EUROSCENE/Paddy Agnew's Column: There is an unmistakeable "end of term" buzz in the European air. The Champions League final, like it or not, has come and gone to AC Milan on penalties, whilst powerhouse European clubs such as Bayern Munich, Juventus and Manchester United long ago wrapped up their respective league title contests.
Were it not for the ticklish question of European Championship qualifiers over the next 10 days (Ireland v Albania, Scotland v Germany, Finland v Italy and England v Slovakia are among the more interesting) not to mention the still unresolved three-way battle between Real Sociedad, Real Madrid and Deportivo La Coruna for the Spanish league title, you could say the season is as good as over.
In that context, there is always a nostalgic sense of sweet sorrow come the month of June as various famous names depart the scene. The 37-year-old World Cup winner Brazilian Aldair and the 35-year-old European Championship winner German Oliver Bierhoff are two for whom this June would seem to have marked the end of remarkably long-playing careers.
One uses the conditional since both men, notwithstanding a combined total of 35 seasons' professional soccer, have yet to entirely rule out a final coda to their careers.
Nothing is quite so difficult for a professional footballer as accepting when the time has come to hang up the boots.
Accordingly, Aldair is apparently in negotiation with West Brom for next season whilst Bierhoff flies off to Japan this week with his current club, Chievo, with half an eye open for a final season in the Far East.
Notwithstanding those considerations, however, Brazilian friends and former team-mates of Aldair such as Romario, Ronaldo, Dunga, Leonardo, Bebeto and Roberto Carlos last night joined with AS Roma stars past and present such as Francesco Totti and Bruno Conti to pay homage in an "Aldair Day" match at the Olympic Stadium.
After 13 seasons with Roma in Serie A, Aldair left Italian football in elegant style with a benefit match whose box-office takings will go to the "Fome Zero" anti-poverty project launched by recently elected Brazilian state President Lula.
After 11 seasons in Serie A, mainly with Udinese and AC Milan, Bierhoff too signed off in style, scoring a hat-trick against Juventus in a 4-3 defeat on the last day of the season last week.
For Bierhoff, the future is clearly not bleak since, even if he fails to get that final contract from either a Japanese or US club, he will soon be assuming the role of German football ambassador in the build-up to the 2006 World Cup finals in his native land.
Your correspondent will miss both players, and not only for their abilities on the pitch. In the course of three- or four-times yearly visits to both AC Milan and Roma throughout recent seasons, one could always rely on both men to take the time to sit down and talk football.
Whereas Aldair was staggeringly modest for a World Cup winner (USA '94), Bierhoff was calm and lucid. Aldair was almost embarrassed to talk about his success whilst Bierhoff was intelligent enough to painstakingly work his way through a university architectural degree while playing top-flight football.
When he first arrived in Italian football, Aldair's natural skill as a central defender did the talking for him and he soon became a much-loved local hero to the Roma fans.
Bierhoff, in contrast, was not so naturally talented, but he used his intelligence well. Having signed for Inter Milan and having been promised a house and a car, he found himself suddenly shipped off to Serie B side Ascoli, where the volcanic boss, Agostino Rozzi, not only provided neither house nor car, but soon had him in the reserves.
Bierhoff kept his cool, won back his team's confidence and in his second season (1992-'93) scored 20 goals, thus alerting all the Serie A sides to his potential.
Three seasons later, he scored 17 Serie A goals for Udinese and forced his way into Berti Vogts's squad for Euro '96, coming off the bench to score both goals in Germany's 2-1 "golden goal" win against the Czech Republic.
For both men, the end of the Italian road, if not of their careers, has come this week.
We wish them both the best of luck on the road ahead.
