A final taxi call for Spurs' Champions League fall guy

MANCHESTER CITY defender Maicon has completed a move to Italian club Roma to end his Premier League nightmare.

The attacking right-back has never really been the same since Gareth Bale tied him up in knots during our 3-1 Champions League win over Inter Milan.

Having adopted the unfortunate full-back for the title of this fanzine, it seems only fair that we now bid a fond farewell to a man who played such a key role in one of the greatest nights of Tottenham's recent history.

Just in case you have forgotten, let me refresh your memory...

It was a crisp, tense European Tuesday night in November 2010 at White Hart Lane. The visitors had just pulled a goal back to halve the deficit and the home faithful held its collective breath as a neap tide of attacks battered our weary, and all-too-often wobbly, defence.

From nowhere, a Younes Kaboul interception set Gareth Bale flying down the left wing. Three touches and a pinpoint cross for Roman Pavlyuchenko to tap home sent Paxton Road absolutely bonkers.

Spurs had breathing space - 3-1 up against reigning European champions Inter Milan. But where was Maicon - the so-called best right-back in the world - during all this? Nowhere to be seen, that's where.

He was left gasping for air and scraping dust off his teeth in the wake of Bale's devastating dart down the wing and the Spurs fans duly rubbed his nose in it by singing Taxi For Maicon for the umpteenth time and sealing the song's place as the soundtrack of the season.

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It completed a torrid few games for the Brazilian, he was also turned inside out in the second half at the San Siro. We lost 4-3, but the Welsh winger announced his arrival on the European scene and Maicon's fortunes began a steady descent. Did Gareth Bale really ruin his career?

Firstly, you have to ask whether Maicon was ever as good as all the press and pundits claimed.

After winning the Brazilian title with Cruzeiro in 2003, he secured a move to Monaco before arriving at Inter. He won four consecutive Serie A titles, plus the Champions League and a host of minor honours.

At international level he has 66 Brazil caps - no mean feat when you're competing with Barcelona's Dani Alves - and they've brought him two Copa America wins, and two Confederations Cups.

Then there's the personal feats: six appearances in different Team of the Year line-ups, a World Cup Man of the Match award and UEFA Club Defender of the Year award for 2009-10.

So, yes, it could easily be argued that he was at the very top of his profession. Yet, strangely, the trophies, the form, the accolades, all dried up at the same time.

Maicon's appearances for Inter plummeted during the 2010-11 season, making a total of just 38, compared to 51 the previous Champions League-winning year. The following season was even worse, playing just 28 games and notching a meagre four assists - the lowest in his six-year Inter spell.

He was dropped from the Brazil squad in 2011 and has not featured since, there are no individual awards post-2010 and in a disastrous stint in Manchester last year his presence graced the first team on just 13 occasions.

The reasons behind Maicon's mysterious downfall from benchmark to bench-sitter could of course be explained by niggling knee injuries, or even managerial instability - he had four different managers in his last two years with Inter.

But there's a nagging feeling that the trauma he experienced at the hands of Bale on November 2, 2010, may have damaged his confidence beyond repair.

In Rome - the home of once-mighty soldiers and fallen emperors - Maicon will be in good company. And, while we wish him all the best in rediscovering his form, we can't help but raise our collective voice for one last time... TAXI!