In our culture, there exists a deep-rooted prejudice which, to be honest, has some basis: English football in the '90s was far from ours — Serie A — in terms of individual skills, team play, coolness, international success, and Ballon d'Or awards. The real money was circulating in Serie A, and the true superstars were almost all with us.
And yet. English football of the time had its own magical charm — a balance that has always represented its aesthetic key. And above all, it had allowed its large audience to admire the feats of some unforgettable champions. One of them was, and is, Matthew Le Tissier.
Matthew was an atypical Englishman from birth — born on a Channel Island that fell under the dominion of the Crown due to some ancient Norman decree, but which was in fact populated by the French. He was tall and big, like many British players, but in his case the word "big" also meant — to use a euphemism — not exactly in line with the dictatorship of competitiveness that dominated the football of the '90s.
In England, you run and hit. There's never a moment of respite. And yet Le Tissier, even as a young man, had a beer belly and seemed little inclined to run for ninety minutes. He played at his own pace — much more similar to the rhythmic, smooth, and anti-modern style of South American football.
Le Tissier was an Anglo-Frenchman who resembled Raí and Riquelme, Valderrama — rather than the extraordinary all-rounders who have graced English football throughout its history. In other words, he was in the wrong country and also the wrong era, and moreover, he played in a football that, outside the borders of the Kingdom, many still snubbed as "minor".
Seeing Le God on the field was almost a surreal experience. Matthew was truly the son of an aesthetic that the world had already filed away — and yet, perhaps for this very reason, he was a wonderful and unpredictable player. There are players who come from the future and those who come from the past. Both may have misjudged their era, but for those from the past, establishing themselves is much more complicated, because history has in some way already surpassed them.
The dark chapter of his career, unfortunately, was England. Also due to his limited physical resources, Matthew needed a team that played for him — and this was not possible when you had the best players of your country by your side. This is why Le Tissier was rarely called up by the various national team coaches throughout the '90s.
His last appearance in the Three Lions jersey coincided with the Azzurri's victory at Wembley in 1997 — marked by an inspired Zola and a Cannavaro already in mastiff mode. His performance, to be honest, was not bad. Matthew even came close to scoring the equalizer. But the defeat blew the trumpets of those who saw him only as a provincial star, and condemned him to be definitively excluded from the national team.
No matter. For those who admired his sorcery during the '90s: Le Tissier will always be Le God — the provincial genius, one of the most beautiful and indecipherable anachronisms in the history of football.