Nature does not look at these two directions in the same way and the same is true in football: on the right Burgnich and Bruscolotti, on the left Maldini and Gigi Riva, they are representations of two different universes
On October 18, the Chinese physicist Yang Chen-Ning, who also studied with Enrico Fermi and who in 1957 won the Nobel Prize for a particular theory called “violation of parity”, passed away at the not very young age of 103. Contrary to what was believed, the Chinese physicist demonstrated that nature does not treat the right and the left in the same way. A revolution in our understanding of the fundamental relationships of nature. Football is a significant corollary of his thesis. How different have right-backs been from left-backs throughout history? On the right, the defenders had sullen faces and nicknames like good Manzonians: Roccia (Burgnich), Palo ‘e fierro (Bruscolotti)… On the left, however, angels flew who fluidized to the heaven of a goal and made hearts beat, because they had photo-romance beauties: Facchetti, Cabrini, Maldini… “Violation of parity” even on the offensive flanks. On the right, more or less cursed poets, with bowed legs (Garrincha), with the chicken on a leash (Meroni), with the easy glass (Best)… On the left, the descendants of ancient mythological heroes, with the goal on the shield, oak-thighed giants, such as Gigi Riva “Rombo di Thunder” or the Nibelung Kalle Rummenigge. And then the feet. The left foot is more predisposed to inheriting the art of brilliant left-handers (Leonardo, Michelangelo, Van Gogh…) and becoming a paintbrush: from Maradona to Messi to Dybala. Football today likes to call itself liquid and erases the distinction of roles, but Yang Chen-Ning’s “violation of parity” still reigns: left and right remain opposite faces of the ball.