manager and with a former manager, unleashed a newspaper war between two Dutch dailies, and, though unfit, demanded the lead role in the team. In 1994 he walked out of Holland’ s squad before the World Cup even started. Squabbles also eventually forced him out of Milan.
He finished his playing career in England, one of the first foreigners to cross the Channel in the mid-1990s. His presence and sophistication lit up Chelsea. In 1997 he coached the club to victory in the FA Cup, the first foreign manager to win a major English prize. After retirement he enjoyed playing with friends in the fifth-string team of an Amsterdam amateur club.
Number 17: Xavi
Xavi Hernández Creus spent years almost unnoticed sliding perfect passes in the midfield of Barcelona, the club he had joined aged eleven. Only late in his career did pundits realize that it was no coincidence that this little man drives on both the best teams of our era, Barça and Spain.