINKS:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco_baresi

http://www.planetworldcup.com/LEGENDS/baresi.html

http://www.acmilan-online.com/lg_baresi.php

http://francobaresi6.com/en/profile_bio.htm

[HFClub]

I wonder if his physical stats are not a bit underrated. I refer especially to BB, since the great Franco, while certainly not being a big man, worked a LOT his physique, trained and trained against big forwards (like Weah, in AC Milan's training grounds for example), and is not known that he lost clearly any physical confontation. Of course we may say that was due to his sheer class, positioning and overall defensive skills, but even if we limit our observation to physical "duels", he was a match for almost any forward that played in Serie A or in Europe in his era.
That said, and considering his average Height and Weight, i suggest the raise of his BB value to something around 86-87.

[crisfar]

I agree, he worked a lot with his body too besides his positioning wrld class skills, and won most of pshysical duels against bigger guys, BB can definitely go up to 87-88, considering his relative small size...

[sencesor]

Good call there bout BB, the new value (85) is much better than the previous one (83), 87-88 might be too much, but again - considering height/Weight, an 86 is not out of the question.

[HFClub]

I agree, he worked a lot with his body too besides his positioning wrld class skills, and won most of pshysical duels against bigger guys, BB can definitely go up to 87-88, considering his relative small size...

That's it, spot on. I didn't want to push it too much, but even ladderwise, it is in my opinion correct.

[zuo]

Baresi shot power was by no means average or over average...83/84 values are too high for him.

[yourigo]

i wonder if Baresi deserves 98 for defense, he was a positional genius, but i wouldn't have him over cannavaro, the "wall"

it's a matter of defending style, bobby moore for instance has 95 for defense but 99 for response because of just that, played anticipation more than positioning, in wich for me cannavaro was the best...imo cannavaro should trade defense value with baresi, he'd still be way under baresi in response, mentality and team-work, where baresi was definetily better

cheers

[zguc]

What nonsense you talk, Baresi is the notion of game compared to the Cannavaro...

[yourigo]

Baresi was a player, not a god, he doesn't have to be the best at every single thing to still be the best...i just don't think he had better positioning than cannavaro at his finest

[zguc]

Maybe best defender ever, in my opinion the only one who deserve DEF 99

[Kanouté]

in zguc I trust

[Antonio]

yes baresi DEFENCE : 99

[Pumpernikiel]

When best forward gets 99 in attack, best defender should get 99 in defence .

[zguc]

When best forward gets 99 in attack, best defender should get 99 in defence .

Does not have to be so.

[Pumpernikiel]

When best forward gets 99 in attack, best defender should get 99 in defence .

Does not have to be so.

I know what you mean, hehe. But i think he really deserves it. He's something like a counterpart of Gerd Muller, but in defence, haha .

[yourigo]

it's really just a matter of oppinion...personnaly, i believe in that stat alone, defensive positioning, cannavaro was better, even if by as much as one point, be it positioning for a header or blocking a player's path, than baresi

think of it like this, even if cannavaro is slightly better at defending, baresi will be much better at coordinating the team, playing the ball forward, in other words, he will be the better player...the player most people agree was the best defender ever, beckenbauer, certainly wasn't the best at defending, but he was the most complete defender...same happens here, baresi is a more complete player than cannavaro, but not better than him at every single thing

[zguc]

So what do you want to say? That the value of 98 for DEF is too high for Baresi...

[Matej]

No, he was one of the best defenders in history and he absolutely deserves it. Thanks

[zguc]

beckenbauer, certainly wasn't the best at defending, but he was the most complete defender...same happens here, baresi is a more complete player than cannavaro, but not better than him at every single thing

Of course more complete, and then more better at defending and organizing game...

[yourigo]

beckenbauer, certainly wasn't the best at defending, but he was the most complete defender...same happens here, baresi is a more complete player than cannavaro, but not better than him at every single thing

Of course more complete, and then more better at defending and organizing game...

better at defending sure: better reading of the game, better covering, perhaps better tackling too though i can't be sure between the two of them BUT, when it comes to raw positioning i think cannavaro was better, he wasn't called the wall for nothing