European Player Of The Year

 

The European Player of the Year. As usual, in an year of World Cup finals, that tournament informed almost entirely the outcome of voting the best player. As many times before, there was considerable doubt over the final choice. Football was getting bland and boring by that time, the World Cup itself was disappointing and all that made choosing the best players difficult and suspect. Why those players and not others? Then again... was there a player really shining and also winning during the whole year? The great Dutch trio? But the Netherlands failed in the World Cup... And so it goes – more objections against anybody. It was playing safe at the end... somewhat. And playing safe was voting German – World Cup champions – and Italian – the top club football in Europe.

Andreas Brehme (Inter Milano and Germany – by the year's end no more West Germany) ended 3^rd with 68 points.

Salvatore Schillaci (Juventus Turin and Italy) - 2^nd with 84 points.

Lothar Matthaus (Inter Milan and Germany) – voted number 1 with 137 points.

World Cup success informed entirely the chosen trio: the World Cup top goalscorer and two World champions, the team captain getting the upper hand.

Success at the World Cup, that was all... Sturdy stability replaced bright and dazzling performance – it was the sour result of what happened to the beautiful game in the 1980s. Both Brehme and Matthaus were well known for 10 years now, both pushing 30 – Matthaus was 29 years old. Schillaci was a 'newcomer' at 26 and as it turned out, he faded away just as quickly as came to prominence. Reliable players, the Germans, but real superstars? Yet... Matthaus captained the World Cup winning team, he was steady, he was among the best European players for a long time and he was evidently most adjusted to the current state of the game, as the future will show. He was not Netzer or Beckenbauer, but who could blame him: he won the World Cup, not Gullit. All things considered, winning is everything and he won the World Cup. Inter did not win anything in Italy this year, though... Well, such was the end of the 1990s and no matter what somebody had to be voted number one.