Short tribute to Franz Beckenbauer, the best defender in history

It is an irrefutable detail beyond all the goals with which Robert Lewandowski dazzles the world of elite football today: everyone agrees that the greatest symbol of Bayern Munich and German football is Franz Beckenbauer. That defender who despite winning everything seemed to play on tiptoe. He was awarded third place as the world’s best footballer of the 20th century in the IFFHS rankings. In 2007 he was named by the IFFHS as “Universal genius of world football” (for the extraordinary performances of player, manager and coach) Today, at the age of 76, he is honorary president of the German club.

This unanimous perception is not accidental. Beckenbauer was a giant of world football, with his main base in Munich. His successes tell: he won whatever happened to him. He was champion of the Bundesliga four-time, three-time champion of the European Cup (the now multimillion-dollar Champions League), captain of the 1972 European Championship and German champion of the 1974 World Cup. He has also won titles in the United States League Cosmos. Also, being a defender, He has won two Ballon d’Ors.

Then, as a coach, he was a finalist (in Mexico 86) and world champion (in Italy 90) with the mannschaft. Somehow or more only Diego Maradona could against him. He was then president of his club and success continued to embrace him. It was one of the keys to organizing the 2006 World Cup in his country. He is now an honorary member of the German Federation.

Curiosities in the distance: Bayern Munich’s biggest crest when he was a boy, he was a fan of the local rival, Munich 1860; best defender of all time, when he started playing football he was included as a left winger and left midfielder.

Every time Bayern Munich plays a Champions League match there is a symbol – a vertical oval with a navy blue background and the competition trophy, offered by UEFA – that distinguishes them as multiple champions. The emblem is the pride of all those teams that have won three consecutive titles or at least five in total. In addition to Bayern, that pleasure is given by Real Madrid, Ajax, Milan and Liverpool.

And Beckenbauer has a lot to do with this: his team, in the 1970s, won three consecutive European Cups from 1974 to 1976, after beating Atlético de Madrid, Leeds and Saint Etienne in the final. Those times of Kaiser as leaders of Germany and Bayern were the ones who inspired the phrase of Gary Lineker, who has traveled the world and which, now, no longer seems so true: “Football is a sport invented by the English, they play eleven against eleven and Germany always wins”. It was logical: the World Cup scorer in Mexico had lived his adolescence amazed by the superiority of Beckenbauer and his team.

The Mexican writer Juan Villoro, a precise observer of the football phenomenon, once said it: “For Mechanical orangeto win, he lacked the drama that Beckenbauer overcame. “ Franz lived his childhood in the Bavaria of the just ended World War II. The German reconstruction and even the self-criticism took place before his eyes. Not long ago, the Kaiser explained his recipe: “To be successful as a player, manager and coach you need to have a lot of discipline, a lot of luck and be born in the country at the right time.”

There was a detail that always accompanied him: when he saw the German team of 1954 beat the invincible Hungarians in the final, the desire to repeat the sporting enterprise was born. And he didn’t stop until the final that showed him to the world by lifting the Cup, two decades later. When in 2003 he saw the film that portrayed that victory against Puskas and company-“The miracle of Bern”by Sonke Wortmann- he said he felt that initial impulse again, when it was not yet -nor did they call him- The Kaiser.

His spirit and perseverance, as Marcelo Bielsa usually points out, forged them in the learning of defeat. From that failed World Cup in Mexican territory, however, he has taken the best memories, beyond the result. He once said: “Mexico 1970 was an exceptional tournament. At that time there was not much fanaticism, nor much concern for safety. We could do what we wanted. There was just an armed policeman at the entrance as the only one. surveillance. Obviously today it is something unthinkable. Back then it was more relaxed. The tournament in Mexico was full of colors. The country was a great football party. “

He lived through that defeat with patience. Four years later, on the occasion of the title obtained against the Netherlands, he complained about the rigors of the German concentration. Happiness for the footballer Beckenbauer was born not only from the victories.

“We have always had great quality in the national team, but you, Löw, have the best German team of all time. You have 23 players at the highest level, that’s something we’ve never had“Beckenbauer said in an interview published by the newspaper Bild am Sonntag, just over a decade ago. Prior to that question, Joachim Löw had asked Beckenbauer not to say that Germany it would be invincible for many years, as he pointed out after winning the 1990 World Cup as a coach (in the traumatic final against Argentina), which became a stigma for his successor, Berti Vogts. “It is something that Berti has not yet forgiven me …”, the Kaiser replied, with a minimal smile, one of those that continue to be ironic. It was his way of proving he was fallible. However, the 2014 World Cup proved him right, with 7-1 against Brazil included. He was already a leader, but he continued to look at football with the eyes of a crack …