Let us step back a bit in time to the late 1990s when scoring 50 goals a season was unheard of. Although, it accounted for one of the biggest and most shocking transfers in the soccer world. Young Luís Figo of Portugal who had just made his name in the soccer world by playing brilliantly for Sporting FC was awaiting his big move to Italy.
The saga of controversies started right at the beginning of his career when he signed contracts with The Old Lady(Juventus) and Parma at the same time. This resulted in him getting a two year Italian transfer ban, but his chances of making it big were far from over. Playing for Sporting FC he had gained attention from all the big clubs in the world. Seeing that the Italian clubs were out of the race, the two biggest competitors for Figo were FC Barcelona(La Liga) and Manchester City(Premier League). But, a few more problems came his way due to transfer rules that kept him from joining Manchester City.
The result of all of these series of events resulted in Figo joining Barcelona. Figo’s career took off to its full potential at Barcelona, where he was surrounded by the likes of the great Rivaldo and Ronaldo. He won the UEFA Cup Winner’s Cup with Barcelona in 1996-97. He had become a household in Barcelona as one of the best players on the team who never disappointed. But unfortunately, a couple of years later, he disappointed Barcelona fans all across the world.
It is a known fact for anyone who watches Spanish soccer or soccer in general that, Barcelona and Real Madrid have the biggest rivalry, possibly in the world. Imagine being a fan of one of these Spanish giants and seeing your talisman transfer to the other team! This is what the Barcelona fans were going through in July of 2000. Real Madrid met the buy out clause of Luís Figo, making it one of the most expensive transfer at the time, where they payed $70 million. This transfer came as a shock to everyone and certainly wasn’t taken very sportingly. It got even worse when he won a Balon D’Or that year for Real Madrid for what he had accomplished in Barcelona.
On October 21, 2000 when Figo came to Barcelona only in a white jersey to play the El Clasico, he experienced what players shouldn’t ever experience in their lifetime. All the 98000 fans in the stadium calling him a traitor, scum, throwing everything from bottles to mobile phones at him as he entered the pitch. This display of bad sportsmanship was displayed throughout the game, which affected Figo’s game, causing Madrid to lose 0-2 to Barcelona. This display was condemned by everyone in the soccer world, but it didn’t matter to the hurt fans of Barcelona who displayed the same behavior a year down the line, again disrupting play. But, over the next few years this hatred that they possessed for Figo calmed down.
In 2005 Figo went on a free transfer to Inter Milan, where he played brilliantly for the next few seasons, before finally retiring in 2008 when he led Inter Milan to their title victory.
Luís Figo is considered as one of the greatest legends in world of soccer by all despite his controversial transfers.
Wow that is cool! Actually, I’ve never heard of the story of Figo in such detail before but more about the characters famous people are interested in. Thank you for introducing the legend!