The recent funeral of Denis Law, the last surviving member of what is known in Manchester United folklore as ‘The Holy Trinity’ – the others being George Best and Bobby Charlton – set my mind to remember other famous footballing threesomes.
Law, Best, Charlton
First, the question has to be asked – why three? Why not two or four or any number that makes up a team of eleven players? Every side needs a goalkeeper, defenders, midfielders and attackers; none works entire of itself. Football is a team game,and all eleven players contribute to the whole. The great teams of course have world-class players in every position, a blessed marriage of individual brilliance and dynamic teamwork. Think of the all-conquering Brazil team that won the World Cup in 1970. I can reel off by memory (most of) the side: Carlos Alberto (c), Clodoaldo, Gerson, Jairzinho, Tostao, Pele, Rivelino. The ones I could not remember and had to look up soon enough swam into focus: Felix in goal, Brito, Piazza, Everaldo. Those eleven players remained more or less unchanged throughout the tournament, truly a team for the ages. There was of course an indisputable superstar in their midst – Pele – but it could never be said, and certainly not by him, that Brazil were a one-man band.
The Boys from Brazil: World Cup Winners 1970
Therefore, why is it that some of the best teams are associated with unforgettable trios, each of whose reputation has beenburnished by his partnership with the other two? Fast bowlers hunt in pairs. That is a widely accepted truism. Think of Macdonald and Gregory (Aus), Larwood and Voce (Eng), Lindwall and Miller (Aus), Hall and Griffith (WI), Trueman and Statham (Eng), Adcock and Heine (SA), Lillee and Thomson (Aus), Wasim and Waqar (Pak), Ambrose and Walsh (WI), Anderson and Broad (Eng)…to name but a few. That is because of the predatory nature of their task; hunters work better in packs. Also, cricket is a more individualistic sport. A team’s effectiveness is the sum total of its individual components. The best teams in football operate as a unit, eleven players striving as a group.
That is why I find the concept of The Holy Trinity so puzzling. There were other outstanding players in that Manchester United team of Law, Charlton and Best. What about Stepney in goal, Brennan, Crerand, Foulkes, Stiles, Kidd? The three did not compete in isolation. I am reminded of another famous trio, Lee, Bell and Summerbee, who played in the Manchester City team at the same time as the United three. It is often forgotten that when Manchester United reached their apogee by winning the European Cup in 1968, Manchester City had won the league that year, just as their acclaimed triumvirate were first making their mark. Yet there were other stars in that team, including the captain Tony Book- another one lately departed - Pardoe, Doyle and Young. Perhaps the fame of the iconic City ‘trinity’ owed to the fact that they were held to be synonymous with a swaggering, swashbuckling brand of football that lit up the Swinging Sixties.
Colin Bell, Mike Summerbee, Franny Lee
Everton fans would think it remiss of me if I did not mention their own holy trinity of Alan Ball, Howard Kendall and Colin Harvey, who won the league in 1970. All three were fine players – Ball of course was a World Cup winner – but somehow the names do not trip off the tongue like the other two trinities.
You just cannot sling three extravagantly gifted footballers together and expect the alchemy to work ipso facto. The three ’galacticos’ assembled by PSG – Messi, Neymar and Mbappe– never really hit it off as a partnership. Perhaps the pitch wasn’t big enough for the three of them. Galacticos have notorious egos and don’t like the shadow cast by a rival, even one in the same team. Yet there have been plenty of other holy trinities that have worked and flourished and entered the portals of greatness.
Christianity is not confined to England alone. Other countries elevated trios of players to divine status. Oddly enough, I cannot find examples of any trinities before the War. Perhaps that is because it was a less secular age back in the day and to compare players to the authentic Holy Trinity would have seemed blasphemous. (Incidentally, which of the three deities would Law, Best and Charlton have represented – the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost? Charlton, obviously, would have been the Father, Best would have been the (wayward) Son and Law, I guess, the Holy Ghost, but as he was ever the showman, the description of ghostly hardly fits him.)
Gento, Di Stefano, Puskas
First up, and probably the most celebrated, was the Real Madrid triumvirate of Di Stefano, Puskas and Gento. Between 1956 and 1960, Real Madrid dominated European football, winning the European Cup five times in succession. Di Stefano started as a centre-forward but latterly dropped back to control the midfield. Puskas, who had defected from communist Hungary, played at inside-left but frequently stole into the box to become a prolific scorer of goals. Gento was simply considered to be best left-winger in history. In truth the threesome should have been a foursome, for Kopa on the right wing was a world-class player in his own right.
The French team of the early 1980s are always associated in my mind with a trio of peerless players – Platini, Giresse and Tigana. But hold on a minute. French commentators do not refer to this trio at all They talk about La Carre Magique,which roughly translates as ‘the magic square’. A square has four sides. So how did a triangle become a square? People forget – though the French do not - that there was a fourth player that made up the French midfield of that team…Fernandez. Together, the four of them combined flair and panache with deadly precision and unyielding functionality. The team reached its peak, it was felt, in the 1982 World Cup but deserved victory was snatched from their grasp in a defeat by West Germany – on penalties – in the semi-final. That was the infamous match in which the German goalkeeper, Schumacher, committed what could only be described as grievous bodily harm on the French forward Battiston, for which he should have been dismissed and a penalty awarded. France lost the game but were the moral victors. Redemption came two years later in the European Championship when France beat Spain 2-0, a triumph of attacking football.
La Carre Magique: Platini, Tigana, Giresse….. and Fernandez
Have you noticed that football journalists have lately taken to showing off in their match reports by referring to foreign teams by their colours or nickname in their language? Italy/Azurri (Blues), AC Milan/Rossoneri (Red and White),France/Les Bleus (The Blues), Holland/Oranjes (Orange), Real Madrid/Los Blancos (The Whites), Brazil/Los Selecaos(The Selection, i.e. the team) etc. Well, how about this, then, the Tre Tuilpani, the Three Tulips? The three tulips were van Basten, Gullitt and Rijkaard, the three Dutchmen who played for AC Milan in the late 1980s and early 1990s. They won the European Cup in 1989 and 1990, the last time it has been won in consecutive years before the format changed to the Champions League in 1992. The Three Tulips (well, Holland is renowned for its tulips) were hugely influential in Holland winning the European Championship in 1988, beating the Soviet Union 2-0.
Three Dutch Masters: Gullitt, van Basten, Rikjaard
How about Os Tres Rs, The Three R’s – Rivaldo, Ronaldo and Ronaldinho, the three Brazilians who played for AC Milan from 2002-2008? In fact, they met with mixed success on the European club stage but as a threesome they had come into their own playing for their country in the 2002 World Cup, beating Germany in the final 2-0. They had formed one of the deadliest attacking units seen in world football, scoring 15 goals between them, comprising 10% of the tournament’s total.
The Three Rs: Rivelino, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho
In 2010, uniquely in the history of the award, all three finalists for the Ballon d’Or were from the same team. Furthermore, they were all graduates of the club’s academy; they had grown up together. Under the managership of Pep Guardiola, Barcelona redefined the way football should be played,enjoying a period of unparalleled success, winning three La Liga titles and two Champions Leagues. They simply passed their opponents into oblivion and the ball into the net. Tika-taka, as it was called, is a game of triangles and at the heart of the system was the trio of Messi, Xavi and Iniesta. The passing, the dribbling, the control, the finishing…at times it was truly mesmerising.
Iniesta, Messi, Xavi
Statistically, the Liverpool trio of Salah, Mane and Firmino were up there with the very best. In their time together they scored 54 league goals, winning Premier League, the FA Cup, the Carabao Cup, the Champions League and the World Club Cup. Yet they did not always see eye to eye; there was palpable rivalry between them at times. Presumably, the original Holy Trinity got on well together in heaven; the Liverpool incarnation did not. Do they, as a result, deserve their elevated status? Try posing that question to a Liverpool supporter.
Firmino, Salah, Mane
No German trio, you will notice. Have I missed any candidates for the legendary title from that country, or from anywhere else for that matter? And who will inherit the mantle? Which embryonic threesome is already starting to flourish? It will be interesting to see.
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