ROBERTO ROSATO
“A powerful, consistent, hard-tackling, and tenacious man-marking centre-back, Rosato is regarded as one of the greatest and most complete Italian defenders of all time, due to his strong performances throughout his career. In addition to his tough, determined, physical, and aggressive style of play, he was also extremely composed and elegant on the ball, due to his notable technical ability and balance; he was also known for his commanding influence on the pitch.”
Gerd Muller was asked ‘Who was your toughest opponent?’
Gerd Muller replied: “Rosato! The Italian Roberto Rosato. He was a really tight marker, but also a gentleman. It was all rough and tumble with him. At the start of the second half, I'd already made my way into the penalty area when I suddenly thought, 'Hang on, where's Rosato?' I turned round and saw he'd gone. He wasn't on the pitch any more. He'd hurt his knee and Burgnich had come on for him. Burgnich was a midfielder though, not a man-marker. He didn't stick to me, he gave me two or three yards instead, which meant I had time to control the ball, something I hadn't been able to do when Rosato was on. If you didn't move to the ball, you'd never get it since Rosato was already there. But I have to say he was never unfair.”
“Rosato was characterised as steady and reliable as he “re-inforced” AC Milan’s steely defensive grit. The Italian won eight trophies during his seven-year career with the Rossoneri.”
1. Michaelf7 - 1) J. Cruyff 2) M. Laudrup 3) V. Voronin 4) P. McGrath 5) M. Tardelli 6) M. Neuer 7) K. Hamrin 8) H.-P. Briegel 9) H.-J. Dorner 10) S. Ramos 11) M. Overmars
2. Indnyc - 1) M. Platini 2) M. Desailly 3) F. Cannavaro 4) J. Masopust 5) M. Coluna 6) A. Del Piero 7) A. Cole 8) P. Keizer 9) P. Schmeichel 10) F. Bene 11) V. Anderson
3. Jim Beam - 1) F. Beckenbauer 2) J. Kohler 3) B. Schweinsteiger 4) G. Bergomi 5) Z. Czibor 6) T. Finney 7) F. Totti 8) R. van Nistelrooy 9) P. Evra 10) J. Pirri 11) K. Sansom
4. Big Dunk - 1) C. Ronaldo 2) K.H Rummenigge 3) M. Sammer 4) A. Cabrini 5) M. Amoros 6) P. Vieira 7) C. Ferrara 8) G. Netzer 9) G. Banks 10) D. Mackay 11) R. Rosato
5. Ecstatic - 1) Eusebio 2) U. Seeler 3) T. Henry 4) R. Giggs 5) L. Modric 6) M. Kaltz 7). W. Overath 8) A. Pirlo 9) M. Olsen 10) J. Angloma
6. Sjor/Harms - 1) Xavi 2) A. Nesta 3) A. Brehme 4) R. Ferdinand 5) R. Kopa 6) L. Yashin 7) D. Bergkamp 8) E. Butragueno 9) D. Deschamps 10) V. Bessonov
7. EAP - 1) F. Puskas 2) R. Keane 3) P. Nedved 4) A. Shesternyov 5) P. Elkjaer 6) S. Mazzola 7) M. Bossis 8) A. Hansen 9) N. Stiles 10) A. Benarrivo
8. Physio/Synco - 1) G. Best 2) R. Gullit 3) L. Suarez Miramontes 4) L. Riva 5) J. Stam 6) M. Tresor 7) D. McGrain 8) E. Abidal 9) J. Barnes 10). D. De Rossi
9. Green Smiley - 1) O. Blokhin 2) D. Law 3) Z. Boniek 4) E. Davids 5) J. Tigana 6) E. Gerets 7) V. Vasovic 8) M. Khurtsilava 9) F. Albert 10) O. Kahn
10. Berbasloth4 - 1) P. Maldini 2) Z. Zidane 3) B. Robson 4) C. Gentile 5) J. Greaves 6) A. Robben 7) V. Kompany 8) W. Rooney 9) W. Suurbier 10) S. Effenberg
11. Skizzo/Gio - 1) M. van Basten 2) G. Scirea 3) F. Gento 4) D. Edwards 5) G. Rivera 6) S. Matthews 7) N. Vidic 8) B. Lizarazu 9) G. Buffon 10) U. Stielike
12. P-Nut - 1) A. Iniesta 2) J. Neeskens 3) P. Lahm 4) P. Scholes 5) K-H Schnellinger 6) R. Koeman 7) N. Hidegkuti 8) R. Carvalho 9) G. Lato 10) D. Zoff
13. Pat_Mustard - 1) B. Moore 2) G. Facchetti 3) L. Thuram 4) R. Baggio 5) G. Souness 6) F. Hierro 7) B. Conti 8) S. Campbell 9) R. Dasayev 10) J. Charles
14. GSTQ - 1) D. Dzajic 2) B. Charlton 3) R. Krol 4) P. Breitner 5) S. Kocsis 6) P. Vierchowod 7) T. Burgnich 8) C. Makelele 9) J. Johnstone 10) B. Schuster
15. Moby - 1) F. Rijkaard 2) L. Matthaus 3) H. Stoichkov 4) B. Vogts 5) A. Shevchenko 6) I. Netto 7) A. Picchi 8) J. A. Camacho 9) P. Futre 10) G. Chiellini
16. Himannv/Invictus - 1) F. Baresi 2) G. Müller 3) J. Bozsik 4) L. Figo 5) L. Kubala 6) K-H Förster 7) R. Rensenbrink 8) A. Demyanenko 9) B. Bremner 10) P. Neal
@Ecstatic