For its more than 150-year existence, football has evolved too much as a game, going through separate epochs. Each has its own characters. As early as 1998, Johan Cruyff published his article on the subject in Team Magazine. It says the following: “It is not possible and there is no argument to cast one above all others.”
It was for this reason that the game was different in time. Therefore, the Dutchman thinks it is more correct to determine the best football player for each decade.
According to him, (my opinion also is the same) , by this criterion it could already be said that in the 50’s the best was Alfredo di Stefano, in the 60’s – Pelé, in the 70’s – Johan Cruyff (arguing why exactly Cruyff, not Franz Beckenbauer), and in the 80s – Diego Maradona. For the last decade of the last century, its fluctuations have been between Romario, Hristo Stoichkov and Marko Van Basten. They are all excellent football players, but they lack something to set them apart.
Following on from the Cruyff logic, Zinedine Zidane is probably the best of all for the post-France 98 season. World and European title with France, plus a complete set of Real Trophies, a Golden Ball and a number of other honors. Then came the time of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Leave a Reply