Football was a tougher game when Soccer Saturday pundits Charlie Nicholas and Phil Thompson played, as they explain with their toughest opponents.
Charlie Nicholas
It has to be Claudio Gentile of Juventus in Italy. I was 18 playing in a European Cup first leg in Glasgow for Celtic. The only time we saw superstar football was at the World Cup, not so much the European Championships. Italy at that time were the true gods of the European game. Juventus had around eight players, some of which were Paolo Rossi, Dino Zoff, Antonio Cabrini and Romeo Benetti - all of these were superb. We played and beat Juventus in Glasgow, but I never witnessed anything quite like it.
Gentile was a brute of a man, barrel chested and a muscle-man. He was quick over 10 yards which was a burden for me and absolutely ruthless in how he abused you. If the ball was not anywhere near you, he would slap you on the back of the head and trip you up. These were all daft things that he would do, almost as if he was playing this game with you. I was 18, trying to work it out! I was left on the bench for the second leg, as Celtic maybe needed experience which was needed.
I never witness anything like that and watched him closer in the World Cup. In 1986 we got to the World Cup, and it was the only time I knew what it was like to be Diego Maradona. He marked him and kicked him from pillar to post, and did not break sweat in doing it.
I was watching as a fan and looking at Maradona, I understood how he felt, and how it felt to be taken apart by someone who did not care about you, or your ability. There was a job to be done and he was brutal at it. All the top strikers who played at that time would say the same thing. Nothing gets close to that in Britain - Graeme Souness came closest to that. He had an authority and could tackle and look after himself. He was a midfielder so it was different, but the toughest was Gentile.
Phil Thompson
I would probably have had my biggest trouble against Joe Jordan, because throughout my playing days, I never had too much trouble from too many forwards, and I am not being big-headed, that is the way we were back in the day.
If there was anyone that worried me, it was Joe Jordan. He was obviously physically very strong and really good in the air. He was not the quickest but he never let you rest.
He was always snapping at your heels and I felt the wrath of his elbows, as a lot of other centre-backs will tell you! You always had to be one step ahead of Joe.
Internationally, the hardest was Diego Maradona. I played against him in 1980 at Wembley, where we beat the reigning champions Argentina 3-1, and he was only 19 years of age.
What a player. You could tell what he was going to go on and do.
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