FLVillan Posted November 6, 2022 Share Posted November 6, 2022 2 hours ago, UpTheVilla26 said: Messi. You can't really compare era's but modern day, they play a hell of a lot more football and to constantly do what he's done is unreal really. Plus, the goals he has scored are just perfection at times. Gliding past 5 or 6 players before finishing it, it's just a joy to watch. Besides the obvious candidates, there is 1 player I'd pay money to have watched alone - Xavi. He was brilliant. Xavi was absolute class. Saw him play twice in the flesh. He was absolutely superb. Never got the limelight in those Spain/Barcelona teams, but was the actual reason why they were so dominant. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted November 6, 2022 Share Posted November 6, 2022 Zidane 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommo_b Posted November 6, 2022 Share Posted November 6, 2022 Ronaldo x 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobzy Posted November 7, 2022 Share Posted November 7, 2022 Wasn't around to witness Maradona/Pele, but I reckon the modern game is a lot more demanding than the past. Players fitness and diets etc are just so well managed that to really stand out at an elite level is more remarkable now than it ever has been before. Messi is the greatest player I've ever seen and it's not really that close in terms what of what he can actually do on a football pitch. Ronaldo is an ambassador for physical conditioning and his goalscoring at Real Madrid was utterly insane, but he's just not as good at football as Messi - no-one is. Zidane or Ronaldinho probably the closest to it IMO. Not that he should be in the overall conversation, but Rivaldo at Barcelona was utterly insane as well. Just a small shout out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOTTI-THE-GOD Posted November 7, 2022 Share Posted November 7, 2022 Michael Phelps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaJ100 Posted November 7, 2022 Share Posted November 7, 2022 21 minutes ago, bobzy said: Wasn't around to witness Maradona/Pele, but I reckon the modern game is a lot more demanding than the past. Players fitness and diets etc are just so well managed that to really stand out at an elite level is more remarkable now than it ever has been before. Messi is the greatest player I've ever seen and it's not really that close in terms what of what he can actually do on a football pitch. Ronaldo is an ambassador for physical conditioning and his goalscoring at Real Madrid was utterly insane, but he's just not as good at football as Messi - no-one is. Zidane or Ronaldinho probably the closest to it IMO. Not that he should be in the overall conversation, but Rivaldo at Barcelona was utterly insane as well. Just a small shout out. It's interesting as I feel Ronaldo would be world class anywhere on the pitch, CB etc whereas Messi wouldn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted November 7, 2022 Share Posted November 7, 2022 4 minutes ago, VillaJ100 said: It's interesting as I feel Ronaldo would be world class anywhere on the pitch, CB etc whereas Messi wouldn't. im the opposite he couldnt do CB because of his height obviously but if Barca didnt have iniesta or xavi so put him in that central midfield role he would be every bit as good a central midfielder as them 2 ronaldo doesnt have anywhere near the passing range or vision, not even close Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa89 Posted November 7, 2022 Share Posted November 7, 2022 Luis Ronaldo or Zidane are the two best players I've seen, Messi of course up there too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted November 7, 2022 Share Posted November 7, 2022 Maradona. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted November 7, 2022 Share Posted November 7, 2022 Shoutout to Gerd Muller as well. Insane goalscoring record in an era of tougher tackles and less protection. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WakefieldVillan Posted November 7, 2022 Share Posted November 7, 2022 In my lifetime, my top 5 1. Maradona. 2. Messi. 3. Ronaldo (Brazilian). 4. Ronaldo (other). 5. Zidane. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turnbull Posted November 8, 2022 Share Posted November 8, 2022 Pele for me. Then maybe Alan Hutton. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mic09 Posted November 8, 2022 Share Posted November 8, 2022 I wouldn't disregard CR7 that quickly. I feel like he and an example of a player who wasn't as naturally gifted as Messi, Maradona or Brazilian Ronaldo. On the other hand, he really worked hard to be where he is. He prepared his body to 100% and if the was a vote for the greatest footballing athlete, he would be up there. He made up some of his natural shortfallings through excellent preparation, second to none. But I would vote Zidane for GOAT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KentVillan Posted November 8, 2022 Share Posted November 8, 2022 (edited) I think if we look at career longevity and overall achievements, it has to be Messi/Cristiano Ronaldo, and you can take your pick from those two really. If we’re talking ability at their prime (eg over a 2 or 3 year period) then it opens up a lot more players. Maradona, Zidane, Ronaldo 9 and Ronaldinho were mesmerising at their peaks. I think there’s a good argument for Ronaldo 9 being the most complete attacking player ever. Also there’s a bias towards attacking players whenever people do these GOAT lists. Players like Beckenbauer, Matthaus, Gullit, Rijkaard, Sergio Ramos, Busquets, etc don’t really get enough credit for the enormous value they brought to any side in their primes. Edited November 8, 2022 by KentVillan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted November 8, 2022 Share Posted November 8, 2022 10 minutes ago, KentVillan said: I think if we look at career longevity and overall achievements, it has to be Messi/Cristiano Ronaldo, and you can take your pick from those two really. If we’re talking ability at their prime (eg over a 2 or 3 year period) then it opens up a lot more players. Maradona, Zidane, Ronaldo 9 and Ronaldinho were mesmerising at their peaks. I think there’s a good argument for Ronaldo 9 being the most complete attacking player ever. Also there’s a bias towards attacking players whenever people do these GOAT lists. Players like Beckenbauer, Matthaus, Gullit, Rijkaard, Sergio Ramos, Busquets, etc don’t really get enough credit for the enormous value they brought to any side in their primes. I'll throw another name in to that bevause he never gets the recognition he deserves - Gerd Muller - he's not the Goat, from what I can tell he was a ferocious scrappy fox in the box but his goal scoring exploits are pretty insane 398 goals in 453 games for bayern 68 goals in 62 games for germany I genuinely don't know the answer to this but is he probably the only player to score in a world cup, euros and European Cup final? Funny how things like "messi isn't the goat unless he wins the world cup" is thrown out (and is bollocks) and this guy won the lot Also his bundesliga scoring record stood for 40 years before Lewandowski broke it 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
His Name Is Death Posted November 8, 2022 Share Posted November 8, 2022 (edited) What your average football fan often neglects about Messi is that, besides being one of the top goalscorers in history, he is actually top for all-time number of assists. By some distance. Player Team (current) Assists Lionel Messi Paris Saint-Germain 377 Thomas Muller Bayern Munich 292 Luis Suarez Atletico Madrid 283 Angel di Maria Juventus 272 Cristiano Ronaldo Manchester United 265 So yeah it's clearly Messi. I'm surprised Ronaldo has provided so many - didn't realise that about him - but I still agree with people who find him boring. Even just for variety and ingenuity of goals scored, Lewandowski is more glorious to watch. Edited November 8, 2022 by His Name Is Death 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted November 8, 2022 Share Posted November 8, 2022 22 hours ago, bobzy said: Wasn't around to witness Maradona/Pele, but I reckon the modern game is a lot more demanding than the past. Players fitness and diets etc are just so well managed that to really stand out at an elite level is more remarkable now than it ever has been before. Of course the other side of that is we now live in the era of the Superclub where players like Messi will be backed by 10 world class team mates with another 5 on the bench and, for the most part, be up against opposition significantly weaker than they are. We get to see incredible things but they are facilitated by mismatches and that's why we end up with certain clubs just dominating leagues (Bayern 10 in a row, Juve 9 in a row, PSG winning 8 in 10, the Barcelona/Real Madrid duopoly) as the game has gone global. Players scoring 35-40 goals a season is a relatively common thing. It never used to be like that which is why the concept behind "of all time" just doesn't work in a game which changes as much as football. In the current era, I don't think anybody can sensibly say that Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo don't deserve to sit at the same table as guys like Pele, Maradona or Zidane but I just can't see how you can make a straight comparison. What Maradona did in Italy was truly incredible but we will never see a player of his stature move to a middle ranking club and drag them to a couple of league titles (in arguably the most competitive league the world has ever seen) ever again. The finances of the game just don't work like that any more. One thing I will say about a guy who had the bulk of his career before my time is that Johan Cruyff is probably the single most important figure in football. He was absolutely the best player in the world during his prime years, a guy so good that he's a legendary figure at two of the biggest clubs in Europe and you could make the argument that to this very day that Barcelona are a club whose ethos and playing identity are based on the values and ideas championed by Cruyff. His influence on the game is almost certainly beyond compare. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flamingsombrero Posted November 8, 2022 Share Posted November 8, 2022 It's not even close. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KentVillan Posted November 8, 2022 Share Posted November 8, 2022 11 minutes ago, The_Rev said: Of course the other side of that is we now live in the era of the Superclub where players like Messi will be backed by 10 world class team mates with another 5 on the bench and, for the most part, be up against opposition significantly weaker than they are. We get to see incredible things but they are facilitated by mismatches and that's why we end up with certain clubs just dominating leagues (Bayern 10 in a row, Juve 9 in a row, PSG winning 8 in 10, the Barcelona/Real Madrid duopoly) as the game has gone global. Players scoring 35-40 goals a season is a relatively common thing. It never used to be like that which is why the concept behind "of all time" just doesn't work in a game which changes as much as football. In the current era, I don't think anybody can sensibly say that Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo don't deserve to sit at the same table as guys like Pele, Maradona or Zidane but I just can't see how you can make a straight comparison. What Maradona did in Italy was truly incredible but we will never see a player of his stature move to a middle ranking club and drag them to a couple of league titles (in arguably the most competitive league the world has ever seen) ever again. The finances of the game just don't work like that any more. One thing I will say about a guy who had the bulk of his career before my time is that Johan Cruyff is probably the single most important figure in football. He was absolutely the best player in the world during his prime years, a guy so good that he's a legendary figure at two of the biggest clubs in Europe and you could make the argument that to this very day that Barcelona are a club whose ethos and playing identity are based on the values and ideas championed by Cruyff. His influence on the game is almost certainly beyond compare. Could argue that Kante pretty much did a Maradona at Leicester. Especially as he’s gone on to win another league title, Champions League and World Cup. It takes time to really appreciate the greatness of players. Also, I’d say players from the big nations tend to be slightly overrated and those from weaker nations underrated because of lack of World Cup action. Best, Dalglish, Hagi, Litmanen, Keane, Giggs, Bale, Ibrahimovic, now Haaland would likely all have international honours if they were French or Brazilian. Maybe chuck Luis Suarez into that mix as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted November 8, 2022 Share Posted November 8, 2022 No love for Paolo Maldini. 25 years one club man and won everything at club level without making a tackle Close to winning World Cup and Euros too 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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