Who are your 3 GOATs?

1. Zidane
2. Ronaldo Nazario
3. Messi

Spaghetti said:

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

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I think Ronaldinho was a better all round footballer than both Messi and Ronaldo.
No doubt Messi and Ronaldo was better for a longer period and won more, but in pure footballing ability Ronaldinho was better for me.

Have not seen Pele or Maradona enough to form an opinion.

Best
Pele
Maradona

Pele
Cruyff
CR7

BootsyCollins said:

I think Ronaldinho was a better all round footballer than both Messi and Ronaldo.
No doubt Messi and Ronaldo was better for a longer period and won more, but in pure footballing ability Ronaldinho was better for me.

Have not seen Pele or Maradona enough to form an opinion.

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Really depends on what better footballing ability is. Ronaldinho was the ultimate showboater who would make anyone fall in love with football, but Messi can effortlessy dribble trough 4 defenders and score 50 goals a season so it really depends on how you define it.

Brwned said:

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?

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He really wasn't. Maradona was still argentina's best player along with goyco...the goalkeeper.

Ronaldinho was maybe brazil's 3rd best player, maybe

Ronaldo
Ronaldinho
Messi

Cristiano Ronaldo
Lionel Messi
Diego Maradona

BootsyCollins said:

I think Ronaldinho was a better all round footballer than both Messi and Ronaldo.
No doubt Messi and Ronaldo was better for a longer period and won more, but in pure footballing ability Ronaldinho was better for me.

Have not seen Pele or Maradona enough to form an opinion.

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Completely disagree.

Cristiano is a much more complete all round footballer than Ronaldinho, and Messi is much more talented.

Ronaldinho had many games where he did nothing, whereas Messi and Ronaldo hardly have any.

Obviously, Ronaldinho was an excellent player and a joy to watch, but in my opinion he’s not even close to the level of Messi and Cristiano.

giorno said:

He really wasn't. Maradona was still argentina's best player along with goyco...the goalkeeper.

Ronaldinho was maybe brazil's 3rd best player, maybe

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Aye. Probably 5th-6th imo. Not a criticism, he had a good tournament, but clearly a level below the other front two, while the wing-backs and Lucio were all at the top of their game.

Good lord, the arguments for Maradona so often boil down to what he did in a single month one time.

Pelé
Maradona
Luiz Ronaldo

Pele, Ronaldo and Messi. Any order is okay, my personal one is the one I gave.

Ronaldo (Brazilian one)
Messi
Ronaldinho

Pele
Messi
Platini

Nevermind Pele vs Maradona and Maradona vs Messi - Maradona vs Platini is a conversation that needs to be revisited.

Disregarding longevity:
1. Ronaldinho
2. Messi
3. Ronaldo (brazilian)

Svajni said:

1. Zidane
2. Ronaldo Nazario
3. Messi

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I don't really know how anyone can have Zidane first over Messi. Zidane for sure had his great iconic moments in the WC, but Messi and C. Ronaldo have just dominated football in a way not seen since Pelé and co.

We have enough of a sample now. Can all the players be added to a vote?

giorno said:

He really wasn't. Maradona was still argentina's best player along with goyco...the goalkeeper.

Ronaldinho was maybe brazil's 3rd best player, maybe

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Yeah, I was being very generous with the maybe not to distract from the main point - Ronaldinho's best world cup was nowhere near Ronaldinho's. And while we're on the subject, Ronaldinho's worst was also worse than Maradona's. Both came in with big expectations and didn't meet them, but Maradona had a bit of a spark, I just remember Ronaldinho being almost entirely irrelevant. At the time he was easily my favourite player to watch too.

You get mixed views on Maradona in 1990, I find. Even from the folks who idolised him at the time. There was a recognition that he was no longer quite at his peak, that ankle had taken a bit of a beating, and it would be almost impossible for anyone to replicate what he did in '86 even in full flight. But he had just won a 2nd league title with Napoli against the fiercest competition, and many people still saw that performance as a disappointment.

I personally agree with you - definitely top 2, probably not the best. That was a pretty unimpressive Argentina team so the relative evaluations kind of skew things a bit, but I'd absolutely say he was one of the best player's in the tournament too.

fps said:

Good lord, the arguments for Maradona so often boil down to what he did in a single month one time.

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Not quite. The arguments against Maradona, inevitably from people who haven't watched him beyond some YT video, always start with "yes ok he was great in '86 but he had the whole team built around him" or "Zidane / Ronaldo / whoever was also great in x" or "who even cares about the World Cup"? And then people who watched him at that pinnacle go on to describe it. Because it was remarkable, one of the most magical periods in football history, and deserves attention.

However there are lots of reasons for saying Maradona is up there with the very best. It's just unfortunate that for some reason, people who have never watched him are so keen to dismiss him, and the discussion gets simplified to such a degree that it becomes so monotonous.

Maradona
Pele
Messi

In no order

Pele
Messi
Maradona

Maradona
Messi
Best

Di Stefano, Garrincha and Socrates. Never watched any of them play but I'm really into mythology.

I'm not old enough to have seen Pelé, Cruyff and di Stefano play so I cannot comment on them just based on a few documentaries and You Tube compilations.

Of the ones I have seen:

1. Maradona: best I've ever seen. Period.
2. Messi: Technically might have been even better than Maradona, but simply doesn't have the mental fortitude and leadership that Maradona had.
3. Ronaldo: Before his knee injuries he was maybe the most electric player I've ever seen. His combination of pace, power and technique was breathtaking.

Messi
Cristiano
Maradonna

On a side note, I just discovered that Ronaldo is 60 goals away from equalling Pele's record of most official goals in football history

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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That is simply not true.

Ronaldinho had a moment of magic against England but I would say Rivaldo was more crucial for the overall attacking play and R9 had more impact with his deadly finishing and goals.

Zidane one is also a myth - He was red-carded in '98 in a group game and missed the next 2 matches. In pre-quarters, France won through a golden goal by Blanc (without Zidane), quarters were a penalty shootout win against Italy, and a freakish brace (his only 2 goals for the national team in a 10-15 year career) by Thuram saw them go past semis. Zidane, of course, scored twice in the final but 2 headed goals from a corner. It was more of Brazil shitting the bed rather than some France or Zidane masterclass.
Zidane's '06 performance was worthy of the cup win though. He carried the team. And in fact, his performance against Brazil in '06 was much much better than anything he did in 98. He just ran rings around their midfield.

1. Diego Maradona: Why do I watch football? Maradona embodied everything that makes me turn up or turn on again and again. He was artistic like Picasso and Van Gogh rolled into one, inspirational like Alexander the Great, talented, intelligent, determined, strong, and a personal drama that has made him named a God and a Devil in the headlines of serious national newspapers in several countries. Shakespearean.
2. Johan Cruyff: His brilliance was on so many different levels of what makes a player impact a team, what you saw was only a fraction of what you got.
3. Pele: He is the original GOAT, the Miles Davis of football history. Constantly at the heart of the biggest football revolution there ever was.
4. Lionel Messi: If a footballer is an individual who’s got one job and is told to do it as well as possible for as long as possible, Messi is the ultimate combination of talent, concentration and longevity.
4. Christiano Ronaldo: Impresses me more than Messi. With Messi the better player. Ronaldo has managed to perfectly eclipse him on so many levels for so many years. My claim is that without each other, none of them would have been able to push themselves to the levels and longevity that has seen them outdistance players like Garrincha, Best, Eusebio, Platini, Zidane, Ronaldo9, Ronaldinho etc. And he’s a United player.

Maradona
Pele
Best

Modern era greats
Messi
C. Ronaldo
Ronaldo

Brwned said:

Not quite. The arguments against Maradona, inevitably from people who haven't watched him beyond some YT video, always start with "yes ok he was great in '86 but he had the whole team built around him" or "Zidane / Ronaldo / whoever was also great in x" or "who even cares about the World Cup"? And then people who watched him at that pinnacle go on to describe it. Because it was remarkable, one of the most magical periods in football history, and deserves attention.

However there are lots of reasons for saying Maradona is up there with the very best. It's just unfortunate that for some reason, people who have never watched him are so keen to dismiss him, and the discussion gets simplified to such a degree that it becomes so monotonous.

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I usually see the final *clincher* from people being *He won a world cup on his own*. It happens again and again and again. To be honest, I find these debates very tiresome as football is a team game, but marketed as an individuals' game to too great an extent.

GK. Goram
CB. Maldini
CM. Zidane
CF. Ronaldo 9


The best ever right back ever.... Daniel Fergus McGrain

Best
Maradona
Cruyff

fps said:

I usually see the final *clincher* from people being *He won a world cup on his own*. It happens again and again and again. To be honest, I find these debates very tiresome as football is a team game, but marketed as an individuals' game to too great an extent.

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I agree with you, but that world cup really is the one exception. Maradona was scoring solo goal after solo goal, setting up teammates from nothing, etc. The final is probably the one game that he didn't win basically by himself(still was the best player on the pitch)

Scott McTominay.
Two others

Luiz Ronaldo
Messi
Zidane

Messi
Pele
Cristiano Ronaldo

Not a very thought out assessment, but longevity played a role in my choices. Otherwise might be a couple of changes.

For those not old enough to have watched Maradonna... I recommend watching the 2029 Documentary film ‘Diego Maradonna”.

Great footage and it shows how times have changed. The rough stuff he had to put up with every week would lead to 5 red cards each game. I never saw Pele but Maradonna to me was GOAT by a far way.

Messi
Maradona
Pele

The brains of one of the most dominant club and national teams ever is worth at least a discussion here... Or may be he should be considered S.O.A.T (smartest of all time).

Xavi Hernandez


When he left, both "legendary" teams went south!