++ [ originally posted by Azzurri7 ] ++
Indeed they are. But Cordoba is REALLY dirty....
Matrix belong to the dirty calibre, not Cordoba. Cordoba is juz a sadist defender that is quick and strong, despite of his short height (they consider 1.73m as short). He has good marking skills and can cause trouble to attackers since he is fast. And he is able to wrestle with other players for the ball. The bad point about him is that once he is unable to track the player, he has to resort to fouling. This is the bad point of him, and which is y he pocketed so many cards.
Some of Matrix's tackles can potentially end a player's season. It is fortunate that Zlatan is a strong guy, if it is another guy, his leg would have been broken. When the referee is not looking, he resorts to tricks, sometimes even provoking players. That's the difference between him and Cordoba.
If u really want to group dirty players together, Christian Poulsen will definitely be in there. When the referee is not looking, he does those little punches, kicks and provokes players, which led to the famous Totti incident in Euro 2004. Totti may have spitted but Poulsen is nowhere innocent.