George Weah

====Player profile====
During his prime in the 1990s, Weah was regarded as one of the best strikers in the world. He was lauded for his speed, work-rate, stamina, and attacking instincts, as well as his physical and athletic attributes, which he combined with his finishing, technical ability and creativity.<ref name="Iconic Weah a true great"/><ref name="p193">{{Cite book |publisher=Bantam Books |isbn=978-0-553-82566-4 |last=Marcotti |first=Gabriele |title=Capello: The Man Behind England's World Cup Dream |date=2008 |page=[https://archive.org/details/capellomanbehind0000marc/page/193 193] |url=https://archive.org/details/capellomanbehind0000marc/page/193}}</ref> A fast, powerful, physically strong player, with an eye for goal, many observers agree that he successfully filled the void left in the Milan attack by club great [[Marco van Basten]].<ref name="Iconic Weah a true great">{{cite web |title=Iconic Weah a true great |url=https://www.fifa.com/classicfootball/players/player=2187/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020073045/http://www.fifa.com/classicfootball/players/player=2187/|url-status=dead|archive-date=20 October 2013 |publisher=FIFA | access-date=13 December 2014}}</ref><ref name="Lawrence">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/2000/apr/09/facup.sport |title=The wonder of Weah |first=Amy |last=Lawrence |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London |date=9 April 2000 |access-date=5 November 2023}}</ref><ref name="George Weah">{{cite web |title=George Weah |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/638186/George-Weah |website=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=13 December 2014}}</ref> In addition to his pace, acceleration, [[Dribbling (association football)|dribbling]] skills, and goalscoring ability, as a multi-functional forward Weah was also a team player who was capable of creating chances and assisting goals for teammates.<ref name=magliarossonera.it>{{cite web |url=http://www.magliarossonera.it/protagonisti/Gioc-Weah.html |title=George Manneh Oppong Ousman Weah |work=Magliarossonera |language=it|access-date=23 October 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.maidirecalcio.com/2012/09/13/quanto-era-forte-george-weah.html |title=Quanto era forte George Weah... |work=Mai Dire Calcio |language=it |date=13 September 2012|access-date=23 October 2015|archive-date=6 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160106104134/http://www.maidirecalcio.com/2012/09/13/quanto-era-forte-george-weah.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Along with [[Ronaldo (Brazilian footballer)|Ronaldo]] and [[Romário]], Weah was viewed as a modern, new style of striker in the 1990s who would also operate outside the penalty area and run with the ball towards goal, at a time when strikers primarily operated inside the penalty area where they would receive the ball from teammates.<ref name="Iconic Weah a true great"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Ronaldo, Klose: Different to the finish |url=http://www.espnfc.com/blog/world-cup-central/59/post/1915680/comparing-brazil-striker-ronaldo-and-germany-forward-miroslav-klose-world-cup-goalscorer-records |publisher=ESPN |access-date=13 December 2014}}</ref><ref>[http://www.in.com/news/sports/ronaldo-romario-reinvented-strikers-role-says-thierry-henry-53023207-in-1.html "Ronaldo, Romario Reinvented Striker's Role, Says Thierry Henry"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306153503/http://www.in.com/news/sports/ronaldo-romario-reinvented-strikers-role-says-thierry-henry-53023207-in-1.html |date=6 March 2016 }}. In Sports. Retrieved 16 January 2015</ref> Among the next generation of strikers who were inspired, [[Thierry Henry]] states, "George Weah, Romário, and Ronaldo changed the game for me. It was the first time as a striker I saw players that could score on their own. Pick the ball up anywhere and score. Before as a number nine, people would say 'stay within the line of the box, don't move too much, don't go to the wings, don't drop, stay.' Then I saw George Weah. And then I saw Ronaldo. And I saw Romário in a different way before those two. And it was like 'hang on a minute, someone has lied to me'."<ref>{{cite news |title=Thierry Henry names 3 players that 'changed the game' for him |url=https://tribuna.com/en/arsenal/news/2020-04-04-thierry-henry-names-3-players-that-changed-the-game-for-him/ |access-date=14 November 2020 |newspaper=Tribuna }}{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

One such goal that exemplified this ability was against Verona in 1995 where he received the ball in the edge of his own penalty box and ran the length of the field.<ref name="Lawrence"/> Scoring such a goal in Serie A – the best defensive league in the world – saw media outlets such as ''[[La Gazzetta dello Sport|Gazzetta dello Sport]]'' running pages of analysis for days afterwards, and calling it the greatest strike of all in Italian football.<ref name="Lawrence"/> On his impact on the sport, Weah states, "When I look at my idols – [[Pelé]], [[Diego Maradona|Maradona]], [[Franz Beckenbauer|Beckenbauer]], [[Johan Cruyff|Cruyff]] – they did a lot of great things. I came into the game and made history too."<ref name="Lawrence"/>