It’s about economics. Look at how people perceive Manchester City today compared to 10 years ago. Until the 90s, teams like Palmeiras, sponsored by Parmalat, still managed to keep players like Cafu, Rivaldo and Roberto Carlos and beat any team in the world (Look at Palmeiras 6X1 Borussia). Today it is impossible to compete with rich European clubs. But history is not something that can be erased, clubs like Palmeiras, Santos, Botafogo, Corithians and Flamengo had better players in the past than most European clubs that people consider successful today.

If Rogerio Ceni had played for a European club, no one would even be having this discussion here. The man scored almost half of Totti’s goals as a goalkeeper and played more for São Paulo than any player for any club. And I’m a supporter of a rival team.

I don’t know about current players, but Zidane was practically a more modern version of Ademir da Guia.