2 – Fabio Cannavaro
Ballon D’Or in 2006, when he was nicknamed “il muro di Berlino” (the Berlin wall), Fabio Cannavaro is the last great Italian defender. His career covers the entire timespan of this Top Ten and boasts a vast catalogue of fine moments, from his single-handed shutting down of the French offence in 1998 to the unbending grit throughout the Euro 2000 tournament, culminating of course in the mould-shattering performances of the 2006 World Cup.
Though we are loath to use such a bland turn of phrase, Cannavaro’s contribution in 2006 simply cannot be overstated. He was the team’s captain when the team desperately needed cohesion and guidance (note the Calciopoli backdrop). He was a moral beacon, dedicating games and songs to his near-fallen comrade Gianluigi Pessotto. And he was a stellar performer, utterly unassailable from any angle, never once caught off-guard in the course of his seven games. Defending of this quality had not been seen in Italy, and arguably in the World Cup, since Franco Baresi’s performance in the 1994 final.
Cannavaro still stands as a bit of an oddity – he never really looked like a central stopper, being too small, and his build suggests a certain coarseness of play. Instead, he was the best aerial defender Italy has had in decades, and he played with a silken stylistic finesse which does not come short of his illustrious predecessors at all. Most importantly, he gave his best exactly when it was most needed.
He is not necessarily the most talented player in this list (Alessandro Nesta is at least up there with him), nor the one who best exploited his means (Marco Materazzi and Fabio Grosso did more to exploit their relative skill), but he was the best at bringing the two things together. Great talent, best exploited – exactly the type of alchemy that makes a great footballer.
