ESPN top 25 players of the 21st century

Korwas

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https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/40490059/ranking-top-25-men-soccer-players-21st-century

Another wild ESPN list.
1: Messi
2: C.Ronaldo
3: Henry
4: Zidane
5: Modric
6: Mbappe
7: Iniesta
8: Xavi
9: Ronaldo Nazario
10: Ronaldinho
11: Zlatan
12: De Bruyne
13: Kroos
14: Ramos
15: Puyol
16: Benzema
17: Busquets
18: Lewandowski
19: Kaka
20: Neymar
21: Pirlo
22: Rooney
23: Vieira
24: Suarez
25: Buffon

How does your top 25 of the 21st century lists look?
 
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They got the first 2 correct at least.

Regarding the phenomenon, I wouldn't put him that high. He maybe is 9th in all time players, but in the 21st century he had like 2 good years max.
 
Korwas said:
https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/40490059/ranking-top-25-men-soccer-players-21st-century

Another wild ESPN list to say the least.
1: Messi
2: C.Ronaldo
3: Henry
4: Zidane
5: Modric
6: Mbappe
7: Iniesta
8: Xavi
9: Ronaldo Nazario
10: Ronaldinho
11: Zlatan
12: De Bruyne
13: Kroos
14: Ramos
15: Puyol
16: Benzema
17: Busquets
18: Lewandowski
19: Kaka
20: Neymar
21: Pirlo
22: Rooney
23: Viera
24: Suarez
25: Buffon

How does your top 25 of the 21th century lists look?
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Not controversial, although imo, which is utterly and completely unbiased, I would put Rio ahead of Puyol. Neuer should be on the list as well.
 
Rossa said:
Not controversial, although imo, which is utterly and completely unbiased, I would put Rio ahead of Puyol. Neuer should be on the list as well.
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Yea rio is the one player I would have from United up there, he and puyol were the best of their generation.
 
Iniesta and Xavi should both be top 5...or at least ahead of Modric and Zidane.

Suárez was the best #9 IMO besides the two Ronaldos. Should be way higher for me. One of the best #9s ever, despite being a twat.

Neymar should be higher too. He underachieved relative to his talent but still had a great career.

Zlatan is a bit too high on this list for my liking.

Zidane is overrated for me, based on him often being in and around the top 5 in these lists. Definitely at least a tier below for me. Top 5 is too much. Several of his peak years were not in the 21st century either. Same with Ronaldo Nazario.
 
Rojofiam said:
Iniesta and Xavi should both be top 5...or at least ahead of Modric and Zidane.

Suárez was the best #9 IMO besides the two Ronaldos. Should be way higher for me. One of the best #9s ever, despite being a twat.

Neymar should be higher too. He underachieved relative to his talent but still had a great career.

Zlatan is a bit too high on this list for my liking.

Zidane is overrated for me, based on him often being in and around the top 5 in these lists. Definitely at least a tier below for me. Top 5 is too much. Several of his peak years were not in the 21st century either. Same with Ronaldo Nazario.
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Suarez is never going to get the recognition he deserves, he was less flashy and very unselfish for a 9.
 
Hammondo said:
Suarez is never going to get the recognition he deserves, he was less flashy and very unselfish for a 9.
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He was also Messi's and Neymar's teammate during the most successful years of his career.
 
Dinho is criminally low and if CBs are there Thiago Silva should be too. Way better than Puyol and Ramos (trophies notwithstanding)
 
Ramos and, especially, Puyol as the only recognized defenders doesn't sit right. Puyol was an excellent player and won everything but he benefited a lot from the talent around him. Was he a better defender than Cannavaro or Nesta? I don't think so.
 
No Robben on there is criminal. Was literally unstoppable in his prime
 
Powderfinger said:
Ramos and, especially, Puyol as the only recognized defenders doesn't sit right. Puyol was an excellent player and won everything but he benefited a lot from the talent around him. Was he a better defender than Cannavaro or Nesta? I don't think so.
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He was an excellent defender, absolutely top for his time. Was their best defender at the time.
 
Hammondo said:
He was an excellent defender, absolutely top for his time. Was their best defender at the time.
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Not doubting that at all. He was a top player for sure. I just think others were actually better.

Overall, there is a bias in the list toward Barcelona and Real Madrid players. Obviously most great players went through one of those two clubs at some point during this period but Serie A was a really top league for much of the 2000s and there is hardly a consideration of its best players.
 
I’d not put Henry 3rd
Mbappe is way to high
Zlatan doesn’t make it to the top25 unless you take edgy social media posts as a part of footballer career
Iniesta and Xavi both belong to top5
Neymar too low
 
I’d say no Gerrard is a bit harsh really, but then again Scholes should also be on there.
 
Zlatan and Neymar being there at all just feels like it was graded on FIFA ratings. It's also a bit weird to make a list of players in 21st century and then include achievements from 20th.
 
The players in the top 10 is spot on. The order is all about opinions.
 
Henry 3rd ?
Okk.
Maybe has something to do with him being on American TV a lot.
 
Robben should be there.

Suarez higher.

Harsh on Scholes and Giggs. Their careers occurred before and after 2000 so I can see why they were not included.

No Brazilian Silva?

Eto'o?

Zlatan way too high. Ruud, RVP, Drogba, Eto'o and Rooney were all better. I don't care what the Stats say.
 
Rooney at 22 is bollocks. For me he was better than Benzema, Lewandowski and Zlatan.

If we're being objective then Suarez should also be higher, probably top 10.
 
Iniesta should be higher. I’m not having Henry ahead of Zidane either. Mbappe is too high, Ronaldo too low, yeah his peak was short due to injuries but on talent alone he’s second only to Messi on that list.
 
Joel Miller said:
Iniesta should be higher. I’m not having Henry ahead of Zidane either. Mbappe is too high, Ronaldo too low, yeah his peak was short due to injuries but on talent alone he’s second only to Messi on that list.
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But this is not about talent alone. And we literally haven't seen peak Ronaldo in the 21st century. I don't think Mbappé has done enough to overcome even that handicapped version of him though, but I wouldn't even say that Ronaldo is clearly the best number 9 of this century — actually, he probably isn't (even though if we include his peak years he easily blows everyone else out of the water).
 
Henry in 3rd place surprises me. to me he was the only remotely comparable striker to Ronaldo in those days and was close to being unstoppable for years, but I thought pretty much everyone will have Zidane before him.

I've also never seen Henry in any of those top 10 players of all time discussions, yet someone always put Zidane and Ronaldo there.

Neymar should be last on the list imo. he has that famous MSN season and he was the last of those trully fun players to emerge, but I feel he's been passenger for about 10 years now. no memorable CL game for PSG due to injuries, no major trophy with Brazil. insanely talented, but if someone put Neuer instead of him, I honestly wouldn't mind.
 
Decent list, there can be arguments over someone being a little higher/lower.... except Mbappe, this dude is way out of his league.
 
Prime Suarez was better than Lewandowski, Benzema and Zlatan, who are all above him in this list! Best striker of his generation if you exclude the two freaks at the top.

I know defenders don’t normally feature on lists like this, but Dani Alves should be on here somewhere. All time great right back.
 
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