These are some of mine:

  1. Pepe was actually a better defender than Ramos, but Ramos’ knack for important goals (not a defender’s job) and what he won with Spain made him the better player in people’s eyes.

  2. Courtois should have been in the top 3 of the ballon D’or ranking in 2022.

  3. Xavi was a more complete midfielder than Iniesta. He pressed better, controlled games better, gave better weighted passes, and was also a good dribbler when pressed (Iniesta was the better dribbler overall). I’d say he was the better one.

  4. Modric and Kroos have far bigger careers with Madrid than Zidane did.

  5. Zidane and Ronaldinho were great players but were sometimes frustrating to watch and ineffective even in their primes. Their convoluted style of doing simple things made them highlight champions.

  6. Luis Garcia generally played the biggest role in taking Liverpool to the UCL final in 2005, but his name is hardly mentioned when that UCL win is mentioned (Gerrard, the Scouse, vs Garcia, the foreigner)

  7. Pique was a better defender than Puyol. The latter was prone to mistakes and making rash decisions, while Pique was far more intelligent.

  8. Eto’o had a bigger impact in Barca than Suarez did. The former came in 2004 when Barca hadn’t won the league since ‘99. He became the league top scorer for two straight seasons as Barca won the league, then the league and UCL double. He also won the treble in 2008/09. Suarez, on the other hand, came when Barca were already dominant, but just having a bad spell.

  9. Gerrard dived for the penalty which led to Liverpool’s equalizer in 2005 UCL final.

  10. Carvalho is the most underrated defender in his generation. He was basically Mourinho’s wingman.

  11. If Lampard played in this age, with those same stats, he’d be recognized as the best amongst the three.

What are yours?

  • Necessary-Match-4001BEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    -Zidane,Ronaldinho and Iniesta are overrated but are still phenomenal

    -Kane > Lewandowski and Benzema

    -Cr7 is the most protected player in the media

    -Dembele will go down as the greatest disappointmeant in football history

    -Oblak is underrated

    -Ronaldo knows Messi is a better player than him but he doesn’t wanna admit it because of his ego

    -Juventus is the biggest club in Italy

  • ElBravoooBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    It’s crazy how I agree with everything here lol

    Ramos was a fantastic player but his defensive abilities were above average, nothing special.

  • This-Zookeepergame31BEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    Ramos was a marginally better pure defender than Pepe and a far better footballer. Every CB partner he has had since Pepe is a player that has left and been much worse off for it (Varane.) And every time Ramos wasn’t on the field for Madrid, the entire defense looked shaky as fuck and they usually ended up conceding goals/losing games that they wouldn’t normally concede or lose to.

  • ManWhoSaysMandaloreBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    Courtois wasn’t top 3 in 2022 ballon d’or because everyone who would have voted for him voted for benzema instead

  • freebaconcheesburgerBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago
    1. I don’t think what made Ramos great was only “goalscoring”. He is one of the most tactically versatile and technically excellent footballers of this century. How many times have you seen a centerback taking penalties, freekicks, crossing, heading the ball, giving long balls to strikers and playing short passes, even dribbling, as good as Ramos? How many times have you seen a player being world class at both CB and RB and even moving to the midfield when needed (UCL semis 2015)? And after all these, there are also his leadership qualities and being “lucky” enough to play for the most succesful NT and club of the last years.
    2. Totally agreed. Not only because of the UCL, but he had 10/10 performances every snigle week in La Liga.
    3. I see your point, but I think Xavi excelled under certain circumstances. Remove both of them from Spain/Barca and Iniesta would have a much better career.
    4. Totally agreed.
    5. Many players before the internet era based off their legacy on huge moments and highlights. Ronaldo Nazario did absolutely nothing worth mentioning for 11 months of 2002 (he didn’t even play before May), but still won the Ballon d’Or because of his WC performances.
    6. Agreed.
    7. On his prime, maybe. But Pique spent way too many years doing dumb stuff, especially on big games.
    8. Agreed. Suarez is highly overrated because he used to score tons of goals against below average teams, both for Liverpool and Barca. His UCL overall record is atrocious. 15/31 EPL goals in 2013/14 were against teams placed 17th-20th.
    9. I don’t remember that.
    10. There were so many great defenders around that era, but I agree that Carvalho was great for every team he played.
    11. Agreed. People nowadays think everything is about stats.
  • GoriboliveiraBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    Agree with almost everything Eto’o being more impactful than Suarez does not make him the better player. He wasn’t as impactful because Barca had Messi and the rest, whilst Samuel had a good team obviously (prime Ronaldinho and Deco) but he took that team to another level.

    • This-Zookeepergame31BEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      You have to remember that Argentina had an average “okay” team and Napoli were nearly relegated the season before he came. Dragging a mid or poorly performing team to trophies when you arrive? With multiple teams? That’s the epitome of greatness.

      Messi and Ronaldo played with loaded teams and in fact, Messi was not the team-carrier/dragger Maradona was. Ronaldo is ahead of Messi on that category but still behind Maradona by a pretty large margin in my eyes simply because he played for such great teams.

      • GoriboliveiraBEnglish
        1·
        10 months ago

        Argentina was not mid. That’s a myth but yeah he was the architect of that WC win it’s true. He was amazing but I feel like his peak was not that long compared to the other’s. He has way less goals than the other, has way less titles and I feel the truth about him was the he only played for small teams, but it is absolutely not. Look he was outstanding, not denying. I just feel the others have accomplished wayy more. Pele has 3 WC wins and has over 700 goals in his career. Messi has won everything and he did carry his teams, but it’s true he played in great teams as well. He carried Argentina to WC win tbh. CR7 won 5 UCL and was the main man in all of them, won two titles with Portugal which is historic and is the highest goalscorer of all time. Cruyff was revolutionary on the pitch, scored more goals than Maradona, won 3 UCL.