Klaus That bicycle kick was what got me seriously into watching football. I followed Arsenal a bit but I wasn't interested in much else before then. It was lighting a fire in my brain: I don't think I'd ever seen anything cooler in my life.
Agreed. Rivaldo was one of my favourite ever players, think I mentioned him in that tier 1 category of greats from the late 90s/early 00s. Only reason I continued watching them after Ronaldo left was because they had Rivaldo.
We had one of those dodgy satellite and receiver that showed all kinds of football. I don't remember much about the game overall but remember each of the goals so vividly. That performance was one of the all time great performances. Final game of the season, against the team who are a point ahead of you in the race for 3rd place and a spot in the CL.
Rivaldo puts his team up with a freekick and but this midfielder how hardly ever scores, scored from a corner with a diving header to equalise. He steps up again and scores a long ranger into the bottom corner. Somehow the same guy equalises again with another great diving header wtf. With Barca going into the final mins looking like they won't qualify, Rivaldo steps up again. A hopeful long ball from Frank de Boer from inside his own half, he chests it and then bycycles it in. From outside the box. Mahem ensues. Man I still think about it at times to this day.
Klaus They all thought he was the best player in the world bar none at that point even though Ronaldo was in his Inter prime.
Think he'd won the world player of the year the season or two before so he was deffo well respected. But Ronaldo wasn't in his prime at the point. This was in 2001 when Ronaldo had been out for a couple years with those horrific knee injuries and trying to get himself fit for the WC in 2002.
Klaus For me Rivaldo is the second greatest Brazilian I've ever seen, just a shade behind Ronaldinho who I'd rank as the best footballer I've ever watched.
He's deffo up there and in the top 3 for me. As someone who did not see Pele when he was playing so wouldn't include him or any others like that in my list but for me the number 1 is R9. Probably the single greatest footballer I have ever seen in my life in terms of what he could do and the impact he had on the game. Such a shame what happened to him prevented him from being able to dominate the game like he was expected to. He was (is?) the youngest ever World Player of the Year, and the first one to win it 3 time during a period where there were so many greats. I think what says it all is that he played for Barca and Real, as well as Inter and AC and is both loved and respected by both teams when you'd expect him to be hated by Barca and Inter.
