Basta: My Life, My Truth – the International Bestseller by Marco van Basten

Author:Marco van Basten [Basten, Marco van]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781788402514
Google: 0vnuDwAAQBAJ
Amazon: 1788402510
Published: 2020-11-05T00:00:00+00:00

MILAN (10)

Like the dancer Nureyev

In Italy they saw beauty in the way I moved, they felt my style was graceful. That’s why they called me The Swan. There’s also an Italian children’s book, a fairy tale about the Utrecht Swan, Il Cigno di Utrecht, based on my life in football. I think it’s really special that children have that read to them at school.

Silvio Berlusconi would sometimes call me Nureyev, after the famous Russian ballet dancer, whose dancing was peerless. According to Berlusconi, I danced at the San Siro. At home in the hall I have a large painting based on Nureyev. An elegant dancer in red and black, Milan’s colours. The style appeals to me. Without any frills.

The Dutch TV show Studio Sport once made a programme comparing my movements on the football pitch with those of a ballet dancer. The ballet guru and choreographer Rudi van Dantzig and Johan Cruyff discussed the similarities and differences between elite ballet and elite football. It’s a compliment to be compared with a top dancer. It was very interesting, and the visuals were excellent too. You saw elegant movements of mine at De Meer, match images with classical music backing. And they arranged for a top ballet dancer, Clint Farha of the Dutch National Ballet, to dance in an empty Ajax stadium. It was called Feints. That was exactly what Berlusconi meant by his comparison with Nureyev.

What they all found so wonderful was that my style was so upright. Though I didn’t quite see it that way. As a sportsman I think you really have to be closer to the ground, with a low centre of gravity, like Messi, Cruyff and Pelé, for example. They all look far more elegant, because they have a masterful way of moving. But I couldn’t get as close to the ground. I couldn’t bend my ankle so well after the operation in 1987, so I was always a little more upright in the years afterwards. Nevertheless, a great many people found my style very attractive. The perfect combination of coordination and balance.

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