Zinedine Zidane - GOAT?

Not to mention Pele is part of the currently $hitty FIFA family as well...remember the debacle when the fans voted Maradona as the greatest player ahead of Pele....then FIFA decided to make two awards(the fans voted for Maradona, and Pele was selected from a list of FIFA panelists) for both of them.
I've got nothing against Pele, he is one of the greatest(people around me have said that a lot), but the incident above just spoiled it a bit.

I feel I have to say Pelé because I think he was better. He once scored a 'goal worthy of a plaque' where he dribbled 9 players, and one where he did kick ups over about 3 players and the keeper. Neither of those, and presumably a massive number of his goals and games were not filmed. If they were this probably wouldn't even be a debate. Maradonna had most (all?) of his career on camera and I still don't think he has a compilation which measures up to this for example: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=icbntQJ351k - Shows pretty much every quality you would want in a player, both footed, brave headers etc. Plus it's all with heavy old footballs and some bad pitches. Look at the one near the end where he basically digs it out from the mud under his feet with his left foot and somehow it ends up in the top corner.

This one has only got a couple of goals that I don't think are on the first one http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=SzZc6t9h_z0 - A goal where he nutmegs two players in a row (seen that before?), and then a stunning strike against Germany I believe.

If anybody has any comparable Maradonna footage then I'm open to viewing it, but really he clearly wasn't as good at shooting, and it's not like Pelé couldn't do insane dribbles, and was obviously better in the air which is a big strength.

Zakov;2583098 said:

Not to mention Pele is part of the currently $hitty FIFA family as well...remember the debacle when the fans voted Maradona as the greatest player ahead of Pele....then FIFA decided to make two awards(the fans voted for Maradona, and Pele was selected from a list of FIFA panelists) for both of them.
I've got nothing against Pele, he is one of the greatest(people around me have said that a lot), but the incident above just spoiled it a bit.

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Yep. And I will add to that also - in a general political sense (which, whether we like it or not, mixes with sports) Maradona is not scared to show the world where he sits. Pele, not so honest.

And anyone that has let off a gun at police is surely worth first place

Right, 50 years from now, when all the non-footballing things are forgotten, and we only have match footage to speak for the players, unless Pele's footage is destroyed, you can be sure his will place him as the best. Purely footballisticaly, Pele gets it in my book, Zidane might be in the Top 10.

Zidane is not the goat like the original poster says he is. Pele is the goat.....and that is a really easy choice.....for me, no one comes close to Pele except Maradona. If Zidane is 3rd, then he is a DISTANT 3rd..............

To me PELE was #1. Why ?? Not only because of his gifted superior talent but because he was never involved in any big scandal or anything like that. Reputation builds you up and PELE had the best reputation. That's why he is the god of football. Zidane comes in second. He also possesses unbelievable skills, and his game is near perfection but he lost a lot of credibility when he was ejected in his last world cup for headbutting Materazzi. Maradona comes in 3rd. He will always be remembered no matter what but his reputation was the worse. From being an cocaine addict, battling weight problems, being a cheater and so on.

battling weight problem isn't exactly a scandal. Its more of a health problem.
Besides, I don't think we can appreciate Pele's skills more than those who lived in the same age as him(we don't have much footage to back up his accolade) thats the main reason why I went with Maradona.

I'm not saying others should.

How big of an cocaine addict was Maradona ? Just curious as I honestly don't remember.

About 350 pounds.