da stake casino： The game has lost one of its first true superstars, the greatest defender of all time and a history-making manager

da winzada777： Germany is in mourning. "Our Kaiser is dead," read the front page of Tuesday's . But Franz Beckenbauer's passing at the age of 78 is a loss felt all around the world. He is one of the faces of football, "the greatest defender ever" in the words of Italy's , a legendary libero who redefined the role.

As a sweeper, Beckenbauer didn't just clean up after others, he served as a deep-lying play-maker, while regularly stepping into his former position in midfield to join attacks. Essentially, he made being a defender cool.

As said, "We all wanted to be Beckenbaeur!" And that's no exaggeration. For football fans of all ages, Beckenbauer wasn't just an example to follow, he was a mythical reference point, the seemingly unattainable standard of excellence by which all others are measured.

Getty Images'Defined an era'

"As a kid, he was the first foreign footballer I'd ever heard of," former Liverpool and England centre-back Jamie Carragher admitted, "that's because if any player tried to play out from the back, whether at pro or amateur level, I would hear 'He thinks he's Beckenbauer!'"

Nobody, though, has ever played the role with quite the same efficacy or elegance. Even the great Franco Baresi felt uncomfortable with the constant comparisons to Beckenbauer.

"He truly was an emperor for the way that he interpreted his role," the Italian icon said. "I admired him so much. He defined an era and for me he was an enormous inspiration."

Advertisement'Our world isn't the same as it once was'

For Bayern Munich, he was everything, effectively the foundation on which the club's greatness was constructed.

"Suddenly, our world isn't the same as it once was – darker, quieter and worse off," the Bavarians stated. "The record champions are mourning the loss of Franz Beckenbauer, the incomparable 'Kaiser' without whom FC Bayern would never have become the club it is today."

And they owe it all to the most infamous and consequential slap in football history.

Divulgação/Bayern'I'm not going to 1860!'

Beckenbauer grew up in Giesing, an 1860 Munich stronghold. It was his dream to play for his local team and he had the talent, too. Beckenbauer was blessed with a turn of speed he said he owed to the streets: "I knew I had to run quickly when there was trouble. My pace was my gift to keep me out of trouble."

A move to 1860 appeared inevitable, but when he was still only 13, he played against the team he supported and "their centre-back wasn't very friendly to me".

"During the course of the game," Beckenbauer later explained to Bayern's official website, "he gave me a slap, and with that, my mind was made up: I'm not going to 1860! In retrospect, I don't think it was a bad decision…"

Indeed, Beckenbauer's decision to join Bayern instead is one of the game's great sliding doors moments, as it quickly became clear that this was a prodigious talent, one of the first total footballers.

The one thing standing in England's way

He may have started out as a forward, but by the 1966 World Cup, the 20-year-old Beckenbauer had already established himself as one of the most complete – and most feared – midfielders on the planet.

He scored four times at the tournament, including one goal apiece in the quarters and semis, and England manager Alf Ramsey was terrified by the threat posed by Germany's all-action No.4.

Sir Bobby Charlton later revealed, "Alf told me that there was only one person that could stop us winning the World Cup – Beckenbauer." As a result, the Manchester United star was tasked with man-marking a youngster in the biggest game of his life.

Funnily enough, Beckenbauer was given the same job by Helmut Schon, resulting in the pair cancelling one another out as England triumphed 4-2 at Wembley.