With a capital "B"

On October 31, one of the best strikers in the history of football, Marco van Basten, turns 60 years old.

Sometimes you just want to rewind time. And find yourself in 1988. In Mamontovka, at the “Komsomolsko-Pravdinskaya” dacha, where the best feathers of the country rested and had fun. I close my eyes and see Akram Kayumovich Murtazaev, one of the future founders of Novaya Gazeta, preparing his unique pilaf. Valentin Yumashev, who was then working at Ogonyok, and my dad, Evgeniy Uspensky, are responsible for bottling non-children’s drinks and try not to interfere with the Uzbek cook. I am with Murtazaev Jr., his sisters and Yumashev’s daughter, Polina (the future wife of oligarch Deripaska), playing hide and seek. And the whole friendly company is waiting for the final of Euro 1988 Holland - USSR. In the evening we will gather in our “Uspensky-Jewish” part of the house (who else could have a working TV?) and start cheering for the guys in white T-shirts. Everyone except me. Under the light slaps on the head of the future head of the Presidential Administration, I shouted “Forward, Marco!” And he shouted in every sense...

In 1986, I saw Diego Maradona perform miracles at the World Cup in Mexico and fell in love with the nimble Argentine for life. And then, in the same way, a couple of years later, I fell boyishly in love with the long-legged Dutchman, about whom the same Diego Armando would one day say: “I don’t know a more elegant football player than Van Basten...” By the way, me too. And even now I am sad that the career of the Utrecht native lasted only ten years. He gave himself and us 373 matches. Few? Certainly. But he drew 276 balls in them! And this is in those unproductive times...

Yes, Marco did the drawing. Easy, masterpiece and most importantly - elusive. For those who tried to take the ball from him. That summer, 1988, he, to put it in youth language, rocked the emerald “carpets” so intricately that I watched performances with his participation right in my boots. So that immediately after his effective trick, jump out into the clearing in front of the hacienda and try to repeat the original feint. And, for example, during the England-Holland match I ran out onto my lawn three times in half an hour. That’s exactly how long it took Marco to score a hat-trick against the powerful Peter Shilton. And for me, it’s enough to break the window and damage the birdhouse “on repeat”...

In the semi-finals with the hosts of the championship, the amazing forward will first earn a penalty on himself (Koeman will equalize the score from a set piece), and at the end, from under the defender, he will masterfully roll the “spotted” one against goalkeeper Immel, and the “Clockwork Oranges” will roll out to meet the USSR. People, of course, remember that decisive match at the Olympiastadion. Especially the 55th minute of the match. Van Tiggelen in the center of the field takes the “shell” from the hesitant Zavarov and, moving forward, passes it to Arnold Muren to the left. The 37-year-old veteran sends a round ball into Rinat Dasaev's penalty area. Van Basten was already there. But everyone (opponents, fans, and Marco’s partners) expected that he, as in the first half, would throw the ball into the path of captain Gullit, but the top scorer of the Euro from an incredibly acute angle would prefer to volley on his own. When the light ball flies over the Spartak goalkeeper along an unimaginable trajectory and pierces the net (perhaps it was the most beautiful goal in the history of continental tournaments), I will scream so much that the fans of Igor Belanov and company will deprive me of a cold dessert. But that doesn't matter. The important thing is that since then the Dutch have not won the European Championship. Well, Van Basten would win his first of three Ballon d'Ors that same year.

By the way, in 2008, the Russian national team under the leadership of Guus Hiddink in the Euro quarterfinals will knock out the “orange”, which will be led by... Marco van Basten. And many will happily believe that this will be revenge for that same defeat 20 years ago. When this opinion was conveyed to Marco, he smiled. In general, he always acted with a smile. That’s probably why he didn’t become noticeable in the coaching field (although he ruled the Orange for 48 months).

Honest, good-natured people like Van Basten are not capable of commanding. And it is always difficult for geniuses to teach what they could do on the field.

If we take Dutch football, then, probably, only the sorcerer Johan Cruyff managed to turn into a great coach after an outstanding campaign as a player.

By the way, in his debut match for Ajax, Marco will replace the legendary Johan, who was ending his career, who, after watching the young striker, will remark: “But this is me in my youth!” And you can’t argue. Van Basten brought goalkeepers to tears in almost every match. For four seasons in a row (1984–1987) he was ahead of his competitors in the Dutch championship scoring race. And in total for the Amsterdam squad, the virtuoso will dance 172 matches and put 152 balls into the “house”. Needless to say, with Ajax he will take three championships, three national Cups and a European trophy - the Cup Winners' Cup. Moreover, in 1986 he would make 37 accurate shots and win the Golden Boot (a prize for the main goalscorer in Europe).

However, Marco was seduced not even by quantity, but by quality. He “stuffed” it for every taste. On the right, on the left. I shipped multi-colored parcels to the “nines”, to the lower corners, under the crossbar. The trickster delivered billiard shots from outside the penalty area and expertly dealt with defenders on a handkerchief in the goalkeeper's area. Do you want your head? Please! In a fall through oneself - “scissors”? No question! Impeccable technique and excellent coordination of movements allowed him to make the right decisions in a split second. And, of course, he predicted his partners’ moves fantastically. And he was always open to receiving where it was needed. No one has found an antidote to the antics of the inspired maestro.

In 1987, the brilliant artist changed his red and white jersey to a red and black one. It is noteworthy that the president of Milan, the odious Silvio Berlusconi, took a tape with a clip of 40 goals from van Basten, watched until the tenth episode and blurted out: “We urgently need to buy a guy!” It's hard to believe, but Marco cost the Milanese only $600,000. For comparison, his Dutch national teammate Ruud Gullit was bought for a then-record 7.2 million greenbacks. Together with his curly-haired compatriots Gullit and Frank Rijkaard, van Basten conquered the Italian championship, then the strongest on planet Earth.

In 1990, he won the duel of snipers (19 goals), beating Diego Maradona, Roberto Baggio and Jurgen Klinsmann (and I, who was then collecting Panini stickers of the 1990 World Cup participants, gave a speculator a whole chervonets for a 5x7 photo with the image of his favorite).

In 1992, he would score as many as 25 goals (the closest pursuer, Baggio, had eighteen). And it would be surprising if the Rossoneri, after ten years of oblivion, had not won four Scudetto (three of them in a row: 1992–1994), two Champions Cups (1989, 1990), two European Super Cups and two Intercontinental Cup. Moreover, in the 1989 Champions Cup (analogous to the current Champions League), Marko will hit the target ten times and extinguish Red Star twice in the final. In 1992, FIFA would declare him player of the year, and he would also lift his third Ballon d'Or. By the way, he will present that last most prestigious personal trophy to President Silvio Berlusconi.

And now attention: van Basten composed all his masterpieces while experiencing constant pain in his ankle. The thing is that from birth he had a thin bone, and therefore his joint under load (and not only) caused the player excruciating suffering. The operation in the early 90s only worsened the situation. Plus, he was periodically bothered by his knee, which he injured back in the mid-80s... In general, it can be argued that for almost two five-year plans he danced victoriously literally on one leg.

In May 1993, fans will see their 28-year-old idol for the last time in the key 1993 league championship match. Marseille will defeat Milan, and Marco will leave the pitch in the 86th minute. Because of the very ankle that the Frenchman Basil Boli would hit “to be sure.”

Van Basten will officially announce his retirement in August 1995. Although the Italian giants were ready to continue paying the forward under contract in the hope of his return. But the decent Dutchman did not want to deceive himself or others: Milan even offered me to extend the agreement, but receiving a huge salary, realizing that you would no longer be able to take the field, was dishonest.”

And I understood that my childhood was leaving: in 1994, in fact, the epic of Diego Maradona ended, and then the magician, because of whom in the summer of 1988 I was sent to bed even before the final whistle of referee Michel Vautreau, hung up his boots. ...

When Marco was 13 years old, the doctor told him: “You need to quit football if you don’t want to end up in a wheelchair at twenty. Besides, you won’t become a professional player anyway...” Van Basten’s father sent a doctor in three letters, and ordered his son to throw the words of the aesculapian out of his head. What happened next - you know.