In the first era of football to capture global audiences every week, with the big games, or at least the professional ones, covered all over the world, we have been blessed to have witnessed a host of the greatest players in history. football at its best.
Here are eight of the best players who will leave an undeniable legacy in football.
It is true that Neymar’s legacy remains confusing and may never be cleared up, but it is still a legacy.
The second most prolific Brazilian player of all time (he is only six goals behind Pelé with the national team, which is not easy) he is the closest thing to Ronaldinho this generation has, but comparisons with the 2002 World Cup winner and of the Ballon d’Or 2005 have not helped.
However, Neymar almost single-handedly won the Copa Libertadores with Santos, formed a formidable attacking trident at that FC Barcelona that won the Champions League in 2015 and will probably be the most expensive player in football for years to come. It’s not bad at all.
Kylian Mbappé, Neymar’s teammate at PSG, is also having a great career.
The striker was arguably the best player on the 2018 World Cup-winning France team while still a teenager, has his own exclusive clothing line with Nike and a unique celebration.
At just 23 years old, Mbappé is a pretty safe bet to win several Ballon d’Ors in the future, provided he stays healthy, but even if he were to retire today he would go on to be one of the greats.
While Neymar and Mbappé dream of the Ballon d’Or, one of the players who has already achieved it is Real Madrid legend Luka Modric.
The Croatian broke the duopoly of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in 2018 after leading his country to its first World Cup final.
Modric has received a lot of credit recently as one of the Champions League’s all-time greats – something unimaginable when he was voted LaLiga’s worst signing of the 2012/13 season – but he also has plenty of throwback admirers from his days at the Premier League, often being the unsung hero alongside Gareth Bale.
Modric’s former teammate Sergio Ramos must have the greatest collection of key goals in all of football history, and he is a defender!
Ramos’ toughness and track record in the big games epitomized the Real Madrid of the 2010s. It’s ridiculous that another centre-back comes along and has more defining moments to win a title and change history than the Spanish player.
In a way, Giorgio Chiellini is almost the anti-Ramos.
The Italian has scored less than half as many total goals as the Spaniard, but instead has become one of the most important defenders of his generation by way of defending.
Chiellini is the poster boy of the dark arts – “he’s in Tott-en-ham history” and all – and, although he has won a million honors at club level with Juventus, his greatest glory came in the Eurocopa 2020, leading from the defense to Italy that was proclaimed champion of Europe.
Manuel Neuer may not have been the first goalkeeper to act as a libero or to be skilful with the ball at his feet, but he is certainly the one who has perfected it.
The Bayern Munich legend plays with a personality that we haven’t seen in a goalkeeper since Peter Schmeichel, a truly unique and commanding presence.
While obviously a highly successful player, Neuer is also one of the only goalkeepers in history to have multiple photos (probably hundreds) of him standing on his own halfway line or on the opposition’s pitch during a match.
Obviously, it was going to be on this list.
You can take any of Ronaldo’s statistics or his countless career records to argue that his legacy is undeniable, but probably the biggest point that can be made is that he is officially the top scorer in football history.
Unless Lionel Messi manages to regain his form and play until he is 50, it is not a record that will be broken any time soon. And speaking of which…
Messi and Ronaldo not only dominated their generation, they owned it.
Comparing other players – even very, very, very good ones – to them is blasphemy. Comparing future players with them will be too.
They are the ones who set records, they are pioneers and ultimately they are winners.
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