Genius and madness collide as Suarez joins football's greatest nutters

Was Aristotle talking about Luis Suarez when he suggested that "No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness."? Judging by the reception the disgraced Uruguayan received at Anfield on his triumphant return to the ground for a Liverpool All-Star charity match, the answer is 'yes'.

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Football's craziest and most talented players. (SBS digital department) Source: SBS

Suarez is one of a large number of star footballers who blur the lines between madness and genius, at once enchanting fans with their ability to create magic on the field, and frustrating them with moments of madness.

Suarez's heroes reception at Liverpool, the club he left in disgrace after biting an opponent during the 2014 FIFA World Cup, caused The World Game to compile a list of football's most talented nutcases. 

That we could not fit Paul Gascoigne into the XI says it all. 

The line up is a 3-1-3-1-2 formation, but really, it would take a bloody brave coach to try and tell any of these unhinged geniuses where to play.    





Rene Higuita

Anyone with a nickname 'The Madman' deserved careful consideration here. The Colombian's habit of going on logic-defying dribbles where many chose just to clear the ball had him added to the shortlist. Sometimes it worked but at Italia '90, this happened:
But it was the 'scorpian' clearance that elevated the Colombian mullet into the starting side above the likes of Bruce Grobbelaar.
John Terry

Chelsea and England defender John Terry has a rap-sheet longer than his career achievements. Among his "finest" moments are being fined for parking his Bentley in a disabled spot, being caught in an undercover sting by a journalist in 2009, rumours of an affair with the wife of team-mate Wayne Bridge and dressing in full kit to join his Chelsea team-mates to celebrate the UEFA Champions League final win in 2012 - despite not playing a single minute in the match, making him a meme for all time.
John Terry Meme
Pepe

Take a peak inside the Real Madrid defender's kit bag and you'll find, loose elbows when the match officials aren't looking, stomping, verbal abuse and theatrical diving to the ground. If Pepe was a garden dwelling herbivore, he would be a grub.
Julian Dicks

Former West Ham United captain Dicks had already achieved 'hard man' status by the time the 1992-1993 season rolled around. As his team chased promotion to the Premier League, Dicks went mental, getting himself sent off three times, being stripped of the captaincy and copping a bucket-load of red cards.

The first time he was sent off was for an elbow on Newcastle United's Franz Carr. Dicks said: "I had it in my mind that I was going to elbow him, and that was it - bang!"   

Dicks on what it means to be 'hard':
Despite seeing more red than a doctor at a haemophilia clinic that year, Dicks played 34 of 46 games, scored seven goals and helped his team to promotion.

Last year our man dabbled in film, applying his unique brand of aggression to a cameo appearance in 'The Hooligan Factory' - an apt title for a certified lunatic.

And finally, this downright weird musical tribute to Dicks:
Gennaro Gattuso

Most sane people would back down from a sideline clash with English hard man Joe Jordan, nicknamed 'Jaws' after his front teeth were knocked out early in his playing career.

Most sane people aren't ex-Milan mentalist Gennaro Gattuso, who headbutted the then-Spurs assistant during a heated 2011 UEFA Champions League clash. Classic Gattuso, an angry ant-type figure prone to bouts of beautiful football.
Years later a mellow Gattuso provided this post-match summation of his time in charge at OFI Crete.
Vinnie Jones

A key component of Wimbledon's heralded 'Crazy Gang' of the late 1980s and early 1990s, Jones built his hardman reputation on the foundations of no-nonsense tackling, as well as, on occassion, a bit of tackle grabbing, as Paul Gascoigne knows only too well.
Vinnie Jones Paul Gascoigne
Jones was sent off 12 times in his career, and held the record for the fastest red card at three seconds. But he could play and contributed to a team culture at Wimbledon in his time there that saw an otherwise ordinary bunch of players defeat the mighty Liverpool in the 1988 FA Cup final.
Jones used his tough-guy image to secure a Hollywood movie star retirement plan, starting with a role as Big Chris in Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels. That started his big career on the silver screen, which continues to this day in the hilarious TV show Galavant.

Zinedine Zidane

The best No.10 of his generation, and perhaps ever, Zinedine Zidane's talent for football has never been in doubt. But the Frenchman didn't always use his head for good, as he demonstrated to spectacular effect in the 2006 FIFA World Cup final against Italy.

But that wasn't the first time Zizou had butted brains with an opponent, and he also seemed to take inspiration from countryman Eric Cantona's penchant for king-fu on more than one occasion.
Roy Keane

Hours of fun can be had just by googling 'Roy Keane rants'. For a much quicker hit that delivers the same punch, pardon the pun, just type 'Keane fight with Mick McCarthy.' To summarise, Republic of Ireland coach McCarthy accused his captain, Keane, of faking an injury in the lead up to the 2002 World Cup. Keane called McCarthy "a liar and a f#$@ing wanker" who can "stick your World Cup up your arse", quit the team and caused a national outcry.

Here's a bit more of all that's good, and bad, about the Manchester United legend who could also double as a coach of this motley crew of troubled superstars.
Diego Maradona

Arguably will also go down as one of the sport's most controversial characters. But no matter how hard he tries, the Argentine is and will always be universally loved. Oh how he tries.

There were the drug suspensions in 1991 and 1994, a catastrophic coaching stint that saw the national team crash out of the 2010 World Cup, opening fire with an air rifle on journalists camped outside his house and that "Hand of God' goal.
Luis Suarez 

Don't ever use the insult "bite me" on Luis Suarez. The chances are he will. His nibble on Italy's Giorgio Chiellini at the 2014 FIFA World Cup cemented his reputation as a possible flesh-eating zombie, being the third time he'd chomped down on an opponent during a professional football match.
Suarez, though, is one of the most gifted strikers the Premier League has ever seen, with more than 30 goals in his last season at Liverpool, before leaving for Barcelona off the back of his World Cup munching, where he continues to bulge the back of the net, and thus far on a more conventional diet.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Where do we begin with this man. Swedish psycho Zlatan Ibrahimovic is a walk-up start because of his ability to score some of the most outrageous goals imagineable, and he is as brilliant on the ball as he is crazy off it.

Ibrahimovic has belittled journalists, slammed his own team-mates, chastised fans, slapped, headbutted, kicked and kissed opponents and generally displayed the predictablity of a wasp on speed (hat-tip Sid Waddel).

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7 min read
Published 30 March 2015 1:03pm
Updated 30 March 2015 4:18pm
By Tom Findlay
Source: SBS

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