Top 5 Footballers of Your Lifetime

NokkonWud

NokkonWud

NokkonWud

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As we all have differing opinions, who are the top 5 footballers you've had the joy to watch in your lifetime, be if for their natural abilities, their tireless efforts, their skills on a ball or their sheer willingness to run through the wall to help their team.

There may just be some surprises in here, be it having the enemies players in your top 5, perhaps players no one would ever have thought you'd pick or simply those you just hero worship and can do no wrong.

So without further ado, please, list your top 5 footballers of all time and if you wish, a reason for why.

5) Andrea Pirlo
People who know me personally know that I play a defensive role and enjoy pinging the ball around, so it's been a phenomenal pleasure to see someone with Pirlo's sheer ability to knock footballs around the pitch, it's really something to behold so bring on Euro 2008.
4) Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
For me, the model professional. Worked hard for the team, sacrificed himself when he had to, always worked so hard to get over injuries and when it came down to goal scoring, he's just the best finisher I've ever seen, deadly from anywhere.
3) Zinedine Zidane
The master with a football at his feet, he had majesty beyond the most royal of royal footballers, the footwork to better any of the legends and the stature and charisma to make him one of, if not the best midfielder of all time. Chest out, head up, he was always to be found in the big matches much like Cantona was for Man Utd.
2) Peter Schmeichel
It's not often we get the chance to say 'we saw the best ever...', but in my lifetime I have and he played for my team, we saw the best ever goalkeeper, a man mountain, a leader and the ability to make players like Jaap Stam fear his presence.
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1) Paulo Maldini
As I said above, I am a defensive player by preference and I always appreciate the finer arts of defensive work and Maldini is the best I've ever seen as a defender. The model professional, the iconic Italian, he's someone who's won everything to win in the game, loyalty to a club to make fans envious, model looks and defensive ability beyond those I've seen from any defender ever.

An absolute legend and still at the top level.
 
Proper Ronaldo Bulled his way through players he couldn't beat with guile and quick feet, and those didn't number many. Quick, strong, powerful strike, balance, awareness... he just had everything.
Alan Shearer The best English striker for his generation and probably the one previous and could probably even do a job now. Clinical, strong, good in the air. Still far and away the highest goalscorer in the history of the Premiership, and that doesn't look like changing any time soon.
Zinedine Zidane In his pomp the greatest player of his generation. Genuinely two footed, never had to look at the ball to know he had it under control, great finisher, great (and I mean great) passer of the ball and won pretty much everything going in domestic, continental and international football. Still the record buy in world football IIRC.
Paul Gascoigne Natural ability in spades. Pure entertainment, if he was on the pitch and something was happening you just know he was involved. An integral part of one of the more successful squads in recent English history, and scorer of one of the best goals at Wembley.
Edgar Davids The coolest footballer ever?
 
Its a mighty difficult one this, im not necessarilly gonna go for the best ever, just the best ive ever seen....

Zidane - Words are just not required, this guy doesnt even look like a footballer, but this fat balding Arab has more skill in one finger.... simply awesome.
Batistuta - One of the best strikers iver ever had the fortune to watch.
Maldini - The best defender in the world for so so long, turned it into an art form, he did however look like the devil..
George Hagi - Again a great great midfielder, just seemed to make time and space out of nothing.
Lothar Mathaus - German master

Theres so many tho, Suker,stoichov,Baggio,Van Basten,Desailly,boban, the list is just endless.
 
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That I've watched enough to judge rather than just going off reputation...

Ronaldo (Brazilian) - had everything to his game. Would, in my opinion, have gone on to be the greatest player of all time were it not for his injuries.

Zidane - Don't need to say a thing. Made everything he did on the pitch look ridiculously easy. Knew everything that was going on around him and dictated the game to be played at his own speed.

Shearer - Brilliant. Scored every different kind of goal. I certainly miss commentators screaming "SHEARER!!!!!!" and seeing that one hand in the air celebration as he runs off. Also did it for his favourite club.

Roberto Carlos - Ridiculously quick, scored some fantastic goals and was the best attacking fullback I've ever seen.

Schmeichel - Made so many saves that won games for Man United. His presence in the side was emphasised when he left to be replaced by a string of goalkeepers, none of which have come close to replacing him to this day.
 
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5) George Weah
Utterly devastating striker in his prime. Pace to burn.
4) Gianluigi Buffon
I thought it would be good to include a goalkeeper and for me Buffon is the best. I remember his debut when he kept a clean sheet in the face of a 90 minute onslaught upon his goal. For me he just edges it ahead of the likes of Kahn and Schmeichel.
3) Romario
Probably the most naturally talented forward I've seen. Awesome goal scorer.
2) Zinedine Zidane
Great feet and incredibly skillful. Highlight for me was the goal he scored in the 2002 Champions League final.
1) Paulo Maldini
See OP really. The ultimate professional footballer. The only blemish on his record is the lack of international success.
 
Christiano Ronaldo. Sentimentality says Chris Waddle but Ronaldo can do everything that he was good at, plus score more goals. He can miss penalties in big games too.

David Hirst - Quite simply - but for injuries (and later probably beer, fags and pies) he was better than Shearer or Rooney. He matched Shearer's every attribute and added pace. He matched Rooney's every attribute and scored regularly. Remember - Alex Ferguson offered £4M for him in the early 90s. There was a reason: http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=david+hirst&hl=En&sitesearch=#

Peter Schmeichel - same reason as everyone else.

Paulo Maldini - Best defender I can recall watching on TV. So impressive.

Chris Waddle - oh sod it. So entertaining. There have been better players but I'd rather watch him than anyone else.
 
Ones I have actually watched:
1. Brian Ladrup
2. Paul Gasgoine
3. Alister McCoist
4. Ian Rush
5. Mark Hateley
 
5. Thierry Henry - Perhaps the best Premiership player ever. It wasn't just about how many he scored but how he scored them, his sublime pace and touch just made it almost impossible for any defender playing against him. I also always admired how he played the game properly and never resorted to diving.

4. Pavel Nedved - Perhaps a surprise choice but I don't think he was ever appeciated throughout his career for how good he really was, a dynamic midfielder with world class shooting and passing ability. Technically one of the best players I've ever seen.

3. Ronaldo (guess which one) - Should have been the best ever imo. At his best his scoring record was outstanding, I've never seen a player who's been able to scare defenders as much as he did. As a striker he had everything you could desire, it's just a huge shame his career was ruined by injuries.

2. Maradona - I was going to put him at number 1 but changed my mind. Unfortunately I'm not old enough to have seen him play live in my lifetime, however everything I've seen from him has been out of this world. On his game no one could even get the ball from him, he could regually win matches single handedly and somehow managed to win the 1986 World Cup in what was quite an average Argentina team.

1. Zidane - A true footballing genious. He understood the game so well and could dominate a game match against the best teams whilst making it seem effortless. One of the things I admired most about him was he ability to glide past players, despite the fact that he was so bloody slow! There were so many aspects to his game and he could do most of them better than anyone else around.
 
In no order:

Zidane
Ronaldo
(I'd struggle to trust the judgement of anyone who doesn't have at least these two on their list. :p They're the obvious two, for a very good reason).

Ronaldinho
Henry
Schmeichel

To be honest the last 3 could easily be any of a dozen players.
 
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