Zidane>Ronaldo=Messi

Costacurta did, too.

If Man City achieve the success that everyone expects them to, then I suspect Kompany will be seen as an all time great. Few players can boast a trophy haul like Gerard Pique's and I guess you could say the same for Sergio Ramos, although I will concede his success belies his ability. Thiago Silva is a superb defender, too, and could go down as an all time great if Brazil are successful at the World Cup.

Why was Cannavaro not on your list?

Costacurta too, as i said, would have been 38 or 39, defunct arguement. none of them could even be mentioned int he same breath as the aforementioned legends. Konpany lol. these days even big teams get turned over conceeding 4 or 5 goals a game in the premiership, this was much less common in the old days, not only becuase they had decent centrebacks but also as said, defenders were allowed to be far more physical and agressive y the laws and referees. people who have only watched football in the last 10 years have no clue what playing the game was like in 1970s - would suggest take a look at how had defenders and midfeilders landed tackles in those days and never even got yellow cards. the idea that being a striker back then was not harder than now is laughable

thats part of my point, people are always baised to players of their current generation,but then old commentaotrs who have seen pele, falcao, maradona zico, original ronaldo zidane, messi etc, regard the early players as better- messi is close though, most people regard maradona as greatest forwar, zico as one of the greatest goal scoring midfeilders ( look at his international record) other mentions pele, cruyff, platini, You also have to rememebr people also regard efenders as better bac then too, so you had more to deal with then that messi does now.

Why is Kompany worth of a 'lol'?

I know just fine how defender tackled back then. Defenders are far better athletes nowadays. You have named some great footballers, but they represent a fraction of the pool of top level defenders back then. For every player you mentioned, there would have been 10 players who would be deemed to fat to get close to the reserves, never mind the likes of today's Barcelona - you have conveniently forgotten about them.

I also refuse to believe you saw very much of some the players you mentioned.

I saw Zico play Soccer Aid 1 and he was still a beast even then, can't comment on Maradona, I've seen him play too but that I think he's an insufferable bastard clouds my judgement. I'm not sure defenders were better though. They just put in more tackles and did less reading of a slower paced game. Defending as an art form has changed a huge amount in a relatively short space of time.

Real Madrid? Where he had every great player in the world playing with him? The real star of that Real Madrid team was Makelele. He allowed that team to play with five attacking players in front of him. When he left, Real Madrid's dominance quickly vanished.

Zidane is an all-time great and no one can deny that. I just don't see how he's any better than the likes of Xavi and Iniesta. If Spain win the World Cup with Brazil and Germany hugely favoured for it, then Xavi and Iniesta surpass Zidane imo.

The one feature that made Zidane one of the greatest is that he was a big game player. He always showed up.

The one feature that made Zidane one of the greatest is that he was a big game player. He always showed up.

Lol, that video told me he didn't do much. He made one free kick that was really just a cross and most of the work was still on Henry. Other than that, all that video showed is that he has some skills on the ball. Any video of Ronaldinho during his good years has the same if not better...

In my lifetime;

Ronaldo/Messi (to avoid that debate) >>>>> Zidane > Ronaldo > Kaka 2007 > Ronaldinho = Iniesta > Xavi = Henry > Nedved > ...

I would throw Maldini in there, but it may confuse things.

I was thinking about this the other day. For me, Messi is the best player of all time, with no real close competition.

All the players you listed are magnificent, but I decided Ronaldinho is my 2nd favourite. He seemed to be able to come up with tricks I have rarely seen other players do and use them with devastating effect. Quite often players who do tricks do them for the sake of it and they don't actually get them anywhere. The simple genius of his toe poke against Chelsea was breathtaking, too.

On top of all that, his performance against Real Madrid is the best I've ever seen one player have:

[video="youtube;ZyRCKZww-vI"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyRCKZww-vI[/video]

Don't get why people keep mentioning Ronaldinho in this conversation. He has no place there.


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Because when he was at his best he was bloody good to watch. I don't think anyone is suggesting that he's the best of all time, though.

I think out of each player in their prime, id rather have Messi or Ronaldo running at me with a ball rather than Zidane or Roni, the first two would easily take it past me.

Zidane and Roni would probably embarass me and giggle.

Understand the difference between 'been in the conversation' and 'best of all time'. I'm not saying that people are saying he's the best of all time but he is in the conversation for most people. But he was only at the top for what 5 seasons?, that to me is relatively a short period to be involved in the conversation.

Like everyone, ****ing enjoyed watching the guy and I appreciate it but, consistency is where it's at and he lacked that.

I think his career was shortened because he liked to enjoy himself more than most. His raw talent was incredible but I think he got bored.

It's a shame, but I'd probably do the same with his kind of money.