20 Hardest Football Hardmen Of All Time

By Sean Mills /

16. Claudio Gentile

The toughest player to come out of Libya, Claudio Gentile€™s ruthless man-marking and tackling epitomised the catenaccio tactics made famous by the Italians in the 1970€™s. Catenaccio in Italian literally means €˜door-bolt€™, and Gentile provided personification of this. Famed mainly for his part in the World Cup winning campaign of 1982 where his man-marking of Maradona resulted in the famous Gentile quote €˜football is not for ballerinas€™. Gentile also €˜looked after€™ Zico in the same tournament, who still bears the scars to this day. Remarkably, for a player famed for his ruthlessness, Gentile was never sent-off in his 17 year career.