The ten most influential captains of the modern era: Javier Zanetti

Between 1995-1996 (the season of his debut) till the turn of the new century in 2000, Zanetti featured regularly in both domestic and European fixtures for Inter Milan, often standing out as the best player. Stats indicate that he made at least 35 appearances per season between then, catapulting himself from a status of “just any talent out there” to “THE TALENT HERE”.

Inter Milan of then was not a superpower in the Serie A, often failing to make any surge to secure the title. The organisation was enduring a dark spell, with the team nowhere as pre-eminent as today’s side. But what was elucidating to be the decline of the team still overloaded with some of the world’s best talents, it saw the rise of Javier Zanetti to the mantle he still legions over today.

In due time, he was made captain, taking over reigns from Guiseppe Bergomi. Since then, Zanetti has played in seasons where he has made over 50 appearances, the lowest of which was 34. Only in retrospect to his achievements, is 34 subpar standard for the Argentine.

However, when he tore his Achilles tendon shortly after making his 110th appearance for the club, a lot doubted if his career could have prolonged as long it did. But as always as it has been, his never say die mentality to keep fighting did pay off then, and he was swiftly returned back to action.

Massimo Moratti’s best buy as owner of Inter, arguably, has been Javier Zanetti, but to follow that was Jose Mourinho. Under the tutelage of the Portuguese, Inter Milan was back amongst the elite in Europe.

The highlight of this culminated in the Champions League victory over Bayern Munich in 2010 – a game Mourinho won with his mind through Zanetti’s marvel of litheness. The duo forged a partnership that trademarked Inter’s dominance in Italy and Europe.

Desperation was prevailing at its highest in seasons before that, when fans called for the team to win in Europe. Inter failed to progress through the knockout stages and had to deal with the unceremonious exits handed to them in a row by English oppositions. The blue side of Milan was relegating itself to being ushered out of the competition by much younger oppositions.

That wasn’t the case in 2010 where Zanetti was upbeat in shackling quicker feet than him with his invincible reading of the game, thereby setting the right tone for those around to only follow in his footsteps. Players at Inter needed someone to look up to and they needn’t have looked too far to see Zanetti constantly lunging in tackles, running every minute of the game and pushing himself to conquer his opponent.

He not only shut out the likes of Robben and Ribery in the final but was unshakably crucial in the semifinal victory over a Barcelona team peaking in form with the sans peril triumvirate of Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta. Not only did a much younger opposition find it difficult to surge past Zanetti but were trying to cope up with his vision that set up attacks for goals to seal both the ties.

Over the next three years, Juventus and cross city rivals, AC Milan, initiated challenges back to the title with Inter being displaced to the peripheries of top 4. Lacklustre has been the team’s performances since then with many players being shipped in and out of the first team, except one.

We all know that “one” – yes, the very “one” for over 18 years and 800 appearances.

A long time ago, Inter and Massimo Morrati handed its first check to sign Javier Zanetti. Little did anybody including the player himself expect that check to be the smartest yet most valuable handed out in football’s recent memory.

Adelmar is his middle name; Javier is his first – both of which are keyed in modern football as the ones that pretext the name on his back. Yes, the name on his back which we have seen for years that have gone, and the years that will come. The name that is synonymous with devotion, dedication and distinction.

Influential is a term rightfully quantified by consistency and durability, and Javier Zanetti’s role as captain surely has been influential.