Zinedine Zidane - GOAT?

[gabs485]

I just realized that Zinedine Zidane was one of the top 3 footballers ever. I don't know if he is at the level of Pele, I particulary never saw the guy play. But to me, he is above Diego Maradona.

His technique is something I never seen. He wasn't fast but he could pass any defender. He wasn't physically gifted but he used his body like a metal shield to protect the ball. But above all of the talent and amazing skills he was a winner. He won everything. He proved that no matter where he plays he was the best unlike certain players who were not successful when they move to a different country.

Consistently Brilliant is what defines this player. And in football not everyone can be consistent much less brilliant. Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Kaka, Maradona, Cruyff, Figo, Cristiano, Messi, Platini, you name it. All of them went through some bad times in his football career. Zidane in the other hand was at the top of his game for a very very long time. Man I recognized what he did in the Final was stupid but if he would had score that header, no one would even argue that he is the best ever. But even so, I think he is up there with Pele and Maradona. Man just look at his videos. Look at his clutch performances, he was a big player who made big plays in the big games.

It is such a shame that all the people will remember him for is headbutting Matterazzi at the Final. But I guess he deserves then.

 

[rem]

every man has his moments ...good and not so good moments --- this man has shown what quality is .................... in true sense of word , this man is a different class of his own , and u cannot comapre him with pele and maradona //

 

[Arnau]

he wasn't physically giften?? 1, 86 meters ...

more than his technique (he also was magic not just talent) i want to focus in his amazing elegance, i never seen before something equal.

he wasnt better than johan cruyff and you cant put crisitano ronaldo or messi on the list because they are still young.

 

[Help?]

Zidane is definietly top 3. Best one, i don't think so. I have never seen Pele live, but watching past video footage he was quite a player. However, i don't think that Zidane will be remembered for the headbutt. He did good enough in his career to be remembered for what he achieved.

You point about consistency isn't very good. Ronaldinho dominated Brazil, dominated France whenever he decided to show up and dominated Spain until he got fat. Now he is playing in Italy and not doing too bad there either. As for Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi, these guys have only played in 2 different leagues in their whole careers and they were superb in both and all 3 of them proved as the top threats in the CL, so i don't see the point of mentioning them. Besides, remember Zidane in his first year at Madrid?

 

[Pogba4Now]

I think we cannot compare Zidane with players like Pele, Maradonna or Cruyff since most of us have only seen clips and footage of these players, so you cannot say that Zidane is above Maradonna. But yeah Zidane definitely has the class of being compared to them and was definitely one of the best players ever. His 98-00 years has been his best years.

 

[Dah Shinin']

For me its #1Pele #2 Zidane then the rest.

 

[Bobby]

 

[KingPaulV]

I saw Maradona play towards the tail end of his career when his life was rocked by various scandals, and I also saw him play just before during the 1990 world cup....I saw Zidane play a lot (obvious being a Madrid fan) and unfortunaly I cannot agree that Zidane was greater than Maradona. Maradona had an electricity to him, every time he touched the ball is like the world would stop, only equaled in our times by the likes of Messi and maybe Ronaldo (R.9) ....Zidane had an elegance to his game an effortless drive to him, that made him remarkable and clearly he ritired as did Pele and Maradona when they were still able to produce quality football by the buckets....I say in my book it would be Pele, Maradona, R.9, and Zidane...

 

[rony31]

Bobby, that was arguably the greatest football-related montage I have ever seen. Cygan is absolutely brilliant, Villareal are lucky to have him.

 

[Zakov]

Grew up with clips of Maradona, haven't seen much of Pele's, only read what other people say about him.
Totally different types of players Pele, Maradona and Zidane.

Zidane was probably surrounded by great players as he was winning plenty of accolades, same with Pele. But Maradona carried the Argentina team and also probably turned Napoli into a major force in Italian for football on his own.

So in terms of impact on team, Maradona just edges it.
Plus Maradona doesn't make lousy football predictions(which Pele does) so I'll give him more additional points.

Zidane was a great player for our generation(probably the best, along with RTeeth and R9) but didn't carry Real Madrid or Juventus, or the French team on his own. He was surrounded by great players when he was at his peak,nevertheless he did put up great performances in the big games.

Ronaldo(the original) and Georgie Best also deserves a mention here.

 

[KingPaulV]

Grew up with clips of Maradona, haven't seen much of Pele's, only read what other people say about him.
Totally different types of players Pele, Maradona and Zidane.

Zidane was probably surrounded by great players as he was winning plenty of accolades, same with Pele. But Maradona carried the Argentina team and also probably turned Napoli into a major force in Italian for football on his own.

So in terms of impact on team, Maradona just edges it.
Plus Maradona doesn't make lousy football predictions(which Pele does) so I'll give him more additional points.

Zidane was a great player for our generation(probably the best, along with RTeeth and R9) but didn't carry Real Madrid or Juventus, or the French team on his own. He was surrounded by great players when he was at his peak,nevertheless he did put up great performances in the big games.

Ronaldo(the original) and Georgie Best also deserves a mention here.

uhum, I concede, good points, but Pele did most of his damage while playing for Santos, who had a number of unknowns ....also for the world cup he was hurt in, (1966) Brazil got an early exit, had he been healthy it is arguable that Brazil could have won that too...but you are definetly right about Napoli and Maradona, althought the Argentina squad in 1986 and 1990 had great players of its own right much similar to the 1998 French squad, with a number of important decisive players.

For me R9 was the the most influential player in the world for a solid 6 years or so, he could win you a game at any point, something that I only saw Maradona do.

 

[RobbieD_PL]

Haha @ the thread title!

 

[Zlatan]

The best footballer ever to play the game on a professional level after I was born. If he belongs to the top 3 of best footballers ever? No, I still think Maradona, Pele, Puskas, Cruijff, Beckenbauer and some more perhaps rank above him.

 

[Jaouadinho]

Every one is obviously gonna say pele or maradonna and rightly so, i have never seen pele play and i only saw a bit of maradonna so i cant really say who is better out of them 3. but i saw zidane play and he was something speciall, not counting them 2 it has to be zidane for me.

He had it all, he can head, pass, shoot ect. he had everything a footballer needed plus that eleganes which makes peple wanna just watch him run. he just oosed in class. he was the finished article and he always came up with the goods when it really mattered. guti summes it up for me when he said "Zidane is the imbodement of profection on a football field".

everyone is gonna agree or disagree it depends what yor view of a great player and so many other factors determen who you choose, so its almost impossible to agree but one thing is for sure hell probably be in most peoples top 5 or 6.

 

[ShiftyPowers]

**** no. Not even close. I can name 10 better players easily.

 

[itsbeenpickedup]

Zidane was great but the GOAT debate ends at Pelé from what I've gathered.

Despite the relative lack of footage available, I've seen enough to realise he had an absolutely fantastic shot with both feet, scoring all types of goals with both feet from outside the box, a great free kick, a stunning dribbling ability (especially to nutmeg players), and also a good header (including brave diving headers). Not to mention the totally unknown quantity of assists he got, but he wasn't just a goal poacher that's for sure. People may erroneously claim that defenders were crap so it was easy for him, but he also nutmegged Beckenbauer in a one vs one dribble and left him on the floor in a Brazil vs Germany, and there haven't been many better defenders than him. Plus games were allowed to be more violent and he got a massive kicking most games. People who aren't sure about Pelé should do some research because it is actually pretty incredible how good he was.

 

[Daz]

ok, am i the only one that was completely mislead by the title of this thread?

 

[Zakov]

haha, its G.O.A.T - Greatest Of All Time, a title so often used for Muhammad Ali.
Surely we wouldn't call Zidane a farking sheep, would we?

Oh yeah, here's a decent clip a found of Maradona. Its a relatively short one compared to the one I have on VHS, but its good.



Its surreal how he can pull off those skills without a single thought, it comes so natural for him.

 

[Arnau]

1:26 ... thats by cruyff

 

[rhizome17]

Maradona over Pele. I think people feel they HAVE to say Pele because he is the 'clean' one out of the two.

And Maradona 2008 over Pele 2008 as well. He rocks.