Redcafe's All-Time Top 20. Ball-playing central defenders | Results

[harms]

Spoiler: The voting rules

Post your list of 20 best ball-playing central defenders of all-time. I'll close the thread on 18th of July (unless we decide to extend the vote).

Note: the category includes broad spectrum of players — from old-fashioned liberos to modern ball-playing center backs. Sadly, there's no clear definition, but keep in mind that we'll have another thread for stoppers later on.

Note: all discussion goes to this thread - http://www.redcafe.net/threads/redcafes-top-20-by-position.448431/

Note: you can post less than 20 names, but not more

The list should be posted in the required format:

1. C. Smalling
2. P. Jones

...

20.

NB: After careful consideration, only players that had played at least a season after the 1950 WC are eligible.

The final list.

1. Franz Beckenbauer. 1027
2. Franco Baresi. 817
3. Elías Figueroa. 477
4. Gaetano Scirea. 441
5. Bobby Moore. 368
6. Daniel Passarella. 330
7. Alessandro Nesta. 321
8. Matthias Sammer. 283
9. Ruud Krol. 261
10. Rio Ferdinand. 209
11. Ronald Koeman. 192
12. Laurent Blanc. 149
13. Marius Tresor. 105
14. Velibor Vasovic. 102
15. Hector Chumpitaz. 99
16. Fernando Hierro. 97
17. Armando Picchi. 80
18. Alan Hansen. 75
19. Willi Schulz. 74
20. Albert Shesternyov. 60
21. Paul McGrath. 43
22. Morten Olsen. 38
23. Ricardo Carvalho. 37
24. Sergio Ramos. 29
25. Jose Santamaria. 22
26. Maxime Bossis. 21
27. Giuseppe Bergomi. 20
28. Gheorghe Popescu. 19
29. Lucio. 17
30. Frank Rijkaard. 13
31. Thiago Silva. 12
32. Hans-Jürgen Dörner. 10
33. Karl-Heinz Schnellinger. 8
34. Frank de Boer. 8
35. Marcel Desailly. 7
36. Horst Blankenburg. 7
37. Dario Pereyra. 6
38. Anton Ondrus. 5
39. Bruno Pezzey. 4
40. Gerard Pique. 4
41. Aldair. 3
42. Roberto Perfumo. 2
43. Władysław Żmuda. 2
44. Rune Bratseth. 2
45. Antonio Maceda. 2
46. Matts Hummels. 1
47. Jerome Boateng 1
48. Manolo Sanchis. 1

 

[harms]

1. Franz Beckenbauer
2. Franco Baresi
3. Elias Figueroa
4. Gaetano Scirea
5. Bobby Moore
6. Alessandro Nesta
7. Ronald Koeman
8. Matthias Sammer
9. Daniel Passarella
10. Rio Ferdinand
11. Ruud Krol
12. Fernando Hierro
13. Laurent Blanc
14. Willy Schulz
15. Velibor Vasović
16. Alan Hansen
17. Sergio Ramos
18. Maxime Bossis
19. Roberto Perfumo
20. Marius Trésor

 

[BlackShark_80]

1. Franz Beckenbauer
2. Franco Baresi
3. Elias Figueroa
4. Bobby Moore
5. Gaetano Scirea
   
6. Alessandro Nesta
7. Matthias Sammer
8. Daniel Passarella
9. Ruud Krol
10. Hector Chumpitaz
11. Ronald Koeman
12. Fernando Hierro
13. Albert Shesternyov
14. Willy Schulz
15. Morten Olsen
16. Alan Hansen
    
17. Marius Tresor
18. Rio Ferdinand
19. Paul McGrath
    
20. Laurent Blanc

 

[oneniltothearsenal]

1. Figueroa
2. Beckenbauer
3. Baresi
4. Scirea
5. Moore
6. Passarella
7. Nesta
8. Ferdinand
9. Koeman
10. Krol
11. Vasović
12. Hans-Jurgen Dorner
13. Sammer
14. Tresor
15. Shesternyov
16. Popescu
17.
18. Blanc
19. Hierro
20. Ramos

 

[2mufc0]

1. Beckenbauer
2. Baresi
3. Scirea
4. Figueroa
5. Moore
6. Nesta
7. Krol
8. Passarella
9. Ferdinand
10. Sammer
11. Picchi
12. Vasovic
13. Koeman
14. Shesternyov
15. Hansen
16. Blanc
17. Schulz
18. Olsen
19. Carvalho
20. Tresor

 

[berbasloth4]

1. beckenbauer
2. baresi
3. passarella
4. ferdinand
5. koeman
6. moore
7. Sammer
8. Scirea
9. nesta
10. hansen
11. tresor
12. bossis
13. hierro
14. desailly
15. ramos
16. blanc
17. krol
18. Mcgrath
19. carvalho
20. schulz

 

[Joga Bonito]

1. Franz Beckenbauer
2. Franco Baresi
3. Gaetano Scirea
4. Bobby Moore
5. Elias Figueroa
6. Daniel Passarella
7. Ruud Krol
8. Alessandro Nesta
9. Matthias Sammer
10. Rio Ferdinand
11. Fernando Hierro
12. Laurent Blanc
13. Ronald Koeman
14. Willy Schulz
15. Hector Chumpitaz
    
16. Maxime Bossis
17. Armando Picchi
18. Lucio
19. Albert Shesternyov
    
20. Marius Tresor

 

[Gio]

1. Franco Baresi
2. Franz Beckenbauer
3. Elias Figueroa
4. Alessandro Nesta
5. Gaetano Scirea
6. Bobby Moore
7. Daniel Passarella
8. Matthias Sammer
9. Ruud Krol
10. Hector Chumpitaz
11. Rio Ferdinand
12. Laurent Blanc
13. Ronald Koeman
14. Alan Hansen
15. Albert Shesternyev
16. Thiago Silva
17. Marius Tresor
18. Willy Schulz
19. Fernando Hierro
    
20. Karl-Heinz Schnellinger

 

[Michaelf7777777]

1. Franz Beckenbauer
2. Elias Figueroa
3. Gaetano Scirea
4. Franco Baresi
5. Alessandro Nesta
6. Bobby Moore
7. Ruud Krol
8. Daniel Passarella
9. Matthias Sammer
10. Laurent Blanc
11. Velibor Vasovic
12. Fernando Hierro
13. Ronald Koeman
14. Hans Blankenburg
15. Dario Pereyra
16. Anton Ondrus
17. Bruno Pezzey
18. Morten Olsen
19. Antonio Maceda
20. Mats Hummels

 

[GodShaveTheQueen]

1. Baresi
2. Figueroa
3. Passarella
4. Beckenbauer
5. Scirea
6. Moore
7. Sammer
8. Nesta
9. Picchi
10. Tresor
11. Vasovic
12. Shesternyov
13. Ferdinand
14. Krol
15. Blanc
16. Mcgrath
17. Koeman
18. Schulz
19. Zmuda
20. Hansen/Ondrus/Ferrara/Hierro/Bratseth/Happel/Carvalho

I am sorry I can't remove any of the last 7 from the list. Please consider giving them all a few points for the 20th position.

 

[Edgar Allan Pillow]

1. F. Beckenbauer
2. F. Baresi
3. E. Figueroa
4. B. Moore
5. G. Scirea
   
6. D. Passarella
7. R. Krol
8. A. Nesta
9. M. Sammer
10. J. Santamaria
11. H. Chumpitaz
12. A. Shesternyov
13. R. Koeman
14. A. Picchi
15. W. Schulz
16. V. Vasovic
    
17. R. Ferdinand
18. M. Tresor
19. P. McGrath
20. F. Hierro

 

[Invictus]

1. Franz Beckenbauer
2. Franco Baresi
3. Elías Figueroa
4. Gaetano Scirea
5. Alessandro Nesta
6. Bobby Moore
7. Daniel Passarella
8. Matthias Sammer
9. Ruud Krol
10. Armando Picchi
11. Ronald Koeman
12. Rio Ferdinand
13. Héctor Chumpitaz
14. Laurent Blanc
15. Fernando Hierro
16. Willi Schulz
17. Velibor Vasović
18. Alan Hansen
19. Karl-Heinz Schnellinger
20. Maxime Bossis

 

[Šjor Bepo]

1. F. Beckenbauer
2. F. Baresi
3. G. Scirea
4. B. Moore
5. E. Figueroa
6. R. Ferdinand
7. M. Sammer
8. D. Passarella
9. R. Krol
10. A. Picchi
11. L. Blanc
12. W. Schulz
13. R. Carvalho
14. V. Vasovic
15. A. Hansen
16. R. Koeman
17. H. Chumpitaz
18. K-H. Schnellinger
19. M. Tresor
20. J. Boateng

 

[Indnyc]

1. Franz Beckenbauer
2. Franco Baresi
3. Elías Figueroa
4. Gaetano Scirea
5. Bobby Moore
6. Alessandro Nesta
7. Daniel Passarella
8. Ruud Krol
9. Marius Trésor
10. Matthias Sammer
11. Rio Ferdinand
12. Héctor Chumpitaz
    
13. Armando Picchi
14. Alan Hansen
15. Ronald Koeman
16. Laurent Blanc
17. Ricardo Carvalho
18. Fernando Hierro
19. Velibor Vasović
20. Willi Schulz

 

[Isotope]

1. Franz Beckenbauer
2. Franco Baresi
3. Gaetano Scirea
4. Elias Figueroa
   
5. Bobby Moore
6. Alessandro Nesta
7. Matthias Sammer
8. Daniel Passarella
9. Fernando Hierro
   
10. J. Santamaria
    
11. Giuseppe Bergomi
    
12. Rio Ferdinand
13. Laurent Blanc
14. Sergio Ramos
15. Alan Hansen
16. Ronald Koeman

 

[Enigma_87]

1. Franco Baresi
2. Elias Figueroa
3. Franz Beckenbauer
4. Gaetano Scirea
5. Bobby Moore
6. Ruud Krol
7. Alessandro Nesta
8. Matthias Sammer
9. Daniel Passarella
10. Hector Chumpitaz
11. Rio Ferdinand
12. Marius Tresor
13. Albert Shesternyev
14. Ricardo Carvalho
15. Lucio
16. Ronald Koeman
17. Velibor Vasovic
18. Laurent Blanc
19. Fernando Hierro
    
20. Willy Schulz

 

[MJJ]

1. Franz Beckenbauer
2. Franco Baresi
3. Gaetano Scirea
4. Elias Figueroa
   
5. Bobby Moore
6. Alessandro Nesta
7. Matthias Sammer
8. Daniel Passarella
9. Ruud Krol
10. Ferdinand
11. Bergomi
12. Vasovic
13. Tresor
14. McGrath
15. Blanc
16. Chumpitaz
17. Ramos
18. Pique
19. T.Silva
20. Koeman

 

[Moby]

1. Gaetano Scirea
2. Franco Baresi
3. Franz Beckenbauer
4. Alessandro Nesta
5. Elias Figueroa
6. Bobby Moore
7. Ruud Krol
8. Mathias Sammer
9. Daniel Passarella
11. Rio Ferdinand
12. Ronald Koeman
13. Velibor Vasovic
14. Laurent Blanc
15. Gheorghe Popescu
16. Ricardo Carvalho
17. Armando Picchi
18. Alan Hansen
19. Fernando Hierro
20. Marius Tresor

 

[Physiocrat]

1. Franz Beckenbauer
2. Franco Baresi
3. Elias Figueroa
4. Bobby Moore
5. Gaetano Scirea
6. Daniel Passarella
7. Alessandro Nesta
8. Ruud Krol
9. Mathias Sammer
10. Rio Ferdinand
11. Paul McGrath
12. Hector Chumpitaz
13. Morten Olsen
14. Laurent Blanc
15. Willy Schulz
16. Alan Hansen
17. Fernando Hierro
18. Lucio
19. Ricardo Carvalho
20. Thiago Silva


Edit - edited it again.

 

[Himannv]

1. Franz Beckenbauer
2. Franco Baresi
3. Gaetano Scirea
4. Bobby Moore
5. Elias Figueroa
6. Daniel Passarella
7. Alessandro Nesta
8. Ruud Krol
9. Mathias Sammer
10. Ronald Koeman
11. Marius Tresor
12. Paul McGrath
13. Laurent Blanc
14. Willy Schulz
15. Morten Olsen
16. Ricardo Carvalho
17. Rio Ferdinand
18. Velibor Vasovic
19. Lucio
20. Fernando Hierro

 

[Ramos]

1. Franz Beckenbauer
2. Franco Baresi
3. Gaetano Scirea
4. Ronald Koeman
5. Alessandro Nesta
6. Bobby Moore
7. Daniel Passarella
8. Matthias Sammer
9. Morten Olsen
10. Elias Figueroa
11. Ruud Krol
12. Marius Tresor
13. Frank De Boer
14. Fernando Hierro
15. Rio Ferdinand
16. Paul McGrath
17. Georghe Popescu
18. Laurent Blanc
19. Alan Hansen
20. Manuel Sanchis

 

[BIG DUNK]

1. Franz Beckenbauer
2. Franco Baresi
3. Gaetano Scirea
4. Bobby Moore
5. Elías Figueroa
6. Daniel Passarella
7. Ruud Krol
8. Alessandro Nesta
9. Matthias Sammer
10. Ronald Koeman
11. Héctor Chumpitaz
12. Laurent Blanc
13. Alan Hansen
14. Armando Picchi
15. Velibor Vasović
16. Albert Shesternyov
17. Gheorghe Popescu
18. Maxime Bossis
19. Rune Bratseth
20. Hans-Jürgen Dörner

 

[Jim Beam]

1. Franz Beckenbauer
2. Franco Baresi
3. Elías Figueroa
4. Gaetano Scirea
5. Daniel Passarella
6. Bobby Moore
7. Alessandro Nesta
8. Rio Ferdinand
9. Marius Tresor
10. Ruud Krol
11. Laurent Blanc
12. Velibor Vasovic
13. Matthias Sammer
14. Ronald Koeman
15. Armando Picchi
16. Héctor Chumpitaz
17. Fernando Hierro
18. Lucio
19. Ricardo Carvalho
20. Alan Hansen

One to break into the company in a few years time...

Spoiler

 

[Synco]

1. Franz Beckenbauer
2. Franco Baresi
3. Elias Figueroa
4. Bobby Moore
5. Gaetano Scirea
6. Alessandro Nesta
7. Daniel Passarella
8. Frank Rijkaard
   
9. Rio Ferdinand
10. Matthias Sammer
11. Ruud Krol
12. Ronald Koeman
13. Laurent Blanc
14. Willi Schulz
15. Sergio Ramos
16. Fernando Hierro
17. Thiago Silva
18. Aldair
    
19. K.-H. Schnellinger
20. Gerard Pique

 

[harms]

Well, let's get to it.

Ernst Happel, Ciro Ferrara. 0 points

@GodShaveTheQueen had tried to nominate 7 names for the 20th place. I'm sure that those players would've felt truly special if they've heard about it. No points for them, but hey, at least they've got a mention? Ernst Happel is probably better known for his incredible career as a manager (multiple European Cups and 8 league titles won in 4 countries), but he was a pretty good player in his younger days for Rapid Wien and Austria. Ciro Ferrara is a Serie A legend who had an outstanding career in Italy — marshalling the defence of both Maradona's Napoli & probably the best side of the mid-to-late 90's, the all-mighty Juventus. Sadly, his international career wasn't as successful — the coaches didn't saw him as a good fit next to Franco Baresi and you don't bench Franco Baresi (unless it's for Gaetano Scirea).

 

[harms]

46. Mats Hummels, Jérôme Boateng, Manolo Sanchís. 1 point

Together, Hummels and Boateng were crucial to Germany's 4th World Cup title, with Boateng providing a MotM performance in the final. At 2016 Hummels came to Bayern with aspirations of creating the world's best center back pairing, but it wasn't meant to be. Overall, you can't question their ability and the fact that they were definitely one of the outstanding defenders of their generation, but you don't expect them to be high up on an all-time greats list. Their long-passing game was and still is sublime though!

Manolo Sanchís was a one-club man that had played more than 700 games for Real Madrid. Hardly a playmaker from the back, he was relatively good on the ball, although his best qualities more defence-oriented. I guess you don't play for a team as dominant as Madrid for 2 decades if you don't know how to kick a ball.

 

[harms]

42. Roberto Perfumo, Władysław Żmuda, Rune Bratseth, Antonio Maceda. 2 points

Roberto Perfumo is definitely in consideration for best Argentinian center back not named Daniel Passarella. In 1967 he, as the biggest star of that side, led Racing to the Copa Libertadores & the infamous International Cup wins. Only Matthäus and Maldini played more World Cup games than Władysław Żmuda — at 21 appearances he is tied with Seeler and Maradona in the all-time rankings. And all that with Poland, which isn't traditionally considered as a true football heavyweight. Norwegian sweeper Rune Bratseth spent his best years in Bundesliga, where he was adored by both fans and the press (kicker thrice picked his in its team of the season). Antonio Maceda's name is most closely associated with Spain's surprising performance at the 1984 Euros. They had beaten both West Germany and Denmark (huge favourites at the time) on their way to the final, with Macheda scoring in both encounters. Tough luck, though — Platini was unstoppable that summer. At the club level, after 11 years playing for Sporting Gijón, Macheda earned himself a transfer to Real Madrid... before suffering an injury that basically ended his career.

 

[harms]

41. Aldair. 3 points

Despite his intimidating appearance, Aldair was a very elegant defender with good long passing skills. His international record is incredible — he had won the World Cup, Copa America & Confederation's Cup and I'm not even counting the runners up finishes. At the club level, he had spent 13 years playing for Roma, winning 1 Serie A title, and was one of the league's best defenders over the 90's (the time of an embarrassment of reaches for Italy). Roma even retired his number 6 jersey, although they reversed this decision in 2013 with Aldair's blessing.

 

[harms]

39. Bruno Pezzey, Gerrard Piqué. 4 points

On the day of Bruno Pezzey's untimely death, the country's national team head coach, Josef Hickersberger, said: "Next to Ernst Happel, he was the best defender Austria ever had."
Back when defenders tended to be rugged brutes, Pezzey was elegant and a gifted technician. He often played as a sweeper. That's why the media soon called him the "Beckenbauer from Lake Constance." But unlike Beckenbauer, Pezzey could be tough as nails. He never shied from a tackle and would later be suspended no fewer than 10 games for grabbing an opponent where it hurts most. Also, unlike Beckenbauer, he was excellent in the air. In 1980 Bruno led Eintracht to the biggest success in club history. In the second leg of the UEFA Cup semi-final against Bayern Munich, Eintracht was in big trouble — they've lost the first leg by 2 goals. But Pezzey stepped up and scored 2 goals to take the game to the extra-time, that Frankfurt eventually won, as well as the competition.


— Take off the suit and what are you?
— Millionaire, sports and media investor, Shakira's husband, tax evader.

Of course Gerrard Piqué was lucky to be a part of such dominant teams on the club and national level, but at some point you just have to give some credit to the guy.

 

[harms]

38. Anton Ondruš. 5 points

From the current players Ondruš reminds me most of Maguire — tall, strong, but not very agile or fast. He read the game well enough to make sure that it wasn't a big problem though — and, together with Ivo Viktor, he lead Czechoslovakia to an unlikely win at the 1976 Euros. Sometimes international tournaments can be won because of the lucky draw, but it certainly wasn't the case in 1976 — Czechoslovakia faced 2 World Cup finalists, Cruyff's Netherlands in the semis and Beckenbauer's Germany in the final. Against the Dutch, Ondruš scored twice — one ball went to the opposition's net, the other one went into his own. Other than that, he kept Cruyff & co at bay that day, which was an incredible achievement, as Cruyff, Rensenbrink, Neeskens, van Hanegem, Krol and Rep were all present. 4 years later Ondruš led his team to a 3rd place finish, which was also a considerable success for Czechoslovakia. Sadly, he spent his peak years in his own country and never got the chance to prove himself at the club level — if he would've gotten one, perhaps we would've found him higher up in this list.

 

[harms]

37. Dario Pereyra. 6 points

Dario Pereyra is an Uruguayan center back that had became a legendary figure in Brazilian football. Story goes that, whilst returning from a victory in an away match that crowned São Paulo the Brazilian champions in his first season abroad, he wouldn't understand what the fuss was all about, but the supporters would not let him sleep. He had won a few times the national championship in Uruguay, so he felt that winning the Brazilian championship was nothing special. He latter realized how difficult it is to win a Brazilian National title. It had been the first time São Paulo F.C. won that championship. In December of 1977 Real Madrid made him an offer, but the player refused a move to Europe. He had a history of refusing enticing options — in 1982 Tele Santana asked him if he wished to be naturalized Brazilian to take part in the fantastic 1982 World Cup Brazilian Team, but Darío elegantly refused the proposition standing faithful to his origins. Tele Santana once said that if D. Pereyra was Brazilian, he would've been the second best Brazilian defender of all time, just below Domingos da Guia.

 

[harms]

35. Horst Blankenburg, Marcel Desailly. 7 points

There's nothing in the world more powerful than a good story. And who has a better story than Bran Horst Blankenburg? When Ajax needed to replace Velibor Vasović — the club's first foreign captain and the crucial part of the original totaalvoetbal concept, they've already had his successor at the club. It was the young German sweeper they've signed one season earlier that would seamlessly fit into the system and help them in 2 more successful European Cup campaigns. Despite the tremendous success at club level, Blankenburg never was able to fulfill his wish to play for Germany. A year before the 1974 World Cup, Blankenburg was even chosen as part of a selection of Europe’s best players. Ironically enough, the team was coached by Schön. Being a sweeper, Blankenburg’s timing was rather unfortunate, having the great Franz Beckenbauer play the same position at the same time. Johan Cruyff even asked his teammate to play for the Netherlands at the 1974 World Cup but Blankenburg refused, still holding out a shred of hope that Helmut Schön would call him up. He did not of course.

Somehow Marcel Desailly gets a mention as well. Nicknamed "The Rock" for his metronomic passing, Desailly is one of the most accomplished defensive players in history. Alongside Blanc, Thuram and Lizarazu he formed one of the toughest defensive units ever that helped France to win consecutive Euro and World Cup titles; at the club level he managed to win 2 CL titles in a row at Marseille and Milan, although he was often deployed as a defensive midfielder in Italy.

A random bit of info — in 1996 he signed a pre-contract agreement with Manchester United, but the deal never materialised

 

[harms]

33. Frank de Boer and Karl-Heinz Schnellinger. 8 points

Frank de Boer was a part of the great generation of Dutch footballers that represented Ajax in the mid 90's (they've reached 2 CL finals, winning 1, before the players got snatched by European heavy-hitters) and shined so brightly in the 1998 World Cup. Frank played both as a left back and as a center back, sometimes in a hybrid role, and was known for his sublime passing skills as well as for his defending. We all remember Dennis Bergkamp's insane goal from 1998. 2.11 seconds – the time it took for him to produce the three divine touches and score the penultimate-minute winner against Argentina that put Holland into the World Cup semi-final. “Perfect” was Ruud Gullit’s description on ITV that night. “You never play the perfect game,” said Bergkamp later, “but the moment itself was, I think, perfect.” Yet, people often forget the brilliant move that started the attack — it was the absolutely sublime diagonal pass by Frank de Boer that found Bergkamp on the edge of the box.

Karl-Heinz Schnellinger was one of the finest defenders of the 60's. He had world-class spells in 2 different positions — as a left back and as an old-fashioned sweeper. Unlike most of the German players, he had spent much of his club career in Italy, playing for AC Milan and Roma. His international career was quite special, even though his most memorable moment was completely out of character — he scored his only international goal in the last minute to draw 1–1 in the thrilling semi-final of the 1970 World Cup against Italy which later became known as the "Game of the Century" (leading to the famous German radio comment "Ausgerechnet Schnellinger!" - roughly: "Of all the players, it's Schnellinger").

 

[harms]

32. Hans-Jürgen Dörner. 10 points

Hans-Jürgen Dörner spent his whole career in East Germany, scoring amazing 65 goals in 392 top-flight games for Dynamo Dresden. He was the brightest star of DDR's football alongside Jürgen Croy — both were named East Germany's player of the year a record three times. He had made Dynamo quite competitive in the European football of the 70's, even though they failed to win anything of note.

 

[harms]

31. Thiago Silva. 12 points

Thiago Silva's story is a fascinating one, not often does a young Brazilian player recovers from a disastrous spell in Europe only to come back and become one of the best players around. After an initial success in Brazil, he was noticed by Porto, who bought him in 2004. After a tough start, he was loaned to Dynamo Moscow, where, instead of securing a starting place, he got ill... and almost died because of a severe case of tuberculosis. He was hospitalised for 6 months before finally getting better and deciding to retire from football altogether. However, his mother had another opinion on the matter and persuaded him to keep fighting... the rest is history. After a successful spell back in Brazil, playing for Fluminense, he was bought by AC Milan, where Alessandro Nesta proclaimed him as his eventual heir. He also got his first call up at 2008, eventually becoming the side's captain. It would've been interesting to see how his career would've progressed if he had chosen Barcelona over PSG in 2012.

 

[harms]

30. Frank Rijkaard. 13 points

It's hardly a controversial thing to say that Frank Rijkaard's peak was as a midfielder, but he had spent considering time playing in defense as well, such was his all-rounded genius. When Netherlands won the Euros in 1988, he had formed an interesting partnership with Ronald Koeman at the heart of the Dutch defense, where both players were essentially ball-playing high-risk center backs. You can also say that his role in van Gaal's Ajax team of the mid 90's was that of a defender, although he performed more like a stopper to Danny Blind's sweeper.

 

[harms]

29. Lúcio. 17 points

In the words of his number 1 fan:

Lucio was in many ways a physical, hard-tackling stopper, fast, good in the air, a warrior. What can perhaps lead to that impression is that he, like Hierro, made a lot of offensive contributions for a defender as well, including scoring - but it wasn't really in the way of a libero.

Lucio sure had an impressive offensive repertoire (a powerful shot, bullet headers, direct free kicks, dribbling runs), but he could be quite undisciplined and unpredictable for his own team with his forward runs, exposing his backline, turning the ball over in dangerous spots, etc. I don't remember how good his regular build-up play was, but I surely don't remember him as a strategically minded player in any way.

I think that against the ball he was to central defenders what Casemiro is to defensive midfielders today: physical, mobile, direct, lots of impact and quality in man-to-man duels, but also rash and at times a little suspect in terms of reading situations and making decisions. An all-or-nothing type of player in many ways.

I don't like him that much as a player

 

[Joga Bonito]

 

[harms]

28. Gheorghe Popescu. 19 points

The Romanian legend had quite a journey, having played in Romania, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, England, Germany, and, finally, getting imprisoned for 3 years for money laundering. 6 times Romanian Footballer of the Year, he had made a career out of obsessively following Ronald Koeman around — first, by replacing him at PSV after the Dutchman's big move to Barcelona, and then going to Barca after Koeman returned back home. He had represented his country on 5 major tournaments and earned 115 caps, which makes him Romania's third most capped player ever.

 

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27. Giuseppe Bergomi. 20 points

Beppe Bergomi will appear in at least three different lists in our little project, which is a testament to his versatility and overall outstanding quality. He is one of Inter Milan's biggest legends after spending his whole career there, although his trophy count does not match his greatness as the side significantly underperformed during the 80's and 90's (they've won only 1 Serie A title during his time there). His international career suits him a bit more — he had won the World Cup in 1982, man-marking Rummenigge in the final at the age of 18! He was probably the oldest-looking 18-year-old footballer ever though, see the photo above. In the 1990 World Cup he became the integral part of arguably the greatest defensive unit of all-time: Zenga, Maldini, Baresi, Ferri, Bergomi.