It's Xavi Hernadez. He is just the best. Without him Spain hadn't won the world cup this year. He's the puppet master in the middlefield. look at this: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJhpEL221Hs&translated=1"]YouTube - Xavi Hernandez - The Best[/ame]
There is no doubt, Xavi is at least in the top 3... for me, he is the greatest Spanish player of all time.
I don't know enough about Spanish football, so I am not sure that I could answer the thread question, but would you say that Andoni Zubizarreta (still the most capped player for the Spanish national team) could also warrant consideration? He was not as successful as Casillas, but was possibly as talented as the current Spanish goalkeeper.
Anyone growing up in that era might agree with me when I say that Zubizarreta was one of the reasons we crashed in world cups 86 and 90. At least thats my opinion anyway.
Well it's sure as hell not Judas Torres end mini rant I don't know much about spanish football history but in my lifetime it's Casillas for me. Controversial pick but it's extremely difficult to accurately compare keepers to outfield players.
Small Spanish footballer Has already won his first championship with only 8 years! [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRA-x5ot-LU"]YouTube - futbol cristiano ronaldo pequen?o solo 8 an?os Aaro?n[/ame]
Don't forget World Cup 1998 as well. I think when all is said and done it will be Casillas. I don't think that World Cup run happens without Casillas he made big saves against Paraguay in the quarterfinals. He wasn't as tested against Germany and Portugal (in the round of 16) but there was at least one golden chance in both those games that Casillas handled with ease. Then in the final he somehow managed to stop Arjen Robben twice, TWICE! In one-on-one situations. And lest we forget, the moment Spain broke their duck was in Euro 2008 after Casillas came up big in a penalty shootout in the quarters against Italy. After that win, Spain was destined to win the tournament, the team played with almost no pressure and finally fulfilled their potential. The fact of the matter is that Spain will continue to produce great footballers: El Buitre gave way to Raúl who gave way to Villa Hierro gave way to Puyol who will give way to Piqué I am sure there are many more examples. But the fact of the matter is there has never been a GK as good as Casillas and I don't think there will be another like him for a long, long time. 117 caps, captain for club and country, and he's won everything with the exception of the Copa Del Rey (which he will have another shot at this year).
Raúl of course has been the best spanish player. He hasn´t a title with the National team, but... we only have 3 in our history Some great spanish players haven´t a national title like Butragueño, Martín Vazquez, Michel, Luis Suarez, Gento, Juanito. I think Villa is going to win more statics than Raul in the National team, but Raul´s trophis are a lot. He is not a Super Scorer Player, he is a team soul. He figths every ball. Wake up his partners when they are fallen... Only look what he did in the Shalke 04.... In adittion to this I must to say that I think He musted to leave Real Madrid some years before PD Sorry excuse my bad english PD I like last Redstriker post . I think like him
I saw Xavi and Guardiola playing at the same time. I have seen them playing alone, and I can say than Guardiola was better player than Xavi is at this time.... Xavi is marvelous, but in Barça he has another phenomenom like Iniesta at his side and He meks Xavi better
Of course there's an argument. Outstanding club career, no doubt. But nothing to speak of in Spanish colors. 6 goals in 18 World Cup/EURO finals matches, all those goals scored in group play (none during the knockout rounds). When the going got tough, he never showed up. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0zspvvhjZU"]Spain v France : EURO 2000 Quarterfinal[/ame]
Well, we´rnt saying who´s the best foward. We are saying who is the best player. It´s no necesary to score a lot of goals to be a great player.... Look at Zidane, for me one of the four beast players in history, but he never scores a lot of goals...
I agree that it's "not necessary" to be "a great player". My point is blanc says there's "no argument" to Raul being "the greatest Spanish player" and I'm just suggesting that one can be made. You're talking about a midfielder (Zidane) whose primary job was not to score goals. But as a forward who has received plaudits for being the all-time leading scorer for both Real Madrid and Spain, Raul's failure of not scoring in the knockout rounds of a major tournament for Spain is an issue that should be brought up if we're going to talk about the greatest Spanish player ever.
Its definitely an issue that should be discussed, but you gotta keep in mind he was pretty much dragging a team that was no where close near the level of the current Spanish team (in terms of talent, maturity, and confidence). Also, Raul was one of the few bright spots in WC2002 and Euro2004 till he got injured in both and Spain got eliminated.
Raul cant be the best spanish player "ever" because he is a forward. Its always midfielders that carry national/club teams to glory. I do agree that Xavi (my personal favorite) had it better than others just for the simple fact that he is surrounded with world class players all around him. That said... Xavi is so good, not only he dictates the actual game, he also dictates the tempo of the announcers themselves. He is so good, when he gets the ball I can feel everyone around him go into slow motion as he matrixes around the field. He is so good, we won a world cup.. something I never thought I would live to see. He is so good, Messi is useless with out him (look at him with Argentina).
Dont get me wrong, Raul is freaking awesome. He is: 1- Highest CL scorer of all time. 2- Highest scorer in madrid (i think?) player of all time 3- one of the best european forwards (IMO) ever. 4- 2nd highest scorer for the National team. 5- Dozens of other records. Just not the "best spanish player ever".
Always loved Raul as a player and a person, but can't say I'd put him on top of the list. It's kind of like the Most Valuable Award in Major League Baseball in the sense that most of the time the MVP goes to a player who not only excelled, but whose team had great success as well. You don't see MVP players coming out of teams that don't make the playoffs, for instance. Agreed, Raul did play on great Madrid teams, but on the national level he never did have that immensely gifted midfield to punch holes in defenses and wear them down. I believe that because of the lack of world class talent on those Spanish teams, Raul felt he had to carry the team. That's too much to put on any man. It wears you down mentally and physically. I have sad memories of Raul chasing after the opponents fullbacks wearing himself out trying to get the ball back for his team while the rest of his teammates stood around and watched. He had to deal with bad coaching, a lack of a defined style of team play, and a defeatest mentality by many of the players and coaches (before Aragones emerged). The burden of having to carry a team, and a nation that perennially struggled on the world stage helps explain, I believe, his failures in knockout rounds. Too much for one man to have to overcome. But it is what it is, as they say, and he didn't play with a great supporting cast, and couldn't accomplish that career MVP-type status, which I split between Xavi and Casillas (and maybe even Iniesta, pending future heroics in 2012 Euro and 2014 World).
When it comes to great Spanish goalkeepers, you shouldn't forget Ricardo Zamora. Difficult to compare 20s-30s archievements to Casillas' modern day archievements, but Zamora regularly gets ranked among the very best keepers ever, and I believe at his time, he was rated easily as high as Casillas is today. Otherwise, I'd like to throw Francisco Gento in for good measure. Also one of the greatest ever on his position.