Marco van Basten made his last appearance for the Dutch national team on October 14, 1992; bringing the curtain down on a stunning, if stifled, international career.
The match was only his 58th cap and came just before his 28th birthday – but a persistent ankle injury ended his playing days less than a year later.
Van Basten had emerged at the peak of world football in 1988 when he lit up the Euros that summer as Rinus Michels’ side became European champions for the first time.
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A superb all-round player; van Basten was elegant and strong, equally deadly with either foot, powerful in the air, and quick across the ground, providing a constant handful for every defence he faced.
Born on October 31, 1964, van Basten began playing for his local youth side at just seven and by the time he was 18, he had been signed by the Dutch giants Ajax – one of the biggest names in European football.
With Ajax he won three Eredivisie titles and four cups including the 1986/87 Cup Winners Cup - bagging 128 goals in 133 league matches in the process.
After six seasons in Amsterdam, he moved to AC Milan in 1987 where his trophy haul was immense - winning three European Cups, four Serie A titles, four Supercoppas and two Intercontinental Cups.
And the pinnacle of his international career would be shared with Milan teammates Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard, as van Basten scored five goals for the Netherlands at Euro ‘88 - including a memorable hat-trick against England, decisive strikes in the semi-final and one of the greatest goals ever witnessed against the USSR in the final - as the Dutch became European champions.
Just two years later a disappointing early World Cup exit followed at Italia ‘90 with van Basten failing to find the net as the Netherlands scored only three goals in the tournament before being knocked out by West Germany in the Second Round.
However, he finished the 1991/92 season as Serie A’s top scorer as well as being named European Footballer of the Year for the third time and FIFA World Player of the Year - little surprise, then, that much was expected of van Basten and Holland ahead of the 1994 World Cup in America
But though he played in the first two qualification games - a 2–1 loss to Norway and the 2–2 draw with Poland – he would miss the team’s further two matches through injury.
Then, in the Champions League final in May 1993, he suffered an ankle injury that forced him to sit out the entire 1993/94 and 1994/95 seasons – he would also miss the 1994 World Cup.
The injury never fully healed and a player considered to be one of the best to ever grace the famous orange jersey announced his retirement from the game in 1995.
“I was at the maximum of my career,” he would later reveal, “Things that followed were nice and beautiful. But, all of a sudden, in 1993, I played my last game.
“Everything went down. There was a lot of pain and problems. You could say that in those five years I had my whole international career.
“After a lot of problems with operations, I was limping. I couldn’t do anything without pain. I was really handicapped and the doctors couldn’t help me. I was a little afraid.”
The “Swan of Utrecht” scored 277 goals in just 373 club games at the top level - reflecting his status as one of the best strikers of his generation at a time when attacking players weren’t afforded the protection they are today.
We can only imagine what van Basten would have achieved had it not been for those persistent injuries that forced his premature retirement at a time when most players are reaching the peak of their powers – and his 24 goals in 58 games for Holland more than backs that up.
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