The Ultimate Soccer Player to Walk the Earth

[Ombak]

Pelé.

Yeah, everyone knows that's who I'd pick.

But who else could you pick as the ultimate soccer player besides someone as complete as him? And I mean complete. He could play in goal too. And did. And never gave up a goal.

[deejay]

Pelé.

Yeah, everyone knows that's who I'd pick.

But who else could you pick as the ultimate soccer player besides someone as complete as him? And I mean complete. He could play in goal too. And did. And never gave up a goal.

I agree. Also, if you think of the basic desirable features of a soccer player (heading ability, passing ability, shooting ability, dribbling ability, quickness, speed and jumping) he was a top player in every single one of those.

[Keith Weasal]

I'm new here so be gentle. :)
I am of the firm belief as many of you are that Maradona was the greatest player ever to have graced a football pitch. But having seen some of the things Henry do I think he comes a close second.

[Tribune]

I'm new here so be gentle. :)
I am of the firm belief as many of you are that Maradona was the greatest player ever to have graced a football pitch. But having seen some of the things Henry do I think he comes a close second.


:eek: Shocking...

Sorry man, Henry does not even come in top 20. Here's 20 names who would give Henry a run for his money : Di Stefano, Puskas, Pele, Garrincha, Eusebio, Bobby Charlton, Rivera, Best, Muller, Beckenbauer, Cruyff, Zico, Van Basten, Matthaeus, Gullit, Platini, Romario, Zidane, Ronaldo, Rivaldo. Is that enough ?

And there are enough players who could be on par with Henry in terms of skills and accomplishments : Kopa, Suarez, Sivori, Kubala, Didi, Netzer, Keegan, Rummenigge, Hugo Sanchez, Klinsmann, Papin, Roberto Baggio, Stoichkov, Figo, Shevchenko.
Henry has not managed to impose himself as the best player of the last 3 years, Ronaldinho taking the awards from him.

[sidis]

1 - Pelé, by far, the most complete player, not only a scorer.

2 - maradona, garrincha, best, cruyff, beckenbauer, zico, platini, leonidas, di stefano, eusébio.

[FWS93]

1 - Pelé, by far, the most complete player, not only a scorer.

2 - maradona, garrincha, best, cruyff, beckenbauer, zico, platini, leonidas, di stefano, eusébio.


can you really explain why pele is the most complete player?
i think that is nonesence. he was a brilliant finisher, but this talk of him (on n earlier post) being brilliant all around even in goal is just silly.
he never played in europe, despite having many opportunities, he did win 3 world cups but was only totally healthy in one of them.

pele was a great player but its clear he is being very over hyped here

[Tribune]

can you really explain why pele is the most complete player?
i think that is nonesence. he was a brilliant finisher, but this talk of him (on n earlier post) being brilliant all around even in goal is just silly.
he never played in europe, despite having many opportunities, he did win 3 world cups but was only totally healthy in one of them.

pele was a great player but its clear he is being very over hyped here


I don't have enough time to write an elaborate reply on that, so I'll have to quote an analysis on Pele which answers perfectly your inquiry. Read the next commentary on Pele :

If Pele was an overhyped icon of mythology then that's fine, we should all be able to accept that. However if Pele was true to his legend and equal to the glorification he receives then let's be real about that too.

For those of you who think you know Pele and think that he was some kind of very good player but has now become romanticised to otherworldly proportions, it's time get an education. If you don't know the real and have never had access to info, then that's excusable. To not know the real while having access to info and choose to speak before knowledge then you shame yourself.

Quality is predicated on knowledge. If you don't know then you better ask somebody!

Pele is/was greater than any written composition could ever relate. Pele was like Nicola Tesla, Pele was like Leonardo Da Vinci, Pele was like Sir Francis Bacon, Pele was like Imhotep, Pele was like George Washington Carver.

Who?

Exactly my point!

Every once in along while a genius is born to a respective discipline or field that is imbued with such prodigious and unfathomable talent that his work marks the evolution of civilization. Pele in footballing terms is equal to the greatest men that ever lived!

Pele is the greatest footballer ever! I have a soft spot for Maradona because I like his personality, but when all the accounting is done Pele was perfect. Pele the man has defects, but Pele the footballer was perfect!

Yes you read that correctly!

PERFECT!

Pele was a supreme athlete, his mechanics were perfect. He had tremendous omni-directional acceleration and agility. He had a fantastic vertical leap. His body balance was as good as it gets. Not too tall, not too short, not too thin, not too bulky, just perfect.

Maradona technically was as good as him, but physically Pele was better.

Pele is the perfect offensive footballer.

Two cultured feet that could not be improved upon. Left perfect and right perfect.
The assertion that Zidanes' vision is equal to Pele's is laughable to the point of stupidity. Zidane is Ray Charles compared to Pele in terms of vision. Pele's vision was perfect. Pele could head the ball as well as any man ever has, his aerial game was perfect. Pele could trap a ball as well as any man possibly can, his ball control was perfect. Peles' passing was flawless and equal with that of Maradona which was perfect. Peles' dribbling was equal to the greatest dribblers of all time Best, Canhoteiro, Garrincha and Maradona. Ronaldinhos' dribbling next to Pele, is like comparing Harry Kewells stepovers to Robinhos. Pele was the greatest executor of a volley the world has ever seen, his volleying ability was perfect. Pele could take freekicks as good as any player ever has. Peles' ability to improvise was as great as any that ever lived. Pele could finish with both feet equally as well and his technical mastery inside the box is as great as any striker that has ever lived. Pele was as good at penalty shots as any man that ever lived, perfect. Pele could could play any offensive position on the pitch as well as any man that ever played in those spots. That's a bold statement, but it is fact.

That paragraph above is spoken from knowledge not favouritism like 98% percent of the trash that has accumulated in the forum over the last few months. My favourite was Maradona and Garrincha, but my soft spot for them in no way infringes upon my ability to appraise Pele with justice and equality. Pele is so phenomenal, so unique, so fundamentally genius that the world will never be able to appreciate how great he truly was.

Too many folk are intent on artificially propping up their inferior footballing heroes like Zidane, Ronaldinho, Nedved, Kaka, Adriano, etc. When in fact none of these current stars today come remotely close to someone of the magnitude of say a George Best. It is mind boggling to reflect upon that reality, when George Best wasn't even as complete as Pele. That is truly a scary thought! Best played pissed drunk and did things that we may never see ever again and Pele was even more complete than he. DAMN!

Without belabouring the point any further suffice it to say that, please be respectful of others by being respectful to yourself.

In regard to the common belief that Pele was only a striker, do we think that Pele was playing under Mourinho or something? Or that Pele played a fixed role with a limited amount of pitch real estate in which to roam? Or that Pele was always fixed in one positional spot his whole long career?

Pele was given the same liberty that Maradona was. What you misunderstand is that Pele and Maradona were so devestatingly great technically that managers didn't restrict them to one area or one tactical function. They were given the liberty to roam at will and interpret the game as they saw fit. These two players were so complete that they could manipulate the course of the game and destroy you in any area of the pitch. Today we have a bunch of robotic footballers with their rigid tactical responsibilities. Then the football was more equally balanced between managerial tactical science and player-inspired natural improvisation. Then football was coached and it was played. Today it is only coached.

Pele played everywhere on the pitch, he was just as instrumental as a distributor and creator as he was a striker. Pele played for various teams and at each team with the advent of time his role modified to suit the teams current needs. As a teen he was virtually limited to a striker. In his early to mid twenties he would tear that ass up from box to box. Later on in his career, in particular at the international level, he became an orchestrator more than a striker. Nevertheless at no stage in his career did he ever fall into one limited position in the way that Gerd Muller, Just Fontaine, Jardel, Overmars, Cannigia, etc did.

Pele and 1970 are inseparable. Was he merely a striker in 70? The match tapes are easy to obtain nowadays with introduction of the internet. Do the knowledge and this whole little issue would be squashed. Pele was given a do-or die directive by the national dictator to bring home the cup in 70 and Pele being the leader that he was did what was necessary to ensure that objective. It's a matter of public record, in the so-called "greatest team ever" was Pele merely a striker?

Pele is considered the best player ever because he simply was. he was a monster. Literally a football playing machine. In his prime his physical fitness was amazing, speed and acceleration amazing, balance unrivalled etc. etc. When a player is faced by different challenges he must learn to adapt to be able to be successful in the new surroundings. well, if pele were to be playing against players today, it's not him that would have to adapt to be successful - it's today's players that would have to adapt to be able to stop pele.

And another thing. The thing about how pele never came up against big european opposition and only played weak brazilian sides? the brazilian league is and was one of the best in the world first of all. secondly, pele played all the huge sides of europe when he toured with santos, playing on an average of 3 matches a week. players now can't even handle the normal one match a week plus the mid week matches, complaining how the schedule is too congested. well, when pele played the huge european sides he didn't disappoint and santos humiliated them with the exception of real madrid being the only huge european team they couldn't beat. and besides, didn't he play exceptionally in world cups against huge nations?



Does that answer your question ?

[Tony Dellbird]

I don't have enough time to write an elaborate reply on that, so I'll have to quote an analysis on Pele which answers perfectly your inquiry. Read the next commentary on Pele :



Does that answer your question ?

That still doesn't do it for me tbh. Some guy telling me Pele was the best with very little proof.

[Tribune]

That still doesn't do it for me tbh. Some guy telling me Pele was the best with very little proof.


The poster above asked "can you really explain why Pele was the most complete player ever". If that explanation does not suffice for you, then what kind of explanation do you expect ?
Personally, having in mind the original request, I think I went straight to the point.
And I don't think FWS93 required a tangible proof, because, in that case, he would have searched for some games.

[sidis]

can you really explain why pele is the most complete player?

top 10 header of all time.
top 10 left foot striker of all time.
top 10 right foot striker of all time.
great assister, great ball control, great athletic condition (run the 100m in 10.8, a incredible mark), play 1958-1973 at HIGH level.
No bad seasons, no great lesions, any loose in personal confront in this time, recognized by the best by almost all players who have seen he playng (cruyff, beckenbauer, puskas, gérson, eusébio, even maradona say that).

maradona, for example, was a great player but lack in much points, like regularity, personal life problems influing in the play, explosive personality who make him much times sent off, doping, bad head, bad athletics....

[Ombak]

Does that answer your question ?That's a great rant, who wrote it?but this talk of him (on n earlier post) being brilliant all around even in goal is just silly.How is it silly? Pelé was Santos' backup goalkeeper in the days before subs were allowed (which was most of his career). He never gave up a goal. My point when I bring that up is just to demonstrate that Pelé had a soccer brain like no other. He was complete to the point of understanding how to play in goal and was able to do so succesfully. And it's not like he almost never ended up in goal.

The argument that he didn't play in Europe is nonsensical for a 1950s/60s player. Frankly, someone who thinks Pelé was a great finisher and little or nothing more either has never watched him or doesn't like him for other reasons. And even then it'd be hard to claim he's just a finisher.

[sidis]

1950s/60s player.

and still true to players until the early 90's.

[Tribune]

he never played in europe, despite having many opportunities


Now let's adress this issue of Pele never playing in Europe and squash it. It starts from the assumption that the european leagues were more competitive than the brazilian ones.

The period of 1958-1970 is called the golden age of brazilian football and not just because of Pele. The depth of talent at that time in Brazil was probably unparaleled in the history of football. Taking into account the fact that Brazil has a population as big as Spain, Italy, England and France put together, you must also consider that Brazil has also the infrastructure and the football culture to produce professional players of the highest quality.
Cases to study :

Altafini - for must he is just a name which appears in the history of Serie as the third joint top scorer along with Meazza, with 216 goals and he has the all-time record of goals in a single season of C1, 14, in 1962/1963. What many don't know is that he was brazilian and started his career at Palmeiras, before joining Milan in 1958. This guy, at the top of his form (in 1958-1959, he scored 28 goals in Serie A) was kicked out by a 17 years old Pele from the selecao and he scored more in Serie A than he did in the Sao Paulo league. Yet, between 1958-1965, he was THE BEST STRIKER in Serie A. So, Altafini did not manage to become top scorer in the paulista league, but in Serie A he caused havoc, scoring 28 goals from his first season, without any time to adapt or something like that. Food for thought.

Jair - the right-winger of Internazionale, who scored the winning goal in the 1965 C1 final against Benfica ; again he started in Brazil at Portuguesa and, despite being good enough to play in one of the best european teams at that time, he was not good enough to crack a spot in the brazilian national team ;

Evaristo - left winger of FC Barcelona (1957-1962), then Real Madrid until 1964. He was a starter in the selecao from Copa America 1957, but the WC Zagalo and Pepe took his chances away.

Amarildo - this is the guy who replaced Pele when he got injured in 1962 ; for many, he is just a random name which appears in Pele's career ; but he still managed to do an excellent job at the WC, scoring 3 goals, including one in the final, and he was only one of many ;

De Sordi - right wing back at the WC from 1958 ; he was a first team starter until Feola decided to replace him for the final with Djalma Santos and now the latter is the one more fondly remembered ;

Edu - another name who does not say anything to europeans ; Edu was a left winger from Santos in the late 60s ; image an Denilson with power and finishing skils and you have Edu ; he was the first team starter in the qualifications for WC 1970 and played wonderful, but, at the WC, Zagalo decided to replace him with his favorite, Rivelino ; the fact that Rivelino was NOT a first team starter ahead of Edu before Zagalo took the team speaks volumes ;

As we all know, Brasil won 3 of 4 WCs entered in Pele’s era, and all of them won away from home. All players were playing their trade in Brazil, in the paulista and cariocas leagues. Seems strange that players produced from “inferior” leagues in Brasil would be so successful against those from the “superior” leagues abroad.
If we had only one, we could say it's an accident, but in the brazilian teams from 1958-1970 we do not have just some quality players, we have a plethora of ALL-TIME GREATS.
Also such players are not born there by accident. A national team represents only the peak of an iceberg. And, even if they were born in Brazil by "accident", which it was not the case, they could not have been so dominant at international level because, if they played against inferior opposition, they could not have improved their abilities or even keep them at the same level.

We have talked about the players. How does the situation in Serie A stands ? First and foremost, we must specify that the paulista and cariocas championship were the bread and butter of the brazilian football. First and foremost, keep in mind that Brazil is thrice more populated than Italy. Besides being two of the most populated areas, the Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro states were also the strongest economically. While european leagues were seriously limited by restrictions imposed by their own federations on the number of foreign players, the teams from those 2 states were benefitting from a much larger pool of talent than any european country and this without any kind of restriction. What was the case for Serie A in the times of Maradona ? The teams of Serie A could have maximum 3 foreign players (and obviously not all of them had, for economical reasons). At that time, the massive migration of foreign players towards Serie A and La Liga did not started yet and only a very limited number of foreigners were playing their trade in Serie A. The most exponential ones were in 3 teams : the 3 dutch players in Milan, in Napoli Maradona, Careca and Alemao, in Internazionale Matthaeus, Brehme and Klinsmann. All the other players had to be italians, so the big teams like Milan, Napoli, Inter, Juventus, Sampdoria took the cream of italian players, while the other teams had to be content with what remained.
Here is the list of the best european players in 1987, the year when Maradona won his first scudetto :

Pos Player Country Club Total 1P 2P 3P 4P 5P Votes
================================================================================
===========================
1. Ruud Gullit Netherlands Milan AC 106 13 6 4 2 1 26
2. Paulo Futre Portugal Atlético Madrid 91 5 13 4 1 - 23
3. Emilio Butragueño Spain Real Madrid 61 4 3 7 3 2 19
4. Miguel Gonzáles "Michel" Spain Real Madrid 29 4 2 - - 1 7
5. Gary Lineker England FC Barcelona 13 - 1 1 2 2 6
6. John Barnes England Liverpool 10 1 - 1 1 - 3
Marco van Basten Netherlands Milan AC 10 - - 2 1 2 5
8. Gianluca Vialli Italy Sampdoria 9 - - 2 1 1 4
9. Bryan Robson England Manchester United 7 - 1 - - 3 4
10. Klaus Allofs West Germany Olympique Marseille 6 - - 1 1 1 3
Glenn Hysen Sweden Fiorentina 6 - - - 3 - 3
12. Manuel Amoros France AS Monaco 5 - - 1 1 - 2
Lothar Matthäus West Germany Bayern Munich 5 - - 1 - 2 3
14. Anton Polster Austria Torino 4 - 1 - - - 1
Mark Hateley England AS Monaco 4 - - 1 - 1 2
Ian Rush Wales Juventus 4 - - - 2 - 2
17. Paul McGrath Ireland Manchester United 3 - - 1 - - 1
Jean Marie Pfaff Belgium Bayern Munich 3 - - 1 - - 1
Pierre Littbarski West Germany FC Köln 3 - - - 1 1 2
Alexander Zavarov Soviet Union Dinamo Kiev 3 - - - 1 1 2
21. Rodion Camataru Romania Steaua Bucuresti 2 - - - 1 - 1
Preben Elkjær-Larsen Denmark Verona 2 - - - 1 - 1
Gheorghe Hagi Romania Steaua Bucuresti 2 - - - 1 - 1
Heinz Hermann Switzerland Neuchâtel Xamax 2 - - - 1 - 1
Ally McCoist Scotland Glasgow Rangers 2 - - - 1 - 1
Joszef Mlynarczyk Poland FC Porto 2 - - - 1 - 1
Peter Shilton England Derby County 2 - - - 1 - 1
Peter Beardsley England Liverpool 2 - - - - 2 2
Rinat Dassaev Soviet Union Spartak Moskva 2 - - - - 2 2
30. Alessandro Altobelli Italy Internazionale 1 - - - - 1 1
Glenn Hoddle England AS Monaco 1 - - - - 1 1
Sokol Kushta Albania Flamurtari Vlorë 1 - - - - 1 1
Dimitris Saravakos Greece Panathinaikos 1 - - - - 1 1
Rudi Völler West Germany AS Roma 1 - - - - 1 1

Out of 34 players who got a vote, 9 were playing in Italy in december 1987 : Gullit, Van Basten, Vialli, Hysen, Polster, Rush, Elkjaer Larsen, Altobelli, Voller.
But, in the case of Brazil from 1958-1970, not all their top players could play in the WC and that is why exceptional players like Canhoteiro, Joel, Moacir, Edu, Altair, Dida, Quarentinha, Paulo Valentim, Parana, Alcindo, Natal, Evaldo, Toninho, Silva, Coutinho, Dorval, Lima, Pepe, Paulo Borges, Rildo, Ramos Delgado, Paulo Cesar, Roberto, Fontana, Flavio, Ademir da Guia, Camargo etc remained unknown to the european public.


What about the competitiveness of the leagues ?
Let's take year 1959 as reference and compare it first with a league from that time. Since Spanish teams were the most dominant that year (Real winning C1 and Barcelona giving a 2-0 and 5-1 trashings to Milan in the quarterfinals), let's take La Liga.

Here is a statistic from Primera in 1959 :

That year Barca was champions with 51 points (in 30 games). Next was Real with 47 points (in 30 games). On the third place came Athletic Billbao with 36 points. Translated into our current system with 3 points for victory it comes like that :

Barcelona 75 points
Real 68 points,
Athletic 53 points

So, the rankings were :

Barca 51 points
Real 47 points
Athletic 36 points
Valencia 33 points
Atletico 32 points
Betis 32 points

Here is for comparison the rankings in Sao Paulo championship. The first 5 teams :

Palmeiras 38 games 63 points
Santos 38 games 63 points
Ferroviaria 38 games 53 points,
Sau Paulo 38 games 53 points,
Corinthians 38 games 53 points.

A single look at the top of the table, shows us that the paulista championship was a more balanced competition than Primera Division. In La Liga there were 2 major competitors, Barca finishing 4 points ahead of Real, while Santos and Palmeiras finished the season shoulder to shoulder. There is a 15 points difference between the spanish champion and the third placed team, while there are only 10 points difference in the paulista championship. And so on.
Let's look 30 years later, in Serie A from 1989 (34 games played)

Inter - 58 points
Napoli - 47 points
Milan - 46 points
Juventus - 43 points
Sampdoria - 39 points

Let's look at the seasons next to this one. In 1988 (30 games played)

Milan - 45 points
Napoli - 42 points
AS Roma - 38 points
Sampdoria - 37 points
Internazionale - 32 points

And in 1990 (34 games played)

Napoli - 51 points
Milan - 49 points
Juventus - 44 points
Inter - 44 points
Sampdoria - 43 points

As you can see, in terms of competitiveness, the Sao Paulo league was not less competitive than Primera or Serie A.

Besides the state championship, there were other official competitions as well. One of them : The Rio-Sao Paulo Tournament.
I stand by the assertion that this tournament was as competitive as the whole CL from that time. Why so ? Well, in the old format, only the champions were allowed in C1, so the number of powerful teams was not that big. You have champions of Spain, Italy, England, West Germany, Portugal, Scotland, France, Hungary, Yugoslavia and Soviet Union. So you have maximum 10 powerhouses. Due to the knock-out format of C1, a team like Real Madrid, for instance, could have met only 2-3 elite teams.
The Rio-Sao Paulo tournament was disputed in a league format and included powerhouses like Santos, Palmeiras, Flamengo, Fluminense, Vasco da Gama, Corinthians, FC Sao Paulo, Botafogo or Portuguesa. Absolute every team of those was capable to fight against Santos on even terms and Santos had to play each of them.
Here are some cases to study to give on idea of the competitiveness of that tournament :
In 1959 :

1. Santos 9games 6 1 2 24 scored 16 conceded 13 points
------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Vasco 9 4 4 1 12 6 12
3. Flamengo 9 5 1 3 24 15 11
4. Palmeiras 9 5 0 4 17 19 10
4. São Paulo 9 4 2 3 23 22 10
6. América 9 4 1 4 19 23 9
7. Botafogo 9 4 0 5 15 16 8
8. Fluminense 9 2 2 5 13 14 6
8. Corinthians 9 2 2 5 10 21 6
10. Portuguesa 9 2 1 6 16 21 5

In 1960 :


1. Fluminense 9 6 2 1 22 12 14
------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Botafogo 9 4 4 1 17 12 12
3. Vasco 9 4 3 2 17 7 11
3. Corinthians 9 4 3 2 11 10 11
3. Flamengo 9 5 1 3 13 14 11
6. Palmeiras 9 4 1 4 12 11 9
7. São Paulo 9 2 3 4 11 19 7
8. Santos 9 1 4 4 11 17 6
9. Portuguesa 9 2 1 6 11 16 5
10. América 9 1 2 6 14 21 4



Just look at the tables. Can you imagine what hell of a competition was that ? Santos winner in 1959, eigth place in 1960. In that tournament everyone could win it or end on the last place. That Santos from 1960 had the same core of players (Pele, Dorval, Coutinho, Pepe, Calvet, Zito, Mauro, Mengalvio, Gilmar) who will win Taca Brasil 5 times in a row from 1961 to 1965. It's the same Santos team who will win Libertadores in 1962 and 1963 and defeat Benfica and Milan in the Intercontinental. It's the same Santos who pissed on european opposition 4 games out of 5.
To know it was not an accident : Santos ended on fifth place in 1961, did not participate in 1962, won again in 1963 and 1964 and ended on the 9th place in 1965.

[sidis]

perfect, if you want to know soccer you need to know the brazilian/south american soccer, our teams, traditions, and history.

[deejay]

Bravo Feanor!

I would have loved to say that but I could not have been half as eloquent.

[FWS93]

Okay, my point about Pele not playing in europe is that i think its really easy to stay where you feel comfortable and excel.
as for durability, on an international level pele was often injured, granted he was a target, but maradona was more so.
and maybe he does not have as many or as highly public off feild problems as diego, but he did have his share.
hey to each his own, you all made some great points

[Ombak]

Okay, my point about Pele not playing in europe is that i think its really easy to stay where you feel comfortable and excel.Again, why would he leave what was one of the, if not the, most competitive leagues on the planet?as for durability, on an international level pele was often injured, granted he was a target, but maradona was more so.In Pelé's day you could often get away with rugby style tackles as long as you were at home (check out the Pelé Eterno footage anywhere on youtube when it goes into a sequence of fouls he suffered).

The fact remains that Pelé is the ultimate soccer player. Not only for his skills and physical prowess, but for his soccer mind. His brain understood the game like no one else on the field.

[benni...]

Okay, my point about Pele not playing in europe is that i think its really easy to stay where you feel comfortable and excel.

So let me ask you this. Gerrard not playing in any other league. Do you take anything away from him on the grounds that he is staying where he feels comfortable and excels?

[Tribune]

Okay, my point about Pele not playing in europe is that i think its really easy to stay where you feel comfortable and excel.
as for durability, on an international level pele was often injured, granted he was a target, but maradona was more so.
and maybe he does not have as many or as highly public off feild problems as diego, but he did have his share.
hey to each his own, you all made some great points

Man, every player, in order to perform at his best, needs a team where he feels comfortable. Why do you think Maradona didn't cut an impressive figure in Barcelona ? Because he did not feel comfortable there, so he left for a team where he could excel, Napoli.

[TKORL]

Hmmm...what did Maradona really win?

1986 World Cup - Granted, but needed to handball to win a critical game

1990 WC Finalist.

2 Italian League Titles

1 Argentine League

1 UEFA Cup

An excellent record by all accounts. Who has surpassed this?

Hmm... Zidane, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, heck....Gennaro Gattuso has won more...basically, whatever Maradona has done in his career, many of today's great players have surpassed.