People will probably put it down to the fact he never won the World Cup. However, he was clearly a brilliant player, and look at his scoring record for Udinese.
I'd recommend anybody to watch the game when Flamengo played Liverpool in the Intercontinental Cup. Flamengo were far too good for Liverpool, especially Zico, who ran the show.
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You could be right regards his medal haul... More fool them... I wonder sometimes how much one's self publicity plays a part... On a slightly different level I'm always baffled how people rave on about Zola in comparison to Beardsley... But I digress...
It's nice to see the Flamengo v Liverpool game on YouTube along with so much other footage that is rarely shown on these shores... Liverpool were made to look very ordinary against a team where Zico seemed three moves ahead of the game...
It was also interesting to see the comparison of Zico v Gentile Vs Maradona v Gentile in Spain 82... where I felt the superior dribbling ability of Maradona was contained easier than the superior vision of Zico... fascinating stuff...
I would encourage anyone who hasn't already to look up Zico's spell in Udinese... Zico = the benchmark in free-kick taking IMO...