Rave Trellis

Way too special & important for DMs. Sorry.

[Rave Trellis @DaveTrellis]

@dhemork Ronaldo had the whole Madrid team pandering to him, started sulking when people didn’t pass to him etc. He’s a stat padder, which in a team sport isn’t great imo. He didn’t/wouldn’t have played that way under Fergie.

[Adam Cailler @acailler]

What people seem to forget is that Keir Starmer is actually very well respected on the world stage.

The thought of Andy Burnham rocking up to a G7 meeting and anyone taking him seriously is wild.

[Rave Trellis @DaveTrellis]

@Pinkpanther_76 Hope you feel better soon mate! 🖖😬

[Cult Ballers | World Cup @thecultballers]

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. 🇳🇱

[Rave Trellis @DaveTrellis]

@TonyPot15280928 Messi’s top 2, Christiano Ronaldo is top 20.

[Rave Trellis @DaveTrellis]

@Charlygotyou FAFO.

[Rave Trellis @DaveTrellis]

@BiDAiVi @thelmaoclips 2 wrongs don’t make a right as my Mum always used to say…

[Rave Trellis @DaveTrellis]

@VardyPartyPod @vardy7 In the 40 odd years of watching Football, IMO England have never really had a World class keeper, other than Seaman.

[Rave Trellis @DaveTrellis]

@prodnose With all the health advice around excessive heat & sun, all of these sporting events still occur in peak scorchioness. All about the dough 💰 they don’t really care about the participants.

[Rave Trellis @DaveTrellis]

@sid_lambert I remember Bergkamp playing for Inter Milan against Norwich in the UEFA cup, he was class then, & won them the trophy.

[Rave Trellis @DaveTrellis]

@SkintDad We all feel the heat occasionally, & let it get to us 🥵but the peeps who are whining about next week already!

[Rave Trellis @DaveTrellis]

@BlovdSzn_ He’ll do a John Terry, put a Portugal shirt on & slip on the pitch…🤣

[Rave Trellis @DaveTrellis]

@kevhonor This is number 11 for me. 86, 90, 98, 02, 10 stand out for me.

[Rave Trellis @DaveTrellis]

@talkSPORT One of my favourite players growing up. Very sad news.

[Rave Trellis @DaveTrellis]

@itvfootball @GaryLineker @GNev2 @laura_woodsy I suspect they’re trying to stop the riff raff hooligan element coming over!

[Rave Trellis @DaveTrellis]

@wildchild1700 @_onlyscott *Anelka

[Rave Trellis @DaveTrellis]

@wildchild1700 @_onlyscott Technically Arsenal was a loan.

[Rave Trellis @DaveTrellis]

@wildchild1700 @_onlyscott Doh 😣 So was Amelia’s at Liverpool too lol

[Rave Trellis @DaveTrellis]

@_onlyscott Anelka.

[Rave Trellis @DaveTrellis]

@Brian_The_tim @racingtipsn 😂🤣😂 Sounds about right…