If you ask someone"who is the greatest player ever?"
I'm 100% sure that maradonna,pele or cruyff will spring to mind straight away.
Well what about these guys.

George Best - I personally think better than pele ahme he messed up his career with alcohol.(if he would have played for england or brazil he would have been the greatest but norther ireland never got anywhere so not much was heard of him)

Sir Stanley Matthews - A great great dribbler of the ball like best.

Eusibio - A very good player good skills.

Denis Law - A good scottish player.

Of course pele was freat as were maradonna and cruyff.

What do you all think???Post your views please.

greetz
Phil

Giuseppe Meazza-unfortunaletly for him ,he played in the 1930's ,but he was a hexk of a player .

Gigi Riva-Italy's best player in the 70's ,but because he played for Cagliari ,he never got the recognition from people around the world like he would get if he were with Juventus or Milan .

Here is my top five 1.Johan Cruyff 2.Michel Platini 3.Michael Laudrup 4.Maradona 5.G Rivera from AC Milan.

ricococo.

RIVA WASN'T ITALY'S BEST PLAYER IN THE 70ies!!! THEIR BEST PLAYER THEN AND EVER WAS GIANNI RIVERA! NOW THIS ONE IS UNDISPUTED!!!

Can't name a best all time, only the one's I got to see:

1st Maradona
2nd Van Basten
3rd Baggio
4th Matthäus
5th Zidane

Once again I left out defenders.

Rivera better than Riva ????Are you crazy???Yes ,Rivera was outstanding with Milan but he wasmt that great with the national team ,plus he was playing with a club like Milan ,Riva was playing for a crappy Cagliari and he is Italy's best goalscorer of all time with 35 and thanks to his goals in 1970 ,Italy went on in the finals,Rivera was more like Del Piero ,he was a playmaker ,but Riva was awesome offensively .No italian player has more goals than Riva .

No, you're wrong: Rivera was the only real Maradona-Zidane like player Italy ever had. And of course I don't want to argue with you much about players I only know from tape, but Rivera was unanimously selected best Italian ever by an international jury and Pele ranks him as a Top 5 player ever. Riva scored, but Rivera scored and created.

Since when did Matthaus stopped being a defender??

As a seeper I'd never rank Matthäus Top 5. He was the best pure midfielder I ever got to see before he played defense. Check him at ITALIA 90 - marvellous.

You must be pretty young if you only saw him play sweeper :-)

I am younger than Matthaus, but who isnt?

Do u know why Rivera was voted top 5 of all time is cause he played for a big club like Milan .If Riva would of been playing for Juventus or a big club ,im sure he would of been in the top 5 of all time .But I still think Meazza is the best italian of all time .He gave Italy 2 world cups and scored important goals like the one versus brazil when they one 2-1 ,the only reason no one mentions him is cause he played in the 1930's and there was no tv coverage or radio coverage back then .Another player who could of been the best all time would be Guilermo Stabile of Argentina ,but he also played in the 1930's .

You are all "forgetting" the Brilliant.....
Alfredo di Stefano..<Argentina>.and Ferenc Puskas <Hungary>..Nandor Hideguti <Hungary>....but alas, we can only view these greats on worn out movies and sub standard tapes....but never the less they were all Elite footballers in the 50's ...and i wouldnt even attempt to select "My" top five players, there are too many of them that have attained greatness over the years..
Ned.....

http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Bleachers/7429/congrad_7.htm

check out this link to read up on Di Stefano's incredible career..

This is a quote from the Great Man Himself, its a pity that todays players have lost this feeling for the game...

What soccer meant to him...
"The ball gave me prestige, gave me fame, gave me riches. Thank you, my old friend. Because with the ball I have a wonderful family, I have a son that plays soccer..." Di Stéfano.



[This message has been edited by Black_Ned (edited 06-22-2000).]