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For a number of great football players, things never went right after that one, fateful match where everything went horribly wrong. The match where the reputation, which had built with sweat and blood, fell down like a house of cards.
Though many of them went on to play the game at the highest level even after that one, grave nightmare, they could never receive the adulation and respect they once commanded.
We take a look at nine such matches that destroyed the reputations of great footballers.
Note: We haven’t accounted for injuries, as that would be unfair on the players. So the unfortunate cases of Michael Ballack and Gianluigi Lentini are not considered.
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#9 Iker Casillas vs Netherlands - 2014 World Cup
Iker Casillas had boarded the train to disaster long before that fateful evening in Salvador; in fact, his career had been going downhill ever since his unfortunate injury lay-off during Jose Mourinho’s reign at the Bernabeu. What seemed like irreparable damage done by Mourinho, was more or less assuaged by the calm presence of Carlo Ancelotti.
So much so that La Roja captain was riding a wave of confidence, provided by the fans and coach, until it happened; to be more precise, until the Flying Dutchman happened.
Robin van Persie’s golazo sucked the life out of the Spain captain as well as his team. The golden trio of Van Perise, Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder started to run the defending world champions ragged, with their custodian being one of the primary culprits.
Casillas could have done better in the lead-up to De Vrij’s header, but it was the next goal that well and truly epitomised his day, as his horrendous error was gleefully accepted by Van Persie. Things had come a full circle for the great man when he was left sprawling on the ground by the man whom he so effortlessly thwarted at Soccer City four summers ago – Arjen Robben had gotten his revenge.
Pundits and fans alike soon clamoured for him to be replaced and, sadly, Casillas was never seen in the same light again for Spain.
#8 Roberto Carlos vs France - 2006 World Cup
Roberto Carlos vs France brings great memories to fans of the game all over the world; who can forget his curling, banana free kick away from the French wall and into the goal against Les Bleus? Unfortunately, for the former Ballon d’Or nominee, this fixture holds no such rosy memories for the Selecao faithful – partly due to his fault.
Seen as the torch bearer of outright favourites Brazil in the 2006 World Cup along with the likes of Ronaldo, Kaka and Ronaldinho; Carlos was arguably the best full-back in the world at the time. And when the favourites were drawn against France in the quarter-finals, Carlos had his task cut out as he had Thierry Henry to deal with.
Things went fine until the 56th minute when Carlos read his team’s offside trap horribly wrong, letting Henry through for a simple finish from Zinedine Zidane’s free kick. To make things worse, his error looked particularly bad because of the time he took to judge the trajectory of the ball. He was seen resting and didn’t even move until after the free kick was taken!
The ensuing criticism resulted in him never playing for the Selecao again, and he received the kind of flak that David Luiz got in 2014. His career went downhill ever since, and Real Madrid sold him soon after, resulting in him becoming a veteran journeyman like many of his compatriots.
#7 Maicon vs Tottenham Hotspur - 2010 Champions League
If ever there was a one-sided personal battle on a football pitch, this was one. Fans of the game would find it hard to recall if the match is simply termed “Internazionale vs Spurs”.
But mention the name Maicon, and we all remember the day Gareth Bale announced himself to the world. Things have gone into fast forward mode for the Welshman ever since, with him winning the Champions League (twice).
The Real Madrid winger scored a blistering hat-trick with the fullback being partly, if not fully, at fault for all three goals. For a player – who won the treble the previous season, which saw him score against the likes of Barcelona, win the best European defender of the year award, and earn a well-deserved Ballon d’Or nomination, besides scoring a scorcher against North Korea in the 2010 World Cup – to fall into the abyss that he fell into in the space of a few months, is shocking.
It was a fall from which he never recovered. After another disappointing season at San Siro, he departed for the Etihad where he was a bad failure. He impressed in patches for Roma later, thus earning himself a call-up for the 2014 World Cup squad.
After being tormented by James Rodriguez in the quarter-final, Maicon delivered another shoddy performance against Germany in the semis. And we all know how that match ended.
#6 Fabian Barthez vs Arsenal - 2001 Premier League
After the departure of the Peter ‘The Great Dane’ Schmeichel, the No.1 spot turned out to be a problematic one for Sir Alex Ferguson. Mark Bosnich came and went, before he was replaced by the eccentric, yet decorated Frenchman, Fabian Barthez. Having started out well, his United career took a steep dive, as his performances were strewn with clumsy, yet hilarious errors.
The most high-profile ones though were against fierce rivals Arsenal. With a certain Thierry Henry blazing on all cylinders, the Red Devils needed Barthez to deliver a flawless performance. It was anything but that. An innocuous goal kick gave Arsenal a lead coming from behind, with the French custodian gifting the ball to his compatriot.
Now, one error in a match with such high stakes could be just about forgiven. Not a second one. Unfortunately, Murphy’s Law held sway over the Frenchman, as he charged out against Henry, before inexplicably spilling it. The game was dead and buried, and Barthez was right in the line of fire.
This match triggered a series of lows for the Frenchman with a disappointing 2002 World Cup campaign and a subsequent loan spell to Marseille. How he beat Gregor Coupet to the starting spot in Germany 2006 is a question to which the French media haven’t found an answer yet.
A forgettable twilight phase came to a sad end, as he couldn’t save a single Italy penalty and Les Blues crashed out in the final.
#5 Juan Sebastian Veron vs Bayer Leverkusen - 2002 Champions League
From one high-profile Manchester United flop to another. Juan Sebastian Veron’s lack of popularity in the Old Blighty was well documented. So much so that the wily old Sir Alex Ferguson had to resort to a pair of expletives to defend his expensive signing.
Now, the rest of the world took Veron’s side too. They couldn’t comprehend how the magician from Lazio could fail in the hallowed red shirt.
And then came this shocker of a performance in one of the most crucial games. In the first leg of the 2001/02 Champions League semi-final at Old Trafford, Veron put on a mediocre show against Bayer Leverkusen. The Argentine was anonymous, with Michael Ballack bossing him around. The score was 2-2.
With the return of Roy Keane for the second leg, Veron was pushed up to his favoured trequartista role. And oh boy, did he disappoint! In a match where captain Keane played his heart out, Veron typified his United stint with an indifferent showing. The Red Devils paid for his profligacy as the German side advanced on away goals.
The gauntlet had well and truly fallen on him now as he became a fringe player the following season before moving on to a forgettable spell to Chelsea. Meanwhile, he captained Argentina to a dismal showing in the 2002 World Cup, incurring the wrath of the Argentine fans.
He managed to resurrect his career with Inter later when he played for the Nerazurri at a time when Italian football was burning under the Calciopoli scandal. However, he could never scale the heights he once reached, even though he won the Serie A title with them.
#4 Dunga vs France - 1998 World Cup final
There are different kinds of leaders – the quiet, unassuming ones like Javier Zanetti or Andres Iniesta, the valiant one-man armies like Fransesco Totti or Steven Gerrard and the prickly, no-nonsense, no-holds-barred ones like Roy Keane or Patrick Vieira. Carlos Dunga fell into the latter category. And hence, he had to deal with all the brickbats and criticisms that were caused by such an attitude throughout his career.
The problem with having a lot of enemies and detractors is that all they need is one slip up; one moment of weakness, and they’ll cling on to it till their objectives are met. Inevitably, one such day of reckoning arrived for the former Selecao skipper too. Only, it was at the grandest stage of all.
Ronaldo may have ended up receiving most of the flak for the team’s dismal showing, but unlike his skipper, he had a shot at redemption four years later. For Dunga though, a poor final where he was owned by Emmanuel Petit and Zindeine Zidane, meant that his career at the pinnacle of the game was surely over. For a player who had already been under heavy scrutiny after his infamous bust-up with fan favourite Bebeto, this was the final straw in a chequered career.
He slowly moved into footballing wilderness, eventually settling at the Japanese club Jubilo Iwata.
#3 Fabio Cannavaro vs Fulham - 2010 Europa League
Fabio Cannavaro was never a loved figure in the hearts of the true Bianconeros. He was the pride of the club before Calciopoli struck, the cornerstone around which Juventus built their success. But upon their relegation, he jumped ship, like many other stars at the club, leaving the Old Lady of Turin in limbo. And hence, his return to the club he once deserted wasn’t greeted with much fanfare in Turin.
This wasn’t the Juventus that he had taken to the pinnacle, though. This was a team that was still reeling from the ignominies of four years past. And by the time autumn arrived in his first season upon returning, another autumn arrived – Fabio Cannavaro had started falling from those stratospheric heights of perfection.
Knocked out of the Champions League in the group stages due to some poor defending, the supporters had only the Europa League to look forward to, with the team struggling in the Serie A. And this was when the fragile Juventino-Cannavaro relationship was torn into tatters.
The team was in London, taking a 3-1 lead with them, and were about to face Fulham. After racing to a 1-0 lead, Cannavaro was the culprit behind two reckless challenges, for which he was duly sent off. Juventus lost the match 4-1, having to play the majority of the match with 10 men.
Cannavaro had become a villain. A long way to come for a Ballon d’Or winner.
#2 Frank Leboeuf vs Senegal - 2002 World Cup
Senegal’s triumph over France in their opening fixture in the 2002 World Cup is easily the biggest upset in the history of the tournament. This was one of the best teams ever to play the game, the holders of both the World Cup and the European Championship. Before boarding the flight with a team full of superstars, the French media pointed out one weakness in an otherwise seemingly perfect side – Frank Lebouef.
They were proven wrong, however, not because Lebouef was good – he was terrible in fact – but, because the rest of the team was equally bad. But, they had something that Lebouef didn’t. The backing of the media and pundits alike. The former Chelsea centre-back, though, had no such support to fall back on.
In a match that still rankles the heart of Les Bleus faithful, their ageing defender was taken to the cleaners by the erratic, yet mercurial winger El Hadji Diouf. He raced past Lebouef early in the game before delivering the killer assist that shocked an entire nation. While Fabian Barthez and Emmanuel Petit stood in shock, Lebouef was left lying the ground as a broken man.
The defender’s career graph took a heavy beating ever since and he moved to Qatar where he had two short stints with Al Sadd and Al Wakrah. A sad end to a stellar career.
#1 Moasir Barbosa vs Uruguay - 1950 World Cup final
Football is an obsession beyond compare for the Brazilians. While it revels in success and cheers the winners, it condemns the losers to a barrage of hate and misery. It was still harsher in the case of Moasir Barbosa though. He had to live and die, with the tag of traitor hanging like an albatross around his neck.
Maracanazo needs no introduction. When Alcides Ghiggia scored the winner past a hapless Barbosa, millions of Brazilian hearts were broken. They needed a scapegoat to heal – and their goalie was there for the taking.
The Vasco da Gama great, who won the Copa America the previous year, never played another match for his beloved national team. He was 30 then, the age when most goalkeepers reach their prime. Even a killer gets a 30-year sentence in Brazil; this man was sentenced until death. He was banished from entering the Selecao’s training facility, as he was considered a jinx. His countrymen hated the very mention of his name.
In 1993, the CBF President Ricardo Tiexiera prevented the man from commentating on a football match because of a footballing error he committed nearly half a century earlier. He died seven years later; uncared for and ignored. That fateful night didn’t just destroy Moasir Barbosa Nascimento’s reputation; it destroyed the man.
