Who are your 3 GOATs?

Champagne Football

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1. Messi + CR7
2. Pele
3. Zidane

I don't believe Maradona, Ronaldinho and R9 performed at a high level long enough to be considered. People say 'But Diego won the WC on his own'... Yes but so did arguably Zidane, Ronaldinho, Iniesta etc

People say Maradona played during a time where forwards got butchered unlike Messi and CR7 today. True, but Diego was unprofessional and off his head on booze and drugs half the time during height of his fame.
 

2mufc0

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Then I find it difficult to chose, there’s a cluster of players on a similar level. From personal bias most likely Cruijff for me.
 

Mr Parker

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These sort of things just show how skewed these things are towards attacking players. Hardly any mentions for people like Beckenbauer, Maldini, Baresi, Buffon, Gullit.
 

Melville Red

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Can’t have a stinking drug taking cheating creature in the top three footballers of all time.
So mine in no particular order except top position is.

PELE

CRUYFF

CHARLTON

Those three entertained, entertained and entertained some more. Were great ambassadors for the sport both whilst playing and in retirement.

Then there are the likes of Di Steffano and Pusskas. I don’t think you can leave those two out and it’s all relative, ask a Madrid supporter and Cruyff wouldn’t get a look in ask a Barcelona supporter and Di Steffano wouldn’t be mentioned.
Excuse spelling they are foreign after all.
 
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JJ12

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Messi, CR7, Ronaldinho

Only commenting on players I've seen.
 

Dorian Gray

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OverratedOpinion said:
It depends how you judge it. Sugar Ray Robinson by all accounts was the best boxer of all time but Ali will end up being placed at the top of most people's lists due to being so influential and charismatic.

If we are talking purely about the best three players of all time, who would be most likely to help a team win then Ronaldo, Messi and either Maradona or Ronaldo Luiz would be my top 3. Athletes do improve over time and I personally think that if you took Ronaldo from 2013 and put him in a team with Pele then Ronaldo would be the best player in that team by a significant margin. Whether that would change if Pele had the same nutrition, training and tactical evolution is impossible to answer.
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Exactly. And that is why comparing players with similar abilities across generations is very tough.
 

Spaghetti

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BootsyCollins said:
Players from my time only
1.Ronaldinho
2.Messi
3.C.Ronaldo
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There is no way Ronaldinho was better than Messi.
Ronaldo and Messi are comfortably 1 and 2 although I’m not sure in which order. They have single-handedly won game after game for their teams for over a decade. It’s not just their quality, it’s their longevity. I guess they have a little more time in their careers to decide first and second. Even though Ronaldo has done it for more clubs and had a better international career, it’ll probably be remembered as
1- Messi
2- Ronaldo

For number 3 the most likely candidates for me are: Ronaldo (the Brazilian one, obviously), Pele and Maradona. I wasn’t around for much of the latter twos careers, but from what I’ve seen I’m going with:
3- Maradona
 

Bwuk

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Find it stupid to comment on players you haven’t seen play.

Messi, Cristiano & Ronaldinho.
 

KeanoMagicHat

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Messi
Pele
Maradona

Honourable mentions: Cruyff, Beckenbauer, Di Stefano, Cristiano Ronaldo

Bwuk said:
Find it stupid to comment on players you haven’t seen play.

Messi, Cristiano & Ronaldinho.
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Surely GOAT is 'Greatest of All Time' with an emphasis on All Time, not Greatest of Time I Started Watching. For me declaring a player the best ever by just not including 50 or 60 years of high-level football isn't right either.
 
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Brwned

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Champagne Football said:
1. Messi + CR7
2. Pele
3. Zidane

I don't believe Maradona, Ronaldinho and R9 performed at a high level long enough to be considered. People say 'But Diego won the WC on his own'... Yes but so did arguably Zidane, Ronaldinho, Iniesta etc

People say Maradona played during a time where forwards got butchered unlike Messi and CR7 today. True, but Diego was unprofessional and off his head on booze and drugs half the time during height of his fame.
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Ronaldinho arguably won the WC on his own?! He was maybe as influential in 2002 as Maradona was in 1990 (influential in key moments but hardly a dominant force).

What Maradona did in 1986 was on a different level altogether. Did you even watch any of his performances then?
 

ForeverRoma93

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Shamana said:
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
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This
 

Pocho

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Messi
Maradona
CR, not the same quality but great striker, if not the greatest.
 

Spaghetti

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Vooon said:
If you leave out strikers?

1. Zidane
2. Casillas
3. Cannavaro
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I respect all people’s opinions, but not this one. Casillas and Cannavaro are nowhere near GOATs even if you take away strikers, midfielders and anyone with the letters B, D, E, F, G, H, J, K or M in their names.
 

Zehner

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R9
Messi
Maradona

Pele is weird in a way, hard to compare to the others since he essentially played a different game and there's few footage of it. May very well be the greatest.

Also hard to decide between R9 and Messi. Think on his day, R9 was even better than Leo.
 
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