How a sweeper set football free: Rudraneil Sengupta on Franz Beckenbauer

The German legend changed the game with the moves he invented. Look closely and you can still see them at play in the field.

The death of German football legend Franz Beckenbauer aka Der Kaiser last week, aged 78, brought into focus a position in football that he perfected, refined and redefined: the “sweeper” or “libero”.

Though the two terms can be used interchangeably, sweeper is the more accurate way of describing the move, by a lone defender who operates behind defensive lines, to “sweep up” any balls that have gone past the defence.

The libero was what the sweeper role turned into, as