When the chips were down, you saw him in the dressing room and knew you had a chance.
The 101 greatest football players of the last 25 years: full list 26 July 2019 Since our debut issue in summer 1994, we've got you up close and personal with football’s biggest superstars. Trezegol’s Euro 2000-winning Golden Goal was one of 300 bagged across 22 countries by the opportunist French-Argentine, including one at Old Trafford clocked at a mere 97.6mph. What if the lethal Swede left Celtic at his early noughties peak? Outrageous, sickening goals: top corner, a flick, an incredible free-kick. Dependable and unflinchingly honest.“I’ll never forget his Italy debut. Put simply, watching Zidane conduct a football match was the closest thing to art the beautiful game has ever produced.
I would apologise if I mistimed a tackle. Franz Beckenbauer bracketed Ribery with Messi and Ronaldo; Zinedine Zidane anointed him his successor. He was everything to Barça and the heartbeat of their success.” “He must be one of the best keepers ever in one-on-ones, and I should know – I faced him a lot in training! Even now, I find it hard not to feel shy around Ronaldo because he has such a presence.” “I was generally very calm and composed as a player – but never when I came up against O Fenomeno. Until his hamstrings pinged, Owen combined unbelievable speed with unflappable finishing to break records. Still, he did cut a formidable player when playing with the Eagles.The most impressive feat of this player was probably his 106-ball haul back in 1984. He could see three pictures ahead of anybody else on the pitch – a true general on the field.” “With some central defenders, you’ll think, ‘he’s not strong’ or, ‘he’s not so quick’, but Desailly was virtually impossible to play against. Not that Alan Sugar liked it.Only Alessandro Del Piero, Giampiero Boniperti and Roberto Bettega scored more for Juve, and the latter two lingered much longer with the Old Lady. A first round pick by the Bears in 1975, he quickly became one of the league’s superstars.
Insignificant, never.“We were team-mates at Galatasaray in 1996, and he was one of the best left-footed players of all time. However, his cornerback position also brought him a lot of accolades. The Premier League’s record marksman – and lover of creosote – really was that good at his late-90s peak that Alessandro Del Piero, David Trezeguet and Marcelo Salas had to study him. “If you’ll allow me this… it really gets on my nerves.” Unfortunately, the Divine Ponytail will always be known for blazing Italy’s crucial spot-kick over the bar in the 1994 World Cup Final, handing the trophy to Brazil. It suits me well. He would play a one-two around you, then slide someone in for a shot.” Pre-Messi and Ronaldo, Raul was unrivalled in Europe. A natural-born predator whose backside could crack a Brazil nut, Aguero has averaged 0.68 goals a game in all competitions for Manchester City – a scarcely credible figure for a player who has only been in two Premier League teams of the year.Noel Gallagher’s declaration that he’d let him spend a night with his wife sums up how Manchester City fans feel about the Spaniard.
I was always told patience is the best of virtues, and that you will achieve your goals as long as you work very hard.” “Quite simply, he’s the best defender in Italy, and that’s saying something. Every. “Normally, you might get two of the four, but Giggsy has all those qualities.”You also have to be some player to win the Ballon d’Or as a defender (none have managed it since Cannavaro in 2006), and to go up against Serie A’s offensive brutes at 5ft 9in and emerge victorious. A chance meeting on a flight from Turin to Paris in early-summer 1999 was all it took to turn a frustrated Juventus wide man into the most feared centre-forward on the planet. I was meant to be a footballer. Week. ‘And he stays at Southampton. Ungainly and bang-average at club level, Klose hit 71 goals (16 at World Cups, a record) in his 137 caps for Germany. He would be higher on this list but for injury; his arrival was key to Chelsea’s first title in 50 years.The midfielder’s blond locks made him a style icon as well as one of the finest talents of his generation. Though much of the rest of the world had serious soccer fever, it wasn’t until then that the sport, known as football elsewhere, piqued the interest of the American audience. We decided to continue with our list of the best players by decade, and we are going to continue with this time era that gave us so much joy in football … While his win-at-all-costs mentality has won him few friends, his talent has never been in doubt: nobody else in the past decade has broken Messi and Ronaldo’s duopoly on the European Golden Boot, yet Suarez did it with Liverpool “I’m an arrogant, selfish sort. Image via Complex Original. I bet Alex Ferguson wishes he could have had him for longer.” There’s no such thing as coincidence; certainly not when it comes to Seedorf being the only player to have won the Champions League with three different clubs.