Greatest Dribbler of All Time

Vapor trail

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Robben was such a fantastic player. What was so memorising was the simplicity of his play. Mastered the craft of cutting in. Opponents could never get a foot in because his change of pace, it always created him the space to shoot.

It has to some degree become a lost art, many players lack a change of pace not due to being slow / not being explosive but perhaps not practicing the dynamics of different speeds in directional changes. A player who could benefit from this would be Sancho, not particularly fast but he could offset that weakness with a change of pace.
 
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Offside

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Messi is just clear as the best player in every category. I’m slightly disappointed he’s had an obvious decline as it means so many forget about, or are even too young to remember, his prime. Best dribbler of all time, obviously.
 

fergiewherearethou

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Robben was such a fantastic player. What was so memorising was the simplicity of his play. Mastered the craft of cutting in. Opponents could never get a foot in because his change of pace, it always created him the space to shoot.

It has to some degree become a lost art, many players lack a change of pace not due to being slow / not being explosive but perhaps not practicing the dynamics of different speeds in directional changes. A player who could benefit from this would be Sancho, not particularly fast but he could offset that weakness with a change of pace.
What was incredible about Robben was the fact that he would always do the same thing over and over again, cutting in to his left foot and no one could stop him. That's how fast he was.
 

Andrade

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On the "carried out on a stretcher" point - that's precisely the sort of thing which doesn't make any sense when comparing players from different eras.

It's the exact same flaw people are guilty of when they point out the - obvious - fact that the general pace in a game of professional football is much higher today than it was during Whoever's peak (fifty, thirty or even fifteen years ago).

There's no obvious reason why Messi - given his core qualities - wouldn't have adapted to the football world of the 1980s. He isn't particularly injury prone, for one thing. Sure, defenders would've kicked the shit out of him - just like they did with Maradona - but why wouldn't he have handled that (on the whole), just like Maradona did?

The fact that attackers are - clearly - much more protected these days has no bearing on the hypothetical scenario in which Messi is born around 1960 and has to play against the likes of Claudio Gentile.

The "mentality" argument is actually more convincing if you want to downplay Messi (compared to Maradona): the fact that he hasn't actually genuinely stepped up to take charge and shine in an environment where he is not surrounded by an undoubted top, top selection of team mates, etc.
For Argentina? Especially in the most recent tournament?

Number of international teammates nominated for the Ballon D'Or Dream Teams-

Pele: 8
Ronaldo: 5
Maradona: 2
Cristiano Ronaldo: 1
Messi: 0
 

GueRed

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He can´t do elasticos, he´s shite.
Messi, Maradona and Ortega, the best dribblers from Argentina.


Ortega is a great shout. He was class..

It would've been interesting to see how United would've lined up with Ortega in the team had the board backed Fergie in going ahead to sign him (albeit on loan for a year with an option to buy from Valencia) in 1997 - 1998.
 

Chesterlestreet

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For Argentina? Especially in the most recent tournament?

Number of international teammates nominated for the Ballon D'Or Dream Teams-

Pele: 8
Ronaldo: 5
Maradona: 2
Cristiano Ronaldo: 1
Messi: 0
Not getting dragged into that nonsense.

It doesn't belong in this thread anyway.
 

Pocho

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Ortega is a great shout. He was class..

It would've been interesting to see how United would've lined up with Ortega in the team had the board backed Fergie in going ahead to sign him (albeit on loan for a year with an option to buy from Valencia) in 1997 - 1998.
would’ve loved to see him in a United shirt, he was a little chaotic though
 

Bebestation

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Why only attackers as dribblers?

There must have been the Frenkie De Jong type of midfield dribbler before right?
 

Andrade

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Not getting dragged into that nonsense.

It doesn't belong in this thread anyway.
I mean, you said he hasn't done anything notable without great teammates, I'm just pointing out that this statement is incorrect. But you're right, it's not conducive to this thread.
 

fps

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Wasn't Ribery like the third most successful dribbler since the stats were started to count.

Here is a statistics until 2019 November by Opta.

1. Lionel Messi - 1,880 take-ons completed (57.2%)

2. Eden Hazard - 1,220 take-ons completed (57.1%)

3. Franck Ribery - 939 take-ons completed (47.9%)

4. Sergio Aguero - 832 take-ons completed (46.6%)

5. Cristiano Ronaldo - 816 take-ons completed (44%)

6. Joaquin - 798 take-ons completed (50.9%)

7. Hatem Ben Arfa - 770 take-ons completed (50.6%)

8. Andres Iniesta - 739 take-ons completed (60.9%)

9. Roberto Firmino - 736 take-ons completed (56.8%)

10. Neymar - 734 take-ons completed (50.2%)
Fascinating stuff, thanks! I'd like to know what stands as a successful dribble if Firmino is in there, but it's a really interesting list.
 

harms

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Why only attackers as dribblers?

There must have been the Frenkie De Jong type of midfield dribbler before right?
Masopust, Tigana, Falcão… not many truly elite ones, they usually end up further up the pitch like Iniesta or Zidane.
 

OverratedOpinion

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Not the best of all time but the best dribbler I've seen at United was Giggs. The fact that he could still dribble past multiple players after losing most of his pace was telling for me.
 

Red the Bear

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Masopust, Tigana, Falcão… not many truly elite ones, they usually end up further up the pitch like Iniesta or Zidane.
Yeah pretty much those listed were great obviously but I guess the reason most end up higher on the pitch is with the way players are developed so if you're good at dribbling the coach is more likely to play you higher up on the pitch.

I imagine if the likes of de jong are extremely successful we could end up seeing a lot more players developed in that mould in the future .
 

B20

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Not the best ever perhaps, but when it comes to dribbling through the centre, I think Romario was behind only Maradona and Messi.
 

harms

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Zanetti's defensive dribbles were quite great and Marcelo is mint too.
Wouldn’t put Zanetti as an all-time great dribbler but Marcelo is a great shout. Maybe Leo Junior too. Beckenbauer obviously could do everything with the ball even though he preferred one-twos to dribbling runs.
 

Bogdannn

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What was incredible about Robben was the fact that he would always do the same thing over and over again, cutting in to his left foot and no one could stop him. That's how fast he was.
True, Robben was indeed great, despite being so "obvious". :devil:

Messi is just clear as the best player in every category. I’m slightly disappointed he’s had an obvious decline as it means so many forget about, or are even too young to remember, his prime. Best dribbler of all time, obviously.
Nope. He's incredibly overrated. Put him on the fields Pele, Best and Maradona played on against butchers and he would barely get past 1 opponent.
 

Bogdannn

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There's no obvious reason why Messi - given his core qualities - wouldn't have adapted to the football world of the 1980s.
Actually, there is. First of all, he ain't that big or strong. Second of all, he's a system player and can't adapt outside Barcelona, as it was proved this season with PSG.

He isn't particularly injury prone, for one thing.
That's cause he plays in this era where he's protected by the refs and cause he played in the soft Spanish league for almost all his career.

Sure, defenders would've kicked the shit out of him - just like they did with Maradona - but why wouldn't he have handled that (on the whole), just like Maradona did?
I don't think he would.

The fact that attackers are - clearly - much more protected these days has no bearing on the hypothetical scenario in which Messi is born around 1960 and has to play against the likes of Claudio Gentile.
Why not ?!? It would make dribbling way harder.

The "mentality" argument is actually more convincing if you want to downplay Messi (compared to Maradona): the fact that he hasn't actually genuinely stepped up to take charge and shine in an environment where he is not surrounded by an undoubted top, top selection of team mates, etc.
I agree with you on this.
 

Joel Miller

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Actually, there is. First of all, he ain't that big or strong. Second of all, he's a system player and can't adapt outside Barcelona, as it was proved this season with PSG.


That's cause he plays in this era where he's protected by the refs and cause he played in the soft Spanish league for almost all his career.


I don't think he would.


Why not ?!? It would make dribbling way harder.


I agree with you on this.
How do posters like you even manage to slip through on here?

You’re very conspicuous by the nonsense you post, in fact it’s so absurd it really looks more like pointless trolling.
 

11 forwards

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Hard to compare in a meaningful way..

Garrincha tricked opponents with or against the direction of the play, it didn't matter, as if dribbling was far more important than scoring. Ronaldinho had a similar showmanship about him. Kerlon the seal-dribbler had an interesting take on it all, but he sort of faded out early.