It’s always a little sad when a great player starts to “go back”. It looks like Real Madrid has two such cases, right now, Zidane and Figo. We saw this in Euro 2004. There was enough of the flashes of brilliance – Zidane most obviously against England and even some moments off magic from Figo that may have tied the Final against Greece – to tantalize us but enough of a general sense that they were no longer the forces they were to give that edge of sadness.

My first encounter with this was seeing Denis Law slip from being the King of Old Trafford to just an “average” great player. Returning from recovery from yet another knee injury in 1968, it became sadly apparent that we weren’t ever going to see again the electric Law. The Law that scored the spectacular disallowed goal against Gornik with a gravity-defying overhead kick, the Law that rose so high at the far post that it was a miracle that he didn’t crash into the crossbar, the Law that beat the offside trap by so far that good goals were disallowed by the sheer disbelief of the officials in what their own eyes were telling them (modern fans could get an idea of this watching Owen 3 or 4 years ago). One incident stands out. A match at Burnley that United should have won handily in which Law should have but the Reds up 2-0 just before the half. It was all so familiar. Ball to the far post, the blonde hair rising above the marker, the snap of the neck. But no ball in the back of the net. He’d missed!

It’s possible that Law had missed before, when he was King. Memory plays tricks. But not from so close, if at all. He still scored. He still showed superb touches. By any standards, he was still one of the best players in the League. But he was no longer King.

He played for several more years, including a spell at cross-town City. What do you say? Law was likely still among the best players when he retired. Yet, watching him, there was a tinge of sadness for what was no longer there.

So, let us try to celebrate the years we enjoyed Zizou and Figo, rather than dwell on their decline. But it will be hard.

This is yet another way in which Bradman was remarkable. Other than his famous duck in his last test innings, he showed very little signs of decline.