He has exchanged shirts with the best strikers in the world as a memento of an impressive football career. Names like Giggs, Torres and Pirlo have recently started hanging on John Heitinga's wall, turning his office into a small museum. John gives his view on these living legends.Text: Bart-Jan Brouwer
Image: John van Helvert
“Primordial man. Terribly strong. Powerhouse.
I literally and figuratively almost have it with him
fought. A superstar at Chelsea, that one too
was able to take fantastic free kicks again.”
“When I think of Gerrard, I mainly think of the Merseyside derbies. I also played against Liverpool in the Champions League with Atlético. He is an icon in English football. This is his England shirt that he wore during the friendly match with the Dutch team in Birmingham in 2005: a one-off printed kit that supported the anti-racism initiative 'Stand up, Speak up' organized by Nike.”
“An architect on the field, who is at the top in Italy
has played: Inter, AC Milan and Juventus. I
I played against him with Ajax when he was at
AC Milan was with the Dutch national team. This
shirt is from the match at the 2008 European Championship
we beat Italy off the mat: 3-0.”
“A ball wizard. A perfect first assumption
and a velvet technique. He always went as a striker
walking behind you, at your back. When
the ball was given to him, he did just that
step back to avoid offside. A
cunning player. Arsenal's top scorer for many years
and later from Manchester United.”
“An assassin. Not technically so
gifted as his famous teammate at
Barcelona, Messi. But terrible
effective."
“Was undefeated champion with Arsenal
a team with Bergkamp and Overmars. He was
very quickly, so you mainly had to focus on depth
remove it and be in a good position.”
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