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Today’s My Favourite XI is brought to you courtesy of In Bed With Maradona‘s co-editor and Cahiers du Sport author Ben Shave, a good friend of TFT and an all-round cracking chap. If you know Ben and are expecting a focus on a particular country, you might be in for a surprise.

Previous Favourite XI: We Only Need Nine Men
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Goalkeeper: Francesco Toldo (Retired)

He might have spent the last five years of his career warming the Internazionale bench, but in his halycon days at Fiorentina, you would have been hard-pressed to find a more reliable goalkeeper in Serie A than Toldo. Between 1995 and 2001, he was the club’s undisputed starter, winning two Coppa Italia titles and, along with Rui Costa and Gabriel Batistuta, winning a generation of fans whose only contact with Italian football came via a television and James Richardson’s be-caked style of journalism.

His performance against the Netherlands at Euro 2000 was nothing short of heroic, and although he was eventually replaced by Júlio César and Gianluigi Buffon, Toldo remained a personal hero.

Right-back: Lloyd Doyley (Watford)

Every club needs a player like Lloyd. Having joined Watford at the age of 11, his boundless energy and commitment, combined with a undeniably erratic streak, has made him the fans’ favourite at Vicarage Road by a country mile.

A near ever-present during the 2004/05 promotion season, he has become the embodiment of everything I love about my club. His crowning moment came in his 269th appearance for the club, against Queens Park Rangers, where he finally, finally opened his goalscoring account with a spectacular diving header that would still be travelling if the net hadn’t broken its momentum. I have never felt a purer feeling of happiness at a football match. When quizzed about the goal afterwards, Lloyd declared that “I always knew it was going to happen but it took a bit longer than I thought.” A Watford hero.

Centre-back: Paolo Maldini (Retired)

An obvious choice, perhaps, but given the level of ability possessed by Maldini a necessary one. I am too young to have seen Maldini’s days as a left-back, where he was part of one of the all-time great defences under Arrigo Sacchi, but can vividly recall the way in which he melded athleticism, technical ability and a cool as a cucumber demeanour as a centre-back throughout the 1990′s and into the last decade. That he still had sufficient motivation to turn out for Milan at the age of 40 is remarkable, and speaks to his love for the club, and for the game. Giancarlo Rinaldi said it best: “Paolo Maldini is the man the rest of the world envies Italian football for.”

Centre-back: Paolo Montero (Retired)

From ethereal elegance to uncompromising ruggedness, the other Paolo in my selection may not have such an exalted reputation as Maldini, but the enjoyment he provided to me as a fan was no less pronounced. I can remember being slightly terrified of Montero in my early days of watching Juventus, but as my viewing palette matured I found myself admiring the way he combined an undeniable aptitude for the ‘dark arts’ of the game with an oft-overlooked but nevertheless consistent confidence on the ball. When people think of Juve in the 1990s and 2000s, they cite Del Piero, Zidane, Nedved and Buffon. To that list I would add Montero.

Left-back: Javier Zanetti (Internazionale)

I could have slotted the Argentine almost anywhere in this line up, but went with left-back, where he most recently was a key protagonist in Inter’s Champions League triumph. As well as being a player of immense versatility, Zanetti has always struck me as a genuinely nice bloke – he hasn’t been sent off since 1999, he eschews the constant berating of officials that so many players employ these days, and is involved in charity work back in his native Argentina, for whom he has won a record 139 caps.

Perhaps his greatest achievement has been to maintain his place at the heart of the Inter hierarchy since 1995, during which time the club has ploughed through a dizzying array of coaches and players. At 37, his career must surely be winding down, and when it comes to writing the eulogy of Javier Zanetti the footballer, he will surely be remembered as one of Serie A’s all-time greats.

Midfielder: John Eustace (Watford)

It seems incredible now that Eustace was loaned out to Derby County under Brendan Rodgers, who, for reasons that remain best known to himself, decreed that a tough-tackling, born leader had no place in his squad. His performances at Derby were excellent, and his goal against Watford on the final day of the 2008/09 season underlined his value to the club that hadn’t wanted him.

It was then that Eustace took his place in Watford folklore: upon his return, he agreed to amend his contract, waiving appearance fees and accepting a pay cut in order to play. With the club teetering on the edge of financial ruin, such a gesture spoke volumes for Eustace as not just a player, but as a man. Deservedly awarded the captaincy during the summer of 2010, following a campaign where his fearsome displays netted him the Players Player of the Season award, Eustace has become indispensable. His rejection of a move to Leeds only served to further endear him to Watford fans, some of whom had been booing him a year previously. How wrong they were. He’s also, in my humble opinion, better at overhead kicks than Wayne Rooney.

Midfielder: Demetrio Albertini (Retired)

There is a long tradition of ball-playing defensive midfielders in Italy, but the one that left the greatest impression on me as a youngster was Albertini. He was amongst the first names that cropped up when considering who to include in this XI, but unlike many of the great players that have passed through the San Siro in the last 20 years, Albertini never seemed preoccupied with his status in the team. This generosity of spirit could clearly be seen in his style of play: an extensive range of passing began countless goalscoring moves, and yet, in spite of his importance, Albertini rarely received the level of acclaim that some of his more illustrious counterparts enjoyed. He should have done.

Midfielder: Rui Costa (Retired)

Without wishing to over-dramatise, Rui Costa is the reason why I fell in love with football. I’d been to games before, but had always watched with the semi-distracted gaze of a child. But when I first saw Costa shimmer across my screen wearing the purple of Fiorentina, something changed. I’ve often thought about that feeling, and the closest equivalent I have hit upon so far is coming up for air after spending a long time underwater.

Maybe it’s romantic distance talking, but to my mind, it still doesn’t do Costa justice. I could watch him play all day: his command of the ball total, his awareness of the space around him unmatched, his ability to find a teammate uncanny. He has provided some of my most visceral memories as a football fan: the goal he scored against England in the Euro 2004 quarter-finals, his anguish following Portugal’s defeat to Greece in the same tournament, and his devastatingly prolific relationship with Gabriel Batistuta at Fiorentina. Peerless.

Forward: Pavel Nedved (Retired)

To me, Pavel Nedved personifies everything good about the ‘Balkan’ style of football: technically flawless, unruffled, and capable of manufacturing space from the tightest of spots. Perhaps that definition is somewhat reductive, but when it comes to aesthetics, there were few more elegant players during the last decade and a half than Nedved.

First with Lazio and then Juventus, Nedved provided consistent creative genius, proving himself more than capable of filling the void left by Zinedine Zidane at Juve. His finest campaign was 2002/03, where he led the club to the Scudetto and a Champions League final, and it’s tempting to say that his absence was the main factor in Juve failing to capture the trophy. He was nevertheless deservedly awarded the Ballon d’Or that season, and it is a testament to his quality that La Vecchia Signora are still arguably adjusting to his retirement nearly two years on.

Forward: Tommy Smith (QPR)

In my opinion, the best, most exciting Watford player since John Barnes. And seeing as I’m too young to have seen Barnsey strut his stuff down the Vicarage Road wing, I’ve gone for his modern equivalent. Hertfordshire born and bred, Smith bridged the gap between the Second Division days of the late 1990s to our recent yo-yo status, continually providing moments of unbridled joy.

Watford fans are no strangers to having their patience tested, and the disgust I felt when Smith was dropped for Michael Chopra for our FA Cup semi-final defeat to Southampton in 2003 remains clear in my memory. Nothing against Chopra, but he just wouldn’t have been able to grasp the magnitude of the occasion. Smith has flirted with Premier League football with Portsmouth, and looks set for another go-round with QPR, but there isn’t a Watford fan alive that doesn’t long to see him back at the Vic someday. It says something for my appreciation of the man that I had to stop myself from celebrating when he scored against us earlier this season. He didn’t celebrate either.

Centre-forward: Francesco Totti (A.S Roma)

For football connoisseurs of a certain age, there are one-club men, and then there is Francesco Totti. The boy who refused Lazio’s millions to become a Roma icon is, as well as a totemic presence in modern Italian football history, an equally important presence in my own personal development as a football fan. Whilst most of my friends at school aped Michael Owen or Thierry Henry during our disorganised football sessions, I spent hours attempting to recreate Totti’s Cucchiaio. I’m still trying.

In his superb profile of the great man, James Horncastle highlighted a crucial characteristic that separates Totti from other great players of the modern era – Del Piero, Raúl, Beckham – Totti achieved everything without the support of other near-geniuses. If you look at Roma’s Scudetto-winning side from 2001, there are fine footballers there – Aldair, Cafu, Montella – but it is not too much of a stretch to hypothesise that were it not for Totti, Roma fans would still be waiting for their first title since 1983. One of a kind.

Substitutes:

Rogério Ceni (São Paulo)

There have been a few goalscoring goalkeepers, but none quite like Ceni, who possesses the type of technical ability that would have seen him deployed as a playmaker in any country other than Brazil.

Roberto Ayala (Retired)

His years at Valencia saw Ayala regularly deliver performances of scarcely-conceivabale class and composure, making him one of the finest centre-backs ever to grace La Liga.

Keith Gillespie (Free Agent)

A flawed player, but at his best capable of terrifying any defender in the game. His savaging of Barcelona’s Sergi remains one of the great European individual displays, in my opinion.

Pablo Aimar (Benfica)

I could have chosen any number of Argentine number 10s, but Aimar combines a supreme combination of breathtaking skills and an air of mystery. Not to forget a fine head of hair.

Liédson (Corinthians)

An icon of modern Portuguese football, Liédson’s productivity remained constant during a fallow period for Sporting Clube de Portugal. Not the biggest, not the quickest, not the most technically accomplished, but devastatingly prolific.

Tags: Demetrio Albertini, Francesco Toldo, Francesco Totti, Javier Zanetti, John Eustace, Kieth Gillespie, Liedson, Lloyd Doyley, Pablo Aimar, Paolo Maldini, Paolo Montero, Pavel Nedved, Roberto Ayala, Rogerio Ceni, Rui Costa, Tommy Smith