A FOOTBALL DEITY, and he ended up as a FAILURE

On this day, November 25, 2005, one of the best football players in the world ever passed - the legendary George Best.

On the field, he was considered a football deity, because of his abnormal alcohol consumption, he went for a liver transplant, but even that did not stop him from continuing to hang out with the syringe.

FOTO: PROFIMEDIA

George Best was born on May 22, 1946, and he was a winger for Manchester United and the Northern Ireland national team.

He was a member of the famous generation of 'Bazbi's babies', which brought Manchester its first European Champions Cup in 1968. In the same year, he was named the best football player in Europe in the traditional French football poll.

In numerous polls, he is ranked among the best players in the world of all time, and in his native Northern Ireland, he was elevated to the status of a deity.

In 10 years spent at United, he had 466 appearances and 178 goals scored.

He was known for his long black hair, charm and extravagant lifestyle. He could not resist numerous vices. Alcohol, nightlife, beautiful women ... were challenges he couldn't handle. George was a front-page guy and was loved by both the rich and the working class. He had it all. Women adored him because men respected him, and men respected him because women adored him.

FOTO: PROFIMEDIA

The famous statement: "I gave up women and alcohol in 1969 - it was the worst 20 minutes in my life", best describes his way of life.

A debauched life cost him his career, but also his life in the end. He left top football at the age of 26. He spent the next 11 years playing for second-rate clubs around the world, only to definitely leave football in 1983.

FOTO: PROFIMEDIA

He hit rock bottom in 1984 when he was serving two months in prison for driving under the influence of alcohol and attacking police officers. In 1988, friends gathered for a friendly match to raise money to prevent his bankruptcy. 75 thousand pounds were collected.

His 30-year struggle with alcohol replenished journalistic columns in March 2000. George Best was admitted to the hospital due to liver problems and was strongly warned by the hospital staff: Stop drinking or he will kill you. He was admitted to the hospital again in 2001 due to lung problems. In 2002, he underwent a liver transplant at King's College Hospital, which was at the expense of the state, which was condemned due to his problem with alcoholism. That conviction was justified because in 2003, he was seen drinking a syringe in front of everyone.

Best was admitted to intensive care on October 3, 2005, due to a kidney infection, which he received because he was taking medication that was supposed to prevent him from continuing to drink. On November 20, a British tabloid published a picture of him in a hospital bed, where he sent a message:

"Don't die like me."

He died on November 25, 2005, at the age of 59.

About 100,000 people gathered at his funeral in his native Belfast, who, despite the rain that fell all day, came to pay their respects to the best football player in Northern Ireland and one of the best players of all time.

His compatriots also repaid him by naming the international airport in Belfast after him, and the Ulster Bank issued a million five-pound sterling banknotes with his image on the anniversary of his death.

Fans will remember him as a great player, who was side by side with greats like Beckenbauer ...

Legendary statements of the first football superstar

George Best will be remembered for the statements that many still quote today.

"I gave up women and alcohol in 1969 - it was the worst 20 minutes of my life"

"I've been with at least 2,000 women. No need to seduce them. It was enough to just say, 'Hello, I'm Best of Manchester United.' '

"If Matt Besby had been stricter with me by any chance, I might have been better. I always ran away, I thought I could do whatever I wanted. The team's rules didn't apply to me."

"I spent a lot of money on women, alcohol and cars. I wasted the rest."

"I was born with a great gift, and with it comes destructive behavior.

They say I slept with seven muscles of the world. I had to disappoint them. I was only four when I came out with three. "

"I lived my life and drank on time."

"When I played in the US, I lived in a house by the sea. I never took a bath because there was a bar nearby."

"I always wanted to be the best in everything. The strongest on the field, stronger in the bar than what he drinks the most."