His CharacterBy Theis Poulsen
Hated…like a rat.
Loved and admired. His arrogant attitude, his cheeky behaviours, his affected
superior being and wild temperament has given him both enemies and friends
everywhere in the world of football. Stoitchkov is a walking contrast.
Aggressive and mean, but also soft and real. A loyal friend if he likes
you, but your worst enemy if he hates you. Easy to hate - difficult to
love.
He is a great player
and it's fascinating to observe him play. On a day where everything succeeds
for him, he is one of the best players in the world, while on a bad day,
he is a an example of aggression and rage. A mental hand grenade, ready
to blow.
It's this temperament
that makes him one of the greatest players in the world, but it's also
this which makes him lose control of himself:
- In his first
season for Barca, he knocked a referee down for showing him the red card.
This resulted in a 6 months ban.- Or the day a fan wanted his autograph
and started pulling Stoitchkov's car after a training session. Hristo jumped
out of his car and sent the guy to the ground with a right hook.
- Not to mention
a day in 1992 when playing for Bulgaria in Sofia against Mexico. After
equalising the score, he showed indifference with the game and his teammates.
The crowd started whistling at him and the result was, that Hristo placed
himself in the middle of the field, looked slowly around the crowd, took
his shirt off and flung it on the ground and walked out of the game!!!
When Stoitchkov
is in that mood, he generally speaks Spanish to Bulgarian reporters and
Bulgarian to the Spanish.
His arrogance towards
the reporters was also shown when Barca played against Monaco in the Champions
League. The French reporters wanted answers on their questions, but Hrist
only said: "I kicked France out of the World Cup - and tomorrow I kick
them out of the European Cup"!
- And believe it
or not, he did it. Scoring the only goal of the game so Barca won 1-0.
One thing is to be impudent enough to say it. Another thing is it to do
what you just said!!!
People call Stoitchkov
an egoist, but he answer to this is, that the admiration and respect from
the fans is all he needs and worth more than money.
He is a genius,
and entertainer and much more. And after ending his career, the football
world has lost one of its greatest personalities ever.
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