Luis Filipe Madeira Caeiro Figo
Luis was hit by only 11, and both Lisbon club-grandees were already arguing for him. Sporting was lucky, and it was precisely as his representative in 1991 that Figo won the Youth World Cup. The following season, he entrenched in the basis of the “white-green”, and shortly before his 19th birthday made his debut in the national team.
Figo quickly became a club leader. In the summer of 1995, the Portuguese, not experienced in intrigue, signed contracts first with Juventus, and then, suspecting monetary fraud, also with Parma. Proceedings began, blocking his path to Serie A for the time being. But Barcelona came in handy.
The Catalan club turned out to be a springboard in his legionary life - here Luis took the first prestigious trophies and grew up in the team captain. But after Euro 2000 Figo, the MVP of the tournament and the leader of the national team, suddenly and unexpectedly went over to Real Madrid.
And again, there were some contract troubles. Figo was negotiating with Florentino Peres in the hope of improving the terms of the contract at Barca, and a Real Madrid presidential candidate wanted to attract voters in the name of a football player. And when Perez won the election, Luis was at a crossroads: to pay “Real” a huge penalty or obey the contract.
In 2002, Barca fans prepared for the first appearance of Creamy Figo at Camp Nou. Previously, this arena brought down a flurry of applause on the Portuguese. Now the pork head and everything that came under the arms flew from the stands. From an idol, Figo turned into Judas.
With his notable participation, the pre-crisis Real Madrid managed to win several tournaments, including the Champions League. Then the coaching leapfrog began in the club, and the distortions in management brought to light the awkward team of “Zidanov and Pavonov”.
During the Euro 2004 final, Catalonia again reminded Figo of itself. The famous "runner" Jimmy Jump jumped onto the field and threw a blue-garnet T-shirt into the Portuguese. But, like two years earlier at Camp Nou, not a single muscle fluttered on Figo's face.
In 2005, closer to the sunset of his career, the beaten track “Real” - “Inter” by others led the best football player of the world in 2001 to Serie A ...
David Robert Joseph Beckham
A guy from East London began to teach football to his father - a working and part-time coach of the children's team. In 1991, young Beckham was selected for the school of his beloved Manchester United. And in the spring of 1992, the club’s youth team won the Association Cup, and David even scored a goal in the final. In the same year, Beckham signed the first professional contract at the club.
Becks quickly joined the adult team. According to the results of the first “main" season, he became the best young player in the championship. In September 1996, David made his debut in England. To the World Cup 98, he was assigned the characteristic of the main hope of English football.
But, in an evil irony of fate, it was at that tournament that Beckham turned the whole country against himself. In the match of the 1/8 finals, he bought into a provocation Diego Simeone, responding to rudeness. And by the will of the Danish referee Milton-Nielsen, the simpleton Beckham was already in the locker room watching how his team in the minority ended the match, and with it the whole tournament. After that moral shock, David first considered leaving football.
The next season in Manchester United was the best in the career of a football player. And two of his signature corners in the Champions League final helped the Manchesters win the already legendary match against Bayern. That summer, Beckham married Victoria Adams, a singer and fashion model. And this event abruptly changed his fate.
Under the influence of his wife, Beckham gradually began to share football with other hobbies. He was attracted by the world of fashion and social life. There was a chill in David’s relationship with Alex Ferguson, which in 2003 turned into a famous throw of a cleats that cut an eyebrow for a player. Doctors even had to patch up his image, which had already cost a lot by then. The scandal was hushed up, but that season was the last for the “seven” in the “Manchester United”.
Ferguson, who had once seen great talent in the midfielder, realized before others that greatness had begun to fade and the former Becks would be gone. The Madrid seasons of the Englishman confirmed the intuition of Sir Alex.
Beckham spent 58 matches with the armband of the captain of the national team before Steve McLaren refused to send him a call last fall. In October 2001, all of England applauded his goal in the end of the match with the Greeks, who brought the team to the 2002 World Cup. In the summer, the television screen will offer the British a reality show about setting up the Beckham family in Hollywood. And it’s not a fact that this action will lose in the ranking of football.
In the end
The crisis of “Real” litmus paper showed the characters and goals of these players. Figo, who did not have the opportunity to change something, left to win further. Beckham, until the signing of the breathtaking American contract, stated that he was pleased with everything in Madrid.
Both of them will still go to the football field. But it is clear that the non-European stages of their careers are only transitional periods from stadium lawns to a lawn with a hammock. However, traces of their boots in the history of the game are definitely not lost. And after a few years, those who once hit the ball precisely from the innings of Figo and Beckham will be drawn into big football.
Stanislav POPOVICH