Joga Bonito
The Art of Football
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2014
- Messages
- 8,239
This has obviously been done to death along with the all time XIs but haven't seen one recently.
Ronaldo and Messi have more or less been dominating the scene for the past decade or so and are more or less viewed as shoe-ins for the top 10 by most fans. So how highly do you rank them?
Does their unprecedented dominance at club level warrant top billing, or do you still rate other greats who arguably thrived in more competitive eras and have attained success at both club and international stages, above them?
I'm going to arrange my top 10 in tiers
1st Tier
1) Diego Maradona
2) Pele
2nd Tier
3) Messi
4) Franz Beckenbauer
5) Johan Cruyff
6) Cristiano Ronaldo
7) Alfredo Di Stefano
3rd Tier
Now it gets tricky imo. Plenty of competition for the last 3 spots.
Michel Platini
Zico
Ferenc Puskas
Eusebio
Sir Bobby Charlton
Franco Baresi
Lothar Matthäus
Gerd Müller
Zidane
Van Basten
Ronaldo
8) Michel Platini - One of the greatest playmakers ever & a deadly and decisive goalscorer rolled into one sumptuous package. Would probably be top 5 if he had more luck in the WCs and a more prolonged peak - he was a fine player for Saint Etienne no doubt, but I reckon he could have made the move from Ligue 1 a tad bit earlier.
9) Gerd Müller - This might seem like a hipster choice, but I seriously can't think of a better big game player, who has done it all on the biggest stages. It didn't matter if it was the WC, Euros, Bundesliga or the European Cup, he scored and he did it in style and decisively. There were games were his team were on the defensive or weren't playing well and Müller would drop deep, work his socks off AND still somehow conjure up a winning goal out of nowhere. I get that he's not the flashiest player around but why should that matter? Simply put, if you were the coach and had a life or death match coming up, you'd simply put him up front, end of story.
10) Ferenc Puskas - Harsh to leave out the others and my bottom 3 could very well feature different names on a different day but Puskas it is. Would probably be rated higher if there was more footage of him in the early fifties and if there was a balon d'or back then. No doubt a victorious, injury-free World Cup campaign would probably have pushed him up a few notches.
Ronaldo and Messi have more or less been dominating the scene for the past decade or so and are more or less viewed as shoe-ins for the top 10 by most fans. So how highly do you rank them?
Does their unprecedented dominance at club level warrant top billing, or do you still rate other greats who arguably thrived in more competitive eras and have attained success at both club and international stages, above them?
I'm going to arrange my top 10 in tiers
1st Tier
1) Diego Maradona
2) Pele
2nd Tier
3) Messi
4) Franz Beckenbauer
5) Johan Cruyff
6) Cristiano Ronaldo
7) Alfredo Di Stefano
3rd Tier
Now it gets tricky imo. Plenty of competition for the last 3 spots.
Michel Platini
Zico
Ferenc Puskas
Eusebio
Sir Bobby Charlton
Franco Baresi
Lothar Matthäus
Gerd Müller
Zidane
Van Basten
Ronaldo
8) Michel Platini - One of the greatest playmakers ever & a deadly and decisive goalscorer rolled into one sumptuous package. Would probably be top 5 if he had more luck in the WCs and a more prolonged peak - he was a fine player for Saint Etienne no doubt, but I reckon he could have made the move from Ligue 1 a tad bit earlier.
9) Gerd Müller - This might seem like a hipster choice, but I seriously can't think of a better big game player, who has done it all on the biggest stages. It didn't matter if it was the WC, Euros, Bundesliga or the European Cup, he scored and he did it in style and decisively. There were games were his team were on the defensive or weren't playing well and Müller would drop deep, work his socks off AND still somehow conjure up a winning goal out of nowhere. I get that he's not the flashiest player around but why should that matter? Simply put, if you were the coach and had a life or death match coming up, you'd simply put him up front, end of story.
10) Ferenc Puskas - Harsh to leave out the others and my bottom 3 could very well feature different names on a different day but Puskas it is. Would probably be rated higher if there was more footage of him in the early fifties and if there was a balon d'or back then. No doubt a victorious, injury-free World Cup campaign would probably have pushed him up a few notches.
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