Greatest player you'd seen when you were 12, 18, 25, 35, 50

7even said:
8 - Pelé (1970) First player I remember. Speed, control, vision, physique. He was unique, the Usain Bolt of football. From that moment I was in love with this game and Brazil was my second favorite team.

12 - Johann Cruyff (1974) Intellegent and visionary. Didn't have the physique but his vision made him special.

19 - Brazil 1992 - they made playing football in to and art. If I'm going to die and only have time to see one final game before its over then it's going to be Brazil - Italy 1992. Zico, Socrates, Eder, Falcao (the original), Junior. Bring tears in my eyes.

24 - Diego Armando Maradona (1986) He had more or less everything you find in Messi, but on top of that he had an aura like Michael Jordan and leader skills like Roy Keane. A true General who took his teams to another level and delivered with or without world class team mates. (This is why Armando is so much more then Messi)

39 - Ronaldo, Zidane and Ronaldinho (1996-2006) They all made me smile. Fantastic players.

50 - Xavi and Schweinsteiger (2008-2014) Xavi is probably the only world class player who in his prime never had a bad game. Extremely underrated. Basti is not the best but the way he carry himself, a true warrior, is for me the ultimate professional. Both are two role models that I admire very very much.
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Even Pele admitted Best was the best but you have a great group of players all the same.
 
A bit too young

8: Batistuta
10: Cantona
12: Zizou & Ronaldo at Madrid
15: Ronaldinho
18: C.Ronaldo
21: Messi
 
12 - Diego Maradona. As a youngster Mexico 86 is embedded into my brain. Best individual performance I've ever seen by a player in a tournament (despite the cheating). I recall watching the vhs highlights (was it called Goal?) over and over with my mate.

18 - Roberto Baggio. Sublime player. Shame he was remembered for missing that pen in the 94 WC Final because he (like Maradona) was often carrying that Italian team. Great goal in 1990 put him on the map and I remember buying a Juve replica with his name on the back whilst on holiday in Spain (one of those cheap ones they did for loads of players... Think I had a Milan 'Van Basten' and an Inter 'Matthaus' too.

25 - Luis Ronaldo. Just a phenom. Unstoppable really in his prime. I think everyone was happy to see how he bounced back in 2002 after the previous tournament. Christ knows what you'd pay for him in today's loony toons market. £200m?
 
I'm going to stick with players I've seen live, not sure if that was the idea or not...

12. Robson
18. Cantona
25. Keane
40. Ronaldo (Bit of a fudge - I'm 40 in 2 weeks time and haven't seen him live much since I was 34 or something!)
50. Memphis (which will be obvious by this point, as he will be universally acknowledged as the best player of his generation)
65. Grant
 
rcoobc said:
Are you even old enough to remember winrar?
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was born in '94, started following football in general starting after 2002 wc and started following man utd around the year before the pl-cl double winning season.
 
12- Ronadlo aka el Phenomino, my favorite player ever what an incredible force of nature he was. I saw him playing for Barcelona and Inter at that time and my god he was unbelievable. If it wasnt for his first knee injury at Inter i am almost sure that he would have been the greatest player of all time. Even with the injury hes one of the greatest. Another player that captured my imagination was King Eric. He just oozed class and was the initial reason why I started supporting United at a young age.

18 - This was around 2004, Ronaldinho hadnt quite hit his stride but he was a wizard and you could tell he was going to be something special. Zidane was two years away from retirement but he was immense still. Lots of players that I liked at this time, RvN, Henry, Nedved and Shevshenko stood out for me.

25 - Messi. Nothing more to be said.
 
12 - batistuta
14- Ronaldinho and Henry
16 kun aguero (he's from the team I support in Argentina)
18- Messi
24- Messi (the best ever)
 
At 12 I think Zidane or Figo. I didn't look up to Ronaldo that much back then in all honest.

At 18 it was by a distance Ronaldinho although 2006-07 was weaker by his standards already.

At 25 definitely Messi.
 
Donaldo said:
What the title says. The greatest you'd seen at those respective ages (whatever is applicable to you). Could be interesting with some of the older lot, and some of the foreign supporters on here.

I'll start.

At 12, I was relatively new to league football, with our part of the world only getting live feeds on occasion. The World cup is the spectacle I remember distinctly in the early and late 90s. I remember watching Luis Ronaldo at Inter and for Brazil and being astounded by his ability. Dennis Bergkamp comes a close second, the Argentina goal and snippets of performances for Arsenal (and the FIFA 99 cover) elevating him to stratospheric levels.

At 18, Thierry Henry takes this by some distance. Lit up the Premier League consistently and made professional footballers look like mugs at will, it seemed. Paolo Maldini would come in second. Superbly elegant defender, didn't give an inch. Ronaldinho ties with him for second as well, what a magician.

At 25, it has to be Lionel Messi. It's hard to believe that a human being can be as talented at anything as Messi is at playing football. My one dream is to watch him live.
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Let's edit the age rules a bit to 35 instead of 40.

35 - At 35, the best player I've seen still remains Lionel Andres Messi. Hard to believe that hislast 10 years are possibly even better than the first ten odd, which were utterly ridiculous. What a privilege to have watched him.
 
12 - R9
18 - Ronaldinho
25 - Messi
35 - Messi
 
12 y/o - no Western club football for me living in Soviet Union.

Lothar Matthaus was the best player at WC90. But for me - Roger Milla

18 y/o - Hristo Stoichkov
25 y/o - Wayne Rooney (yes, because I was Man Utd fan already)
35 y/o - Cristiano Ronaldo (I don't like him, but he was the best for me back in 2014)
45 y/o - I am wise now, so God knows. Let it be Lamine Yamal
 
12 - R9 - Still my favourite player to watch. There hasn't been anyone like him since, with pace, power, balance and skill all completely off the scale.
18 - Ronaldinho - Him and Henry were the best two players in the world at that time, but Ronaldinho for those few years was magic.
25 - Messi - Best player I've seen in my lifetime.
35 - Messi - Still the best player I've seen in my lifetime.
 
12 - Eder Brazil - maybe not the best but easily my favourite.
18 - Maradona Argentina - mesmeric probably the best I have seen
25 - Romario Brazil - just a year or two early for Ronaldo I think
35 - Ronaldo Brazil - not at his peak now but was so good the previous decade
50 - Messi - Genius and probably covers over a decade of this thread.

Just can't get Ronaldo Portugal in here the years don't quite work for me.
 
12 - Ballack: had only watched 2002 World Cup and he impressed me the most.

18 - Ronaldinho: although I still though Ballack was incredible.

25 - Messi: to this day the best player I’ve ever seen.
 
12 - Maradona
18 - Zizou and Fenomeno
25 - Messi
35 - Messi

Didnt realise I had already posted 9 years ago in this thread. Just shows as time passes, the magic of Messi when I was 25 is what I remember more than CR7 same for the other players.
 
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12 - Ronaldo (BRA)
18 - Messi
25 - Messi
 
Señor said:
Too young to do most of them so mines is a bit different.

8 - Ronaldo
12 - Ronaldinho
14 - Cristiano Ronaldo
18 - Lionel Messi
21 - Lionel Messi
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Must be a similar age to me, this would probably be my list too, but I'd probably swap 14 for either Ronaldinho again or Thierry Henry.
 
12 was probably R9 but this was 1999 so one of the treble winners, perhaps Keane, Beckham etc.

18 was 2004 so Henry or Ronaldhino.

25 was Messi/CR9
 
12 - Probably Tevez
14- Ronaldinho
16 to 33 - Messi and Aguero in a lesser degree
 
12 - Van Basten
18 - R9
25 - Zidane
35 - Messi

My earliest memory of live footy is MvB beating Kohler & Immel in '88. Didn't catch Maradona until '90.
 
I'll just go with who I thought was the best player in the world at that time.

12. Del Piero
18. Ronaldinho
25. Messi
35. Messi

And at 50 my prediction is that it will be C. Ronaldo Jr.
 
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