My Greatest X1 of all-time

To mark the 50th and 70th birthdays of Maradona and Pele, The Guardian are running a ‘Your greatest football X1’.

Never a right or a wrong answer and always open to opinion and conjecture, I am choosing my ‘Greatest X1 of all time’.

As this is ‘your’ greatest X1 of all time, I am choosing from the players I have seen close up, on a regular basis, whom I can judge for myself. So I am only choosing from the players I have seen in my 20odd years of watching the beautiful game, and who I believe are the best players I have ever seen.

I have tried to formulise this somewhat and have stuck them in the modern 4-3-3 formation, roughly compromising of a back four, three central-ish midfielders and three forwards. Again, feel free to alter the formation should you so wish. Here goes…

Goalkeeper - Gianluigi Buffon

Buffon has collected over 100 Azzurri caps and surely must be one of the most decorated keepers ever to play the game. He has two Serie A titles, a Uefa Cup and a World Cup to his name as well as a mountain of individual awards including Serie A Keeper of the Year seven times, Uefa Goalkeeper of the Season three times and in 2006, came second in the European Player of the Year awards, becoming one of only five keepers to be named for the honour in over fifty years of its existence.

A supreme athlete, standing 6ft 3” Buffon resonates that presence which reassures defences and intimidates forwards in equal measure, and is one of the best shot stoppers the game has ever seen. Easily the best keeper of the past decade.

Right-Back – Cafu

Along with his mate Roberto Carlos, the two Brazilians were the pioneers of the modern day flying full-back, combining defensive duties with an enthusiasm to bomb forward to act as an auxiliary winger, creating and scoring as many goals as he kept out.

The Brazilians have long had a tradition of attacking full-backs, but many of these were often culpable defensively. Cafu was not, and when in the opposition third he had the natural ability to beat a man, and cross and shoot as accurately as an attacker.

Cafu was a relative latecomer to the European scene arriving in Zaragoza aged 24 and it was only when he moved to Italy, first with Roma and then Milan, did he gain the recognition he deserved. Two Serie A’s and a European Cup later, Cafu was still marauding down the Rossoneri right flank aged 37. He also has won two World Cups and is Brazils most capped player turning out 142 times.

Left-Back – Andreas Brehme

The complete defender, and a key component of the clinical West German side of the 80’s, Brehme was a regular feature for the ‘Mannschaft’ and appeared in three World Cup finals, missing out in ’82 and ’86, finally getting it right at Italia ’90 where he scored the winning penalty in the final against Argentina.

Hard as nails, and with typical German efficiency, Brehme was resolute at the back and gave nothing away, but it was as an attacking force that Brehme stood out. Genuinely two footed, he took free kicks and corners with his left foot but preferred shooting and taking penalties with his right. At all of his clubs he was a regular goalscorer, both from dead balls and open play, and consistently offered an attacking outlet going forward. Such was Brehme’s potency going forward that during the second round match of Italia 90 against the Netherlands, the Dutch winger Johnny Van't Schip's principal job was to mark him out of the game. The tactic had little effect with Brehme curling home the decisive goal.

Centre-Back – Marcel Desailly

Quick, strong and an excellent reader of the game, Desailly was a colossal figure at the heart of any defence he played, whether that be for Marseille, Milan, Chelsea or France.

After originally starting as a midfielder, Desailly possessed excellent footballing qualities which accompanied him in his defensive role, often starting attacks by bursting out of defence or spraying passes forward. Ghanaian born and French raised, Desailly’s finest hour was during the ’98 World Cup. Forming a formidable pairing with Laurent Blanc, he was imperious throughout the whole tournament as les blues conceded only two goals all tournament on their way to becoming world champions.

Like any true great, Desailly has the silverware to prove it, and as well as the World Cup, he won the European Championships in 2000, two Champions League titles, two Serie A’s and an FA Cup

Centre-Back – Alessandro Nesta

At the peak of his powers there have been fewer better natural defenders than Nesta. After bursting into the talented Lazio side of the mid 90’s, Nesta’s maturity way beyond his years meant he was given the honour of captaining the side aged just 21, and was the figurehead of Sergio Cragnotti’s purpose built side which won the Italian Championship in 2000. He added a second Serie A crown with Milan in 2004, as well as the Champions League in 2007, and the World Cup with Italy in 2006.

Nesta followed in a long line of Italian defenders who were brilliant readers of the game. He appeared almost psychic at times, proactively snuffing out danger before it had happened, but possessing the speed and intuition to react to situations if they had.

A sign of Nesta’s brilliance is that amongst a collection of the best defenders in the world, where defending is considered an art form, he won Serie A Defender of the Year four consecutive times from 2000-2003.

Centre midfield – Lothar Matthaus

There have been few footballers that have as much to their game as Lothar Matthaus. It was said that Matthaus could play anywhere, and invariably he did. Primarily a central midfielder, Matthaus had the lot and was the driving force behind the teams he played. The original all-action, box-to-box midfielder, the German was a regular goalscorer, but was far from an attacking midfielder. He defended and screened his backline but was in no means a defensive midfielder, he could pass, prompt and above all, was a leader of men. Skippering near enough every team he ever played in, including the West German side who won Italia 90.

Matthaus still holds the record for most appearances in the World Cup finals – 25 – spread across five tournaments. In a glittering club career, Matthaus won seven Bundesliga’s, three Uefa Cups and seven domestic cups. He also added the 1980 European Championships to the World Cup he won with Germany, and individually picked the 1990 Ball d’Or and the 1991 World player of the Year.

Centre Midfield – Zinedine Zidane

With the build of a middleweight and the delicacy of a fairy, Zidane was poetry in motion with a poise, grace and balance that few can match, all allied with the subtlest of touches, and the sharpest of football brains, his performances should have been played to classical music scores instead of banal commentary.

Few players had the appreciation and understanding of Zidane to find a pocket of space. He caressed the ball, stroked it like a renaissance painter would do to his canvas, and made the game seem simple, and the world a happier place.

Supremely gifted, Zidane had a flawless technique, the most skilled of feet, peripheral vision and a devastating array of passes. Zidane was not a goalscorer, the secret of his supremeness was that he made the game simpler for everyone else by being simply brilliant. He had some much time to operate, he created time elsewhere, and was simply brilliant, not necessarily unstoppable, but just brilliant.

Only he and Ronaldo have won the FIFA World Player of the Year three times.

Central Midfield – Michael Laudrup

One of the most underrated players of all time. Both Romario and Raul say he was the best they ever played with, Johann Cruyff said, “When Michael plays like a dream no one in the world comes anywhere near his level.” And the most glittering appraisal came from a journeyman Italian defender called Roberto Galia, “I have played against Maradona, Platini and Baggio. But the player I saw do the most indescribable things was Michael Laudrup.”

Laudrup was pure class, one of the most elegant footballers of all time.
A playmaker, he had the lot, pace, amazing dribbling skills, he conducted and created and scored, but the one trait that set him apart from his peers was his ability to play a killer pass. If certain players are blessed with a football brain, then Laudrup must have possessed artificial intelligence, such was the precision, weight and timing of some of his through balls.


Laudrup won three la Liga titles with Barcelona’s ‘Dream Team’ of the early 90’s and in his final season he was instrumental in Barca’s 5-0 hammering of Real Madrid. That summer he transferred to Real, who reclaimed la Liga meaning Laudrup won four titles on the bounce. He was also instrumental in Real’s 5-0 hammering of Barca that season…

Forward – Diego Maradona

In many people’s eyes, the greatest of all time. Certainly few players have won a World Cup single handedly as el Diego did in 1986, and even fewer have gone onto lift a mediocre mid-table side like Napoli onto two Serie A titles and a Uefa Cup.

In his pomp, he was unstoppable. An individual talent that has rarely, if ever, been equaled. Widely daubed as the ‘goal of the century’, Maradona’s effort against England in ’86 epitomised his abilities; that burst of speed, the way he jinked and rode past tackles, brushing away intruders with his short stocky frame, the whole moment happens in just a few short seconds, it must have seemed like a blur as he’s scampering towards goal, bodies trailing, limbs approaching as he progresses, yet in his oft-derided mind he has a vision, premonition like of what to do. It is a vision few players could even imagine, let alone replicate.

A testament of how good Maradona was is that he repeated a once in a lifetime goal a couple of days later in the semi-final against Belgium, slaloming past a handful of harrowed Belgian defenders before lashing the ball home on that beautiful left peg.

Forward – Lionel Messi

Yes, yes he’s only 23 and agreed he’s not done it at a World Cup. But there is something scary about the way Lionel Messi performs on the club scene for Barcelona at the moment, appearing heads and shoulders above anything else in the world.

Since the start of the 2008 season, Messi has played 113 times for Barca, scoring a quite preposterous 93 times. It is a strike rate that ranks with some of the most lethal goal poachers of all time, yet this is only part of the story. That doesn’t begin to tell the story of how many goals he sets up, or the general havoc he wreaks every time he gets the ball.

It’s not only the amount of goals, it’s the quality of them. Time and again, he scores goals only he could score. There aren’t many tap-ins and nearly every goal comes in apparent comical fashion as Messi, cartoon like, zips in from that right touchline, ball glued to his left foot as he ducks and weaves past those unfortunate enough to have to tackle him, before nonchalantly shaping one into the corner or dinking it over the keeper. There haven’t been many players in any era completely unrivalled as the best of that time, but Messi certainly is now.

Forward – Ronaldo

The phenomenal thing about ‘il fenomeno’ is that he was one of the finest goalscorers of all-time, despite rarely being fully fit. 44 goals in 44 games for Cruzeiro, 54 goals in 57 for PSV, 47 in 49 for Barca. These figures are ridiculous. Even in the notoriously stingy Serie A he got 49 goals in 68 league games for Inter before injury curtailed surely what would have been his making as unarguably the finest striker of the modern era, if not all time.

Onto Real Madrid, and we continue, 177 games, 104 goals, he’s got 62 goals in 97 caps for the national team and even got a goal every other game with Milan when he was well past it. He is the World Cups highest goalscorer of all time with another 15 in 19, won the tournament twice, and has too many individual accolades to list. The records speak for themselves.

You dread to think what would have happened if he hadn’t had his knee reconstructed three times, and to see highlights of his goals and performances for Barcelona and Inter prior to injury were scary. He was so fast and powerful, with a ruthless and direct hunger for goals which made him so difficult to stop. A true great, and a true tragedy he was never in prime condition for longer so we could have seen just how good Ronaldo would have been.