THE FIRE of ZORRO by Chris Nee
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THE FIRE OF ZORRO by Chris Nee hen the sociologists of the Boban was relegated whilst on loan with "perfection" when asked to reflect on future assemble the defini- AS Bari but in Milan there emerged a the match. tive study on the social player of ferocity and extraordinary W history of UK football fan- ability, a young man who took his schol- Goalscorers Daniele Massaro and dom, they'll discover the Gazzetta arly outlook into football and ended up Dejan Savićević deservedly attracted Generation. in the AC Milan Hall of Fame. the headlines but Boban was terrific throughout the 90 minutes, working Gazzetta Football Italia and its sister The football brain that made Boban's inwards from the right flank and direct- coverage of Sunday afternoon Serie A name in Milan was flawless. He was a ing the Rossoneri's possession in Bar- matches represented an unprecedented technically excellent, two-footed mid- celona's defensive third. level of access to a European league in fielder whose natural preference was to the early 1990s. create and attack, often from an osten- Savićević did the hard work to tee up sibly orthodox central midfield position. Massaro's first goal but Boban's ag- It was intoxicating and it beguiled those gression in intercepting the ball made it of us who soon came to construct our He had a great understanding with happen. weekends around its fortuitous dovetail George Weah, Milan's prolific mid- to with domestic Saturday 3pm matches. late-1990s goalscorer, for whom he Massaro's second was the unheralded created the second goal in a famous side of Boban's creativity writ large. He Channel 4 allowed us to gorge on the win at Juventus as Milan strode towards pulled all the strings as Milan probed exploits of players whose presence the Scudetto in May 1999. from right to left and conjured a rela- would otherwise have been fleeting, tively simple finish for Massaro, duly and few of the memories live on as Boban himself was a surprisingly adept buried along with the hopes of Johan vividly as Fabio Capello's AC Milan. Hot penalty box finisher and was also capa- Cruyff and his mighty Barcelona side. on the heels of Arrigo Sacchi's iconic ble of scoring from distance, often - but, Rossoneri side, Capello's Milan seemed pleasingly, not always - by applying Four years later Boban finally took his exotic and omnipotent. culture over brutality. place in international football history, proudly captaining the sensational They worked hard in the transfer market He was a terrific header of the ball and Croatia team that finished third at World to bolster Sacchi's talented and famous- scored a handful of scorching free Cup France '98. ly well-drilled squad. Of all the players kicks, though it sometimes took him a brought to San Siro as the Rossoneri few attempts to get his shooting cali- He finished playing in 2002 with a smoothly transitioned from double brated. glittering career full of caps and tro- European Cup winners to domestic phies behind him, and remains a man of dominators, none was more complex And Boban was never not Boban. Just culture and contradictions. and voracious than Zvonimir Boban. as his intellectual education was mar- ried to a simmering Croatian pride, his He graduated from the University of Born in 1968 in Croatia's patriotic footballing elegance was paired with Zagreb with a history degree in 2004, south, when it was part of Yugoslavia, endless tenacity on the field of play. He has worked as a pundit, owns the Boban was as ardent a citizen as they was captivating. trendy and deliciously named Italian come. He's a man of palpable intensity, restaurant 'Boban' in central Zagreb a fiery fanatic with red and white cheq- The Rossoneri and Boban won Serie A (Boban's wife Leonarda owns a rather uered bones. in 1993, 1994, 1996 and 1999, but his more modest café next door) and has highest-ranking triumph in Milan was a even dipped his toe into the murky But his youthful intellectualism extend- continental one, and was achieved just waters of football administration, having ed beyond the explosive matter of as the Croatian was coming into his joined the office of FIFA president Croatian identity. Boban is a lover of prime. Gianni Infantino as a special adviser in literature who once recommended 2016. Nietzsche to Antonio Matarrese, the They snuck past FC Aarau in the First president of the Italian Football Federa- Round of the UEFA Champions League But a tamed suit he ain't. He expects tion. in 1993/94 but found form with a Sec- high standards of form and conduct as ond Round demolition of FC København an AC Milan observer, and some im- In May 1990, 21-year-old Boban struck on the way to the Group Stage. The first pressive players have been on the the most infamous blow in the battle leg decided the tie thanks to a 6-0 Milan receiving end of Boban's pointed criti- that derailed Dinamo Zagreb's end-of- win that was capped by a Boban- cism in the years since his retirement. season match against Red Star Bel- assisted Jean-Pierre Papin header. grade and dragged the region closer to "Two-faced liar" Kaka can attest to that. war, kicking a police officer on the pitch Boban sat out three Group B games but Mario Balotelli's perceived attitude put as Dinamo's notorious Bad Blue Boys was instrumental as the Rossoneri him in the firing line too. ultras clashed with Serbian fans and closed out the round with a draw police. against FC Porto to secure a semi-final For British Serie A fans of a certain place against Arsène Wenger's similarly age, Boban is a name that instantly His kick targeted not a Serb officer but star-studded AS Monaco. Milan over- brings to mind recollections of Italian a Bosnian Muslim, but its symbolism came Alessandro Costacurta's contro- football's brilliance in the 1990s. He was immovable. versial dismissal to win 3-0. was a player who had quality and char- acter, a combination guaranteed to win The midfielder had been lined up to The campaign did wonders for his supporters around the world. play for Yugoslavia at World Cup Italia reputation but Milan's charge to the '90 but was instead suspended for six final against Barcelona was spearhead- In the eyes of generations before and months by the Yugoslavian FA. ed by other players, bigger names than after Gazzetta the fullness of Boban's Boban. ability has inevitably been overshad- The incident that prevented him playing owed by more famous players. at Italia '90 was an overtly political act. His contribution to their remarkable 4-0 In football, his considerable reputation final victory against Barcelona in Ath- But Boban's fire was - and, one pre- was made after he belatedly arrived in ens, though, was a vital part of the sumes, still is - undeniable. Italy to sign for AC Milan in 1991. performance Capello described as .