THE FALLEN ANGEL OF BRAZIL

Asked a few years ago what he thought of Liverpool FC, Pele, a global ambassador for football no less, said that, yes, Liverpool were a fine team indeed. They have great players, he continued, like Ryan Giggs.

In Brazil, “the greatest player that’s ever been” isn’t revered quite so much as he is in, say, FIFA HQ. He may be ‘The King’, but there’s a feeling of disassociation these days between the young man from the streets who left his mark on the game and the deity he has now become. He recently joked that he was more famous than God because people in Asia knew him, too. So no, in Brazil, they hold another player dearer to their hearts, a man born with a bent spine, one leg shorter than the other and each pointing in opposite directions. That man was Garrincha...

Where Pele, dressed to the nines, is Mr. Squeaky Clean, the Goodie Two Shoes of footballing heroes, Garrincha, when he was alive, was famed as much for his off-field antics as he was for his other worldly on-field abilities. He’s been called the Brazilian George Best, but, according to Garrincha’s biographer Ruy Castro, the Irishman's efforts away from the football field simply don’t match up. The Brazilian lost his virginity to a goat, fathered 14 children with five different women (and those are only those we know about), and drank himself into an early grave at the age of 49. He tried to commit suicide twice, and killed his mother-in-law in a car crash. He was not, it’s safe to say, blessed with the luck of a God. But the people of Brazil feel a deep connection with Garrincha precisely because of these imperfections in his character. He never wanted to be anything other than a footballer, he hated wearing a suit, and he never bought a home with palatial gates behind which he could hide. He also never lost touch with his childhood friends.

Garrincha played football because he loved playing football, an amateur in the truest sense of the word. And despite being born a cripple, it was a love that brought him two World Cup winners’ medals. Many believe the win in 1962 was down to him alone, such was his impact on the tournament. Four years earlier, in Sweden, he came up against Wales (I know, these things just don’t happen anymore) in the semi-finals. The Welsh left-back Mel Hopkins, charged with stopping him, said of Garrincha, “When he stood and faced you, his legs went one way and his body the other. There’s no doubt about it, he could have been declared a cripple. But my God could he play.” Indeed, forget Ronaldo, Garrincha is surely the greatest dribbler that’s ever been (check the video below).

He died in a Rio hospital in 1983 but was buried in his home village of Pau Grande. The main roads leading in were jammed on the day of the funeral. Thousands of people fought for only 300 seats in the church, leaving hoards of desperate mourners outside. Such was the tension that the priest had to curtail the service and merely blessed the body. He was carried by the people to the cemetery where 8,000 Botafogo fans (his club) had been waiting for hours. Garrincha’s own family couldn’t get near to the grave to see him buried.

These are not the kind of scenes reserved for ordinary footballers. And Garrincha, the unlikeliest of all players, the cripple who became a wizard with a ball at his feet, was in no way ordinary. He was special, a flawed sporting genius to whom even “The King” has occasionally bowed:

“Without Garrincha, I would never have been a three-time world champion.” For once, the man speaks some sense.