Fabio Cannavaro was on top of the world a year ago, but now he looks a shadow of his former self. In July 2006 he was lifting the World Cup after leading Italy to glory with some rock-solid displays in Germany, resulting in him being dubbed ‘II muro di Berlino’ – the Berlin Wall.

He followed that up by winning both the Ballon d’Or and FIFA World Player of the Year awards, becoming the first defender to do so in the case of the latter. But his form since those great triumphs has been sketchy at best, even if he did win the La Liga title with Real Madrid last season.

For those of you who haven’t seen Cannavaro in action recently due to his defection to Spain after leaving Juventus last summer, it’s probably best that you don’t tune into any coverage of the Primera Liga. That way you can remember the ex-Parma defender at his commanding best, because he is certainly anything but that nowadays.

'At 34, Cannavaro seems sluggish and a few yards off the mark'


If you cast your mind back to the Champions League semi-finals in 2004, when Chelsea took on Monaco at the Stade Louis II, a certain Marcel Desailly took to the field. Although I don’t excuse Big Ron Atkinson’s racist outburst, he was right to criticse the former Milan star for a shoddy performance. It was almost as if the Frenchman didn’t realise his limitations and thought he was the same player he was when he was in his prime.

I believe a similar thing is happening to Cannavaro. Like Desailly, much of his game owes so much to his excellent ability to read the game and anticipate what his opponents are going to do in the attacking third. Make a misjudgment? No problem, a quick injection of pace would soon see him out of trouble. But at 34, he seems sluggish and a few yards off the mark. Yes, there are times when he reads things spot on and pressures the ball well enough to force a mistake, but those games seem to be few and far between.

The Italy captain looked to be getting back to something like his best form when the Azzurri recently took on France and the Ukraine – he certainly needed to after a woeful display in the friendly against Hungary – but he seems unable do deliver this consistency. This was evident just last month when Real Madrid took on Real Betis. Yes, Madrid kept a clean sheet and ran out comfortable winners but that only tells half the story.

The Seville-based outfit hit the woodwork a number of times and were also thwarted on numerous occasions by keeper Iker Casillas. Sergio Ramos came to Cannavaro’s rescue time and time again after the No.5 repeatedly rushed out of defence to stop attacks. The end result was that he was constantly out of position and a more clinical side would have certainly made him pay for it. And last weekend he only lasted 45 minutes before being replaced against Mallorca.

Although many players and teams go through temporary dips in form, class is permanent. I really hope that this is the case with Cannavaro as he has been one of the finest defenders to grace a football pitch. However, deep down my gut feeling is that the Azzurri skipper is very close to being past his sell-by date.