Who are your 3 GOATs?

[Sir Scott McToMinay]

Try to be objective and refrain from naming your favorite players if you can.

1.Messi
2.Maradona
3.C.Ronaldo

 

[Rozay]

1. R9
= Messi
3. Maradona

 

[SirAF]

1. Cristiano Ronaldo
2. Messi
3. Maradona

 

[Spoony]

Maradona
Pele
Messi

 

[Dr. StrangeHate]

Messi
Maradona
Pele

 

[giorno]

1.Diego
2.Armando
3.Maradona

 

[EverReddy]

May be being pedantic here but surely there can only be one GOAT?

 

[Gehrman]

I think it's really hard to be objective if you werent' alive to watch them all play. I was too young to see Maradonna, Pele and Di stefano. Objectively Pelé seemed to the complete player who broke all records and won everything at club and international level so the only reason I can't have him there is I didn't see him.

Going by players that I have seen it's

1. Messi
2. C. Ronaldo
3. Luiz Ronaldo

 

[Classical Mechanic]

1. Bobby Charlton
2. Bob Geldof
3. Davro

 

[Yorkeontop]

Guisseppe Meazza
Gerd Muller
Jimmy Greaves

 

[Lay]

1. Messi
2. Luis Ronaldo
3. Cristiano Ronaldo

 

[macheda14]

May be being pedantic here but surely there can only be one GOAT?

Why? Reword the questions to ‘who are the three greatest players of all time?’. That makes perfect sense.

 

[RedRonaldo]

Objectively speaking, purely comparing their "greatness" in measurable terms:

1. Pele
2. Ronaldo
3. Messi


Pele
career highlight: 3 WC (minor involvement in 1 WC)
stats: 797 or 1283 career goals (official or unoffical)
record: all time South American international top scorer (77 goals), all time most career goals (including unofficial)
individual: Revaluation of Ballon D'or (equivalent to 7 times winner)
achievements: total won 29 trophies
performance: one of the very best in the world lasting for over a decade
peak: top 3-5 of all time (subjective)
legacy: greatest player in WC history, only player who has scored "1000" goals (unofficial)

Ronaldo
career highlight: 5 CL, 1 Euro
stats: 697+ career goals, 219+ assists
record: all time European international top scorer (93+ goals), all time top scorer in CL
individual: 5 times Ballon D'or winner, 6 times runners up
achievements: total won 29 trophies
performance: one of the very best in the world lasting for over a decade (13+ years)
peak: top 5 of all time (subjective)
legacy: revolutionize goalscoring wing forward role, greatest goalscorer, greatest player in CL history, lead Portugal to win their first ever major international trophy

Messi
career highlight: 4 CL (minor involvement in 1 CL)
stats: 671+ career goals, 273+ assists
record: all time Argentina international top scorer (68+ goals), all time top scorer in La Liga
individual: 5 times Ballon D'or winner, 6 times runners up
achievements: total won 34 trophies
performance: one of the very best in the world lasting for over a decade (12+ years)
peak: top 2 of all time (subjective)
legacy: greatest playmaker and goalscorer, greatest player in La Liga history, most talented player in club football history

Maradona
career highlight: 1 WC (won it singlehandedly)
stats: 349 career goals, 200-300 assists (estimate)
record: probably one of player with highest no. of assists of all time
individual: Revaluation of Ballon D'or (equivalent to 2 times winner)
achievements: total won 9 trophies
performance: one of the very best in the world lasting for around 8-10 years
peak: top 1 of all time (subjective)
legacy: singlehandedly won the WC, most talented player in WC history, scored goal of the century

Cruyff
career highlight: 3 CL
stats: 416 career goals
record: n/a
individual: 3 times Ballon D'or winner, 1 time runners up
achievements: total won 21 trophies
performances: one of the very best in the world lasting for around 10 years
peak: top 3-5 of all time (subjective)
legacy: revolutionize total football, transform Ajax from semi-pro club to dominant force in Europe, his signature "Cruyff turn"




Maradona has probably the highest peak out of all player in the history IMHO, but his overall greatness was not up there with the other 3 players.

 

[OrcaFat]

1 Pele
2 C Ronaldo
3 Maradona
Tough on Messi a very close 4th.

 

[Moby]

Pele
Cristiano
Messi

 

[gibers]

Neymar
Xavi
Robin van Persie

 

[royboy16]

Maradonna
Ron/Messi (Both are brilliant but I don't watch Barcelona).
Zizou

 

[Dre]

Maradonna
Ronaldinho
R9

 

[Bole Top]

since there's no point in talking about players I've never watched (Pele, Di Stefano etc) and because there's only one that trully stands out among those I have watched long enough to form an opinion about them, it's a simple answer for me. Messi.

 

[RooneyLegend]

1. Best
2. Maradona
3. Messi

 

[paulscholes18]

Eusebio
Best
Ronaldo

 

[Tostao_80]

Pele, Diego, Leo

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

Guisseppe Meazza
Gerd Muller
Jimmy Greaves

Look out we got a hipster over here!

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

3 GOATs defeats the purpose of the term GOAT.

There can only be one and that’s Jesse Lingard.

 

[Halds]

Maradona
Ronaldinho
R9

Yes

 

[Sir Scott McToMinay]

Look out we got a hipster over here!

 

[Skills]

Messi
C Ron
Ron

 

[Mark_Barca]

Maradona did not singlehandedly win a WC. Wish this myth would go away!

 

[BootsyCollins]

Players from my time only
1.Ronaldinho
2.Messi
3.C.Ronaldo

 

[SungSam7]

Players from my time only
1.Ronaldinho
2.Messi
3.C.Ronaldo

I second that in this order though,

1.Messi
2. CR7
3. Ronaldinhio

 

[harms]

Pelé
Messi
Maradona

Pelé is one of the very few players who had basically matched the incredible longevity of Messi & Ronaldo and performed at an unimaginable level for more than a decade. He also was equally impressive and successful in both club and international football (although he was lucky to be born in Brazil).

Messi is probably the greatest ever club footballer, but you can’t overlook his relatively average international career. Average by the GOAT standards, of course, any generational talent would be quite happy with this.

Maradona, for me, had reached the highest peak of any footballer, but his unprofessional behavior, career choices & simple luck really hurt his longevity, and you can’t just ignore it. He also scored less goals than those 2, although he had played in the toughest league and never for a dominant team.

Cristiano, Di Stefano & Cruyff are next in no particular order. Maybe Der Kaiser as well.

 

[Dr. StrangeHate]

Maradona did not singlehandedly win a WC. Wish this myth would go away!

Yup it irks me too, he used his foot and head as well.

 

[The Cat]

1. Cruyff
2. Maradona
3. Pele

 

[zab-judah]

Yes

That looks about right. The 3 best I've seen in my lifetime. But I have to put 'dinhno on top. If my life depended on one game, I'd have him lead the line.

 

[paraguayo]

That I've seen

Messi
Cristiano
R9

 

[Random Task]

Not to find a single picture of a goat in a thread dedicated to goats is very disappointing.

Spoiler

If you expected to see a picture of a goat here you were mistaken.

 

[GodShaveTheQueen]

Di Stefano
Cruyff
Maradona

 

[GodShaveTheQueen]

Maradona did not singlehandedly win a WC. Wish this myth would go away!

Not exactly a myth. If you take all world cups, his was the most individually highest contribution to the team's success.

If not single handedly, it was the closest to whatever single handedly is.

 

[Zlatan 7]

Not to find a single picture of a goat in a thread dedicated to goats is very disappointing.

Spoiler

If you expected to see a picture of a goat here you were mistaken.

I did

 

[giorno]

Maradona did not singlehandedly win a WC. Wish this myth would go away!

He had a team that wouldn't have got out the group stage without him. I mean, everybody did their job well enough and they were a team. But then again, when your job is "defend and pass it to Diego", it makes everything easier