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| | Thursday 25 October, 2007 | | Blog: Dida dishonour | | Nelson Dida was forced to sit out a Champions League game last night, but Susy Campanale hopes it will be the first of many |  |  | | Not even his own teammates could bring themselves to stand up for Nelson Dida after his farcical theatrics in Glasgow. The reasons behind his ‘injury’ when tapped on the cheek by a Celtic fan prompted endless jokes ranging from “a panic attack” to “the supporter holding a poisonous snake that bit the goalkeeper on the cheek.” Not since Marco Materazzi’s close encounter with Zinedine Zidane has the media enjoyed such comedy speculation. Dida has tried to put it all behind him with an act of contrition – he walked all around San Siro before the warm-up to Sunday’s 1-0 defeat against Empoli and bowed down to the crowd. Is this and his one-match Euro ban enough? No chance.
The truth is that Dida has been a source of constant embarrassment to Milan since the moment he arrived and the Celtic Park incident really was just the final straw. Going all the way back to his fumble at Leeds United, where he let a harmless last-minute shot squirm through his hands, the goalkeeper has had fans shaking their heads in disbelief. Never any good on crosses, dreadful at taking control from set-pieces and generally prone to at least one howler per month, he is not good enough to play for the champions of Europe. To think the Rossoneri could have signed Gianluigi Buffon in the summer rather than stump up more cash for this Brazilian liability!
It’s a shame his Champions League ban was reduced from two games to just one, as he could have taken the time to learn medieval basket-weaving, knitting or meditation – alone time where one can reflect on mistakes. While he has taken a monastic vow of silence over the whole Celtic affair, Dida will have to speak to the media eventually and the first question will be: “What the hell were you thinking?! Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?” He will have no answer, his silence to this point has already spoken volumes.
What’s worse, Dida has now gone from simply not a terribly good player – resting on the reputation created in 2003 by a penalty shoot-out that had more to do with Juventus bottling it than his shot-stopping capabilities – to being an absolute embarrassment. The fans were already jeering him before Glasgow, they are unlikely to forgive him after making the side into a laughing stock the world over. The only reason the Diavolo have put up with him this long is that Zeljko Kalac is even worse. Marco Amelia is already lined up for January and that will be the end of the Dida Comedy Hour.
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Hi Susy, thanks for an excellent and very accurate column on our disastrous ‘keeper. I’d like to take it a stage further though and suggest that nobody can be THAT bad …..The two goals against Celtic were trademark Dida – poor positioning and flaps at a passback. It does show though how well Milan did to win the Champions League with this liability, Kaladze and Ambrosini in the side. Back to the Celtic fan, he was only thanking Diddy …I mean Dida for the 2 gifts he gave that night. His reaction was shameful, as was Galliani’s to contest the lenient ban and to keep him in the side. We are now seen as cheats instead of a fine sporting side.
Gary Parker
Channel 4's animosity toward Dida is obsessive and tiresome. He has never been given his due, and he's regularly ignored in Calcio Italia unless he commits a howler. It's obvious that Susy used the suspension as nothing more than an excuse to jump on the bandwagon and go off on a needless tangent that borders on unwarranted hate. I seriously wonder how she considers herself a Milan fan when she labels him "a source of constant embarrassment since he arrived" and a "comedy-hour" player while belittling his accomplishments. I guess Dida has been that much of an embarrassment to Milan that he was among the top keepers in the world for several years - at one point, better than Buffon - with two Champions League titles and a Serie A ‘keeper of the year award to his name. Yes, he has made mistakes, but they're outweighed by his numerous matchwinning saves. Juventus, Chievo, Inter, Ajax, Anderlecht...I could go on, plus he almost single-handedly kept Brazil in contention during last year's World Cup. If Susy wants to talk about dishonor, Eric Addo spitting at an opponent or Artur Boruc's behavior in the aftermath of Celtic's loss to Rangers would be more suitable topics than a foolish yet harmless dive that impacted no one nor the outcome of the match. Dida owned up to his actions and apologized. Channel 4 should do the same for allowing the publication of such an ignorant article.
Mack Andrews
AC Milan should definitely start looking for another goalkeeper. At present, Dida and Kalac are arguably the two worst keepers in Serie A. On the Milan payroll are three other goalkeepers (Sorrentino, Storari and Abbiati) that are by far better and more consistent than Dida. However, the savvy Milan executives decided to loan them out to some Spanish clubs at the beginning of this season. Amelia could be a good choice, but at the moment he's half a stone overweight. As a matter of fact, Livorno chairman Spinelli has banned his defenders from eating pasta for the rest of the season.
Mario Dorissi
Sorry! Too bad and too biased. Dida has never been a "comedy hour" player. How on earth can you say that? Have you watched Dida many times, or just the 2003 CL final and that match in Scotland? Perhaps Buffon is better than Dida, and we could have signed him, but Silvio said he was too expensive. Be sure that Dida will come back, much better after the affair in Celtic, precisely like the GRANDE MILAN! I have followed Milan, either in Milano, or most of the times through TV, since Gianni Rivera’s time in late 60s...
Christos Papahristodoulou
Hi Susy, after reading your blog on Dida, I felt it was necessary to stand up for Milan's number one. I accept that Dida has made mistakes in terms of letting in goals he should have prevented. However, he is a ‘keeper that makes match-winning and cup-winning saves. I also suggest you take a look when Dida makes goal kicks, they are not actual goal kicks but precise long distance passes to his teammates that help Milan keep possession. I am by no means advocating Dida as the best keeper in the world (that title firmly belongs to Buffon) but his 'incident' against Celtic seems to have everyone jumping on the bandwagon about how he is useless. A Scudetto, two European Cups, Coppa Italia, Copa America – those are just some of his achievements - can't be rubbish to win those, I am afraid. Milan as a team have trouble in dealing with set-pieces. This is where I feel Dida is most vulnerable and he ends up being at fault for what is a team error.
Tanveer Ghani
I couldn’t agree more! Dida is an embarrassment to Milan AND Serie A. The man has no skill whatsoever and belongs in an amateur league in France or the U.S! Better yet, back in Brazil!
Albert Melone
To claim "Dida has been a source of constant embarrassment to Milan since the moment he arrived" is absolute nonsense. After his return from Corinthians in 2002 he quickly established himself as one of the best goalkeepers in the world. He was outstanding for Milan domestically and in Europe. I'm sure Milan supporters will recall excellent performances against Juventus, Ajax and Inter. In fact that Champions League quarter-final against Inter proved to be his nadir, since being struck by the flare he hasn't been the same mentally or physically. Dida's career somewhat mirrors that of Jens Lehmann. He made his name at Schalke, flopped at Milan and re-established himself at Dortmund and of course Arsenal. Now after a series of blunders he's staring at the exit door. A couple of bad years doesn't detract from the consistently excellent performances both 'keepers turned in for their clubs in the past. Jumping on the bandwagon at THIS moment in time is lazy and irresponsible journalism.
R Mehdi
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