I remember the game very well. Maldini struggled like I had never seen him as a left back for the first 30 minutes. Overmars was owning him. But after that he calmed down a bit, and in fact in the second half I don't think Overmars went by him once. But I think people forget how good Overmars was in his prime, one of the fastest players I have ever seen, truly underrated talent.
Great game! Overmars was friggin amazing! Speedy Gonzalez-like! Maldini was also a 5 star player. One of the best duels i've had the pleasure to watch.
nunca me habia fijao en este partido.Y si maldini esta claro q pocos defensas llegaran a su nivel,actualmente me refiero.Y overmars todos sabemos q stando wena forma puede q alla sido uno de los jugadores mas rapidos de la historia y por lo tanto de los mas verticales.Un gran video,si señor!
The best duel I have ever seen between a defender and a forward. I can't say who was better out of these two great players of their time on that day but both of them were simply outstanding in that game. It was just a treat to watch and it is still very fresh in my memory....
I think Overmars was Maldini's toughest opponent, no one else gave him that much trouble, Overmars must be the quickest player ever to have such great control of the ball
This is exactly why I love the World cup , you get the damn best of every Country battling it out against eachother , it's a shame that you only get to see it every 4 damn years tho.
Maldini knew Overmars was faster than him so Paolo made some fouls and stopped overmars the entire game!....That's a good defender!!! he did not got expelled so he won the 1 on 1 with Overmars.....thumbs up for Maldini one of the best defenders ever
I'm an AC Milan fan, and I can tell that facing Overmars (in Ajax FC and with Holland) was ALWAYS a nightmare. Anyway, in that game Paolo was in troubles only in the first half. In the second he found a good marking.
@lovingmontasoccer Absolutely! And I really miss these players along with Vieri, Batistuta, Bergkamp and so on. I still love football today but I preferred 90s football.
Great battle! I remember this match quite well. Gutwrenching we went out on penals. Maldini did cross the yellow-card border a few times, though. Great defender, absolute legend, but here he had to resort to the heavy weapons too much. Part of that is also the ref's fault, though, for letting him get away with it constantly. Overall great video, though!
this video perfectly shows the fighting mentellaty from overmars that i miss from many players now. Like c.ronaldo or luis suarez when there being (not even) slightly thouched @ 00:13 he was obviously fouled, but he still wants to get up and play @00:35 he could have gone down to, because maldini charged him like a wild man @00:50 looks like hes falling, but he gets up instantly @ 01:00 overmars (little) blocks out maldini (very big) twice! and what a speeed! at 00:12 when passing maldini
totally agree i also heard that overmars dropped the last yr of his contract at barcelona as he was always injured (when he could have easily sat on the bench all the time collecting a huge weekly wage) Also in this clip i think maldini should have been sent off. the one where overmars nocks it past him and then maldini trips him should have been an instant yellow card and then he just kept committing fouls the only way he can handle a speed demon like overmars!
Hmm interesting battle it was. Brought back some memories of that match. Overmars did get only one cross in which led to that Kluivert/Nesta shirt pulling fiasco.
to whoever says that overmars is better...are you crazy???? overmars may have talent but maldini is a legend! A LEGEND! Maldini didn't really play very good in this game but he still owned Overmars. Plus in this game Maldini is already old and Overmars isn't so it's not really fair of a challenge.
Can someone please send this video to those of todays players that seems to fall down every time even a little wind is touching 'em...?! Overmars was great! :-)
I remember maldini was coming back from an injury... he was not sure he would have played... they decided at the last minute... he was not at the top of his explosiveness!!!
i never saw overmars winning over maldini... maldini was like a shadow on him... i only saw one foul.. in second 0:25 the other plays and slides were only ball and then contact... but that contact cannot be avoided with such a fast fight!... maldini the best defender in history and to me he won this duel....
Overmars was a very troublesome winger, but Maldini did his job.. if you cannot outpace him then you can outmuscle him and that is what Maldini did, it must have been hell for Overmars to be in such good form but not be able to do anything
This is maldini already into his 30s in year 2000. he had already surpassed and taken hundreds like overmars to the cleaners for a decade plus. he then went on to take more to the cleaners for another 9 seasons. he has more medals in his cabinet than overmars will have in his dreams.
omg at the charity match situation.... overmars is quick, but if u watch the video without biase its clear that overmars was a handful for paolo, but he was contained, he didnt let him progress, thats a defenders job...as a defender myself i say he did his job well..dont get me wrong overmars was a handful... but he was pounced on at every chance by il capitano.
i always love fast sprinter footballers and overmars was one of the fastest in football history but look how maldini is stoping him.... even maldini was a lot lot slower than him and most of defenders but he had brain ... we dont have defenders like him today but i hope we will have.. i support chiellini for now lets see if he will get stabil ..
O solo pasa balon o solo pasa jugador... yo veo que nunca paso Overmars con el balon. Lo que pasa es que estamos acostumbrados a ver a Maldini ganar sus duelos siempre con elegancia, pero si alguna vez es necesario detener a con dureza, pues tiene que hacerlo. Paolo Maldini anulo una y otra vez a jugadores muchisimo mejores que Overmars, piensen en eso...
@cosvideo2008 You couldn't be more accurate... I will always remember this epic battle. Italy showed what perfect defence should always look like.Toldo greatlly contributed to the victory. Cheers!!!
agree for materazzi, but to be honest...i think u must sell beans. Totti has a great technical skill, inzaghi is very clever and has a good "sense of goal", gattuso is a great fighter the best of his role, maldini is a LEGEND i don't know how u can deny that -.-
In the five 1v1 of this video, Maldini commits 4 faults. In most of them Overmars was going easily thru him. Great defender, but he could not stop Overmars in a fair way.
what you are talking about! This was the Euro semifina played in Holandl where Italy played in 10 since the beginning Holland didnt manage to score! Italy went to the final! It was an epic battle....yet Italy defense proved to be too good! Nesta Cannavaro Maldini...final score 0-0 although playing all game in 10 for 90 minutes
I need not defend anything. Maldini marked Overmars well. Overmars played well. And Overmars only got one cross in the whole match. But that doesn't mean he didnt play well. I am pissed of with people who claimed Maldini played rough and stuff like that.
Maldini didnt won this duel with Overmars, Maldini fouls him all the time, wich is a sign of weakness for defenders. Good defenders stop attackers, or any player without fouling. I dont say Maldini is bad defender, cos i personally think he was one of the best.
sent off?? nah.. alot of these stuffs still happens.. its what defenders do. like you said, "overmars became scared of him".. thats the trick to stop wingers like overmars, ronaldo and messi.. give them a good kick when you get a chance.. sure its dirty, but its still happening alot.. and the pundits and experts sure agree its okay..
@mmLeftovers 0:07 perfect slide tackle. at 1:02 somewhat by luck as well maldini manages by rolling on the ground to make overmars lose control of the ball, at 1:07 in the same action he remanages to take away the ball from him...that's his objective...i'd say it's a win. and if a defender doesn't struggle that means he sucks or the enemy sucks.
Lol, Maldini couldn't even see Overmars with the ball, because he was too fast for him. Maldini is a great player but Overmars just owned him in this match.
@vicentecala Puyol is very close to him, but in my opinion he had 2 many up and downs in comparison to Maldini. He was out of the extrodinary already with 17. And i cant recall any Defender that was so inspiring to watch except for Baresi. (like looking at Messi how he plays today) Wich are the most rare attribute for a Defender.
@ProFF77 Maldini had great positioning. He wasnt the fastest and wasnt explosive. But at that point where most players are leaving the defender behind Maldini would just move in front of them hence not committing foul and keeping the player from passing. Some defenders think that as long as there's no card and the foul is committed away from danger but on a potentially dangerous situation if the attacker passes, they win.
@uma1r lol ty. In general in arguments i dont tend to lose my cool. but a lot of people do. It can be pretty funny seeing peopel who seem to cry at any insult to their fav team or player... but yeh i aint too bothered myself! I dont really support a team either so i dunno if that adds to it or nolol .and credit to you being matture as well!
you can tell maldini was having a bad day, he was angry and irritated. personal problems most likely. because if maldini could contain the likes of maradona and zidane and other legends, overmars, in all respect to his skill, was not at maldini's level.
