Obviously Messi will surely be up there but one of my all-time favourites from my childhood was Georgi Kinkladze. I imagine he would have been superb at Futsal, perhaps even better than football, but I recall just being mesmerised by him.
There were some great dribblers in the Prem around Kinkladze's time. Ginola and McManaman spring to mind, but I've never seen anyone with as amazing close control at speed as Messi, although I'd say Ronaldinho was more entertaining to watch.
All Time=Zidane The combination of his body balance, close control and dribbling is jaw-dropping. For player that are currently playing, I go for Messi and Iniesta.
currently (and maybe all-time) has to be Messi. Current players I don't even think it's close...he is clearly head and shoulders above the rest.
If think he's an alien,ufo or some sort of advanced human intelligence..just who the hell does that (It was a rhetorical question but if you want to know the answer...NO ONE)
Messi is pretty plainly the best dribbler I've ever seen. Other than that obvious answer, I quite enjoy watching Ronaldinho and Arjen Robben dribble. Not as good at it as Messi, but enjoyable to watch. Iniesta is amusing to watch dribbling, because he seems to be moving so slowly, yet effortlessly gets past people. Guys like CR7 and Gareth Bale are, in their own way, fun to watch dribbling since they're just so much more athletic than everyone else. But the actual answer to the question has to be Messi. If we took him out of the equation, I honestly think I might take an uninjured Arjen Robben: He has the speed to easily get by defenders and close control only bettered by Messi. My list is a bit biased towards more current players, largely because it's only in the current era where I can actually watch tons of videos of a player's performance in lots of matches without having seen the match live on TV (which is difficult to do--especially in the United States). Current players basically have more chances to impress me with technical things like dribbling.
Top 5 greatest dribblers(IMO) 1.)Lionel Messi 2.)Diego Maradona 3.)George Best 4.)Ronaldo el fenomeno 5.)Johan Cruyff My Top 5 favourite dribblers 1.)Diego Maradona 2.)dejan savicevic 3.)Ronaldo el fenomeno 4.)Cristiano Ronaldo 5.)Roberto Baggio
Repped as an olive branch re: the other thread mate lol, (maybe I'll get an opportunity to do the same for Benficafan) and to be fair because: a) I think I actually agree with your 5 greatest/best dribblers list in terms of who is included - maybe if I have to try to call it I'd change the order slightly but I'm not sure and yeah I think all those 5 really stand out for this topic. b) Savicevic was/is a favourite of mine to watch in general, dribbling included, and nice to get your take on favourite dribblers too. Kinkladze was also among my favorites I'd say, hence partly why I'm repping the OP too!
Savicevic was a monster especially in red star belgrade,some people are just "born dribblers and he fits the bill. He was so good that maybe many would accuse him of being selfish but when you are that talented I guess it comes with the territory(selfishness a bit like Messi pre 2009 for pure entertainment this was my favourite version of Lionel and you could also include his 08/09 season) The red star belgrade team of the late 80s would've one of THE very best teams today and in terms of talent the golden generation of yugoslavian football was comparable to Brazil 97-02 (mihajlovic was equal if not better than Ronaldinho in freekick,Savicevic was comparable to r9 in dribbling,prosinecki(peak) was not that far of Rivaldo(club level only the brazilian had a much better NT career) and that's before we even start talking about Džajić,pancev etc Tbh I reckon they would've completely owned euro 92 just who would've stopped them? All their best players were at peak level I'm not sure their NT shouldve been banned for alleged war crimes committed by they're government it would be like banning Israel from competing in European competitions because of the actions of their government(same can be said for north Korea,and even brutal dictatorships and monarchies like Saudi Arabia,Egypt etc) unless players are directly implicated in war crimes(or crimes of any sort)politics shouldn't play no part or have no say in it whatsoever I guess football is probably a sort of religion for most of us (inc me)this is why I have never been to keen on outside interventions
Yeah, they had a great team around the turn of 1990 (Red Star) and it would seem logical to think the Yugoslav team would have thrived and maybe won Euro 92 (their replacements did win it, and in qualifying they were the team scoring loads of goals) although we can never tell what would actually have happened and maybe pressure would have hindered them or something as it came to the latter stages. It was a shame all around that that war happened of course, but yeah it also cost the world or mainly Europe the chance to see a great Yugoslav team play in the Euros. When I watched quite a bit of Savicevic (I did when he played for Red Star to an extent but I'm thinking of mainly when he played for AC Milan although it can also be seen in highlights from Red Star and Yugoslavia from the period relating to my above paragraph) I'd say the overall impression was actually that he had great vision and creativity/ideas and often used them to play in team-mates, and he sometimes used more minimal dribbling to enable him to put in an accurate cross or pass, but yeah because at times he used really elaborate dribbles and runs maybe it can seem like he could be a ball-hog type. Sometimes I do think he shot too much if anything at times, because as balanced as he was while dribbling (but using balance changes actually to wrong-foot opponents just as Pele used to if in a different way) to me it seems he wasn't always set that well for a shot at the end of a run - that's where obviously someone like Messi would generally be at an advantage compared to him ofc, and probably Cr7 too often to be fair as although he does fire a lot of shots off target he has shown he can often go on a searing run and end it with a dangerous or goalscoring shot. Sometimes Savicevic did score after a bit of dribbling or juggling or something (the goal vs Dresden for Red Star Belgrade comes to mind although the game was abandoned so maybe that goal is unofficial in the end just as his goal vs Milan in 88/89 although on that occasion a replayed game meant that he got a great assist with a late 80's Maradona esque pass I would suggest to Stojkovic), but I mean when he was in full flight it could tend to make his shots innacurate and inept I think at times.
Another honourable mention is Angel Di Maria. He is very similar to Robben as described by @lessthanjake , he has the speed to easily beat defenders, and also has very accurate close control. Kaka's dribbling in his prime was more similar to Bale. He was so much more athletic than anyone else on the pitch, and used that to his fullest advantage. These kinds of dribblers work best in open/more spread out spaces.
Completely agree(about savicevic and his passing technique)that at times he could be a very effective as a playmaker(red star belgrade) and even as a support striker/winger(Milan) I found a comp you may like focusing on his play making abilities during what was probably his peak (88-91) And also a great YouTube channel that probably has many dozens of hours of footage of classic Yugoslavian footballers and matches https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCnazZFipKwfZpMQ3O7XmxYg
I just wanted to ask which solo goal(from a technical standpoint) do you find to be superior Paul gascoigne 1992/93 vs Pescara Lionel Messi 2006/07 vs getafe (Has xavi ever made an easier assist?) Nilmar 2009 vs Corinthians Ibrahimovic's famous solo goal for ajax would also be in for a shout but I noticed that he also used his strength to hold of players similar to r9 vs compestela in 96/97 All three examples I posted above were examples of pure technique(close control and agility) there are others of course that could also be comparable from a technical standpoint George Best vs ft Lauderdale(absolutely legendary but it must be said against a bunch of amateurs/part timers) There are also others (only a few) that I would put at that level. just underneath would be solo goals like Maradona vs England owairan vs Belgium etc
Thanks mate - I think I saw at least some of that one before but thanks for passing it on and it's probably a nice idea to look through and make sure or see if there's any play I'm missed if I didn't finish watching it. You might have found this one too, but just in case.... And this might be a bit more hidden (since it's from Japan - there are a few good ones from there for some other Serie A players I think plus obviously the video for Maradona vs Belgium IIRC!) but it shows a few nice clips from a selection of his Serie A games: The Yugoslavian classic football channel will probably be interesting to me too so thanks for that also.
I find comparing across eras a bit disingenuous. In the past the pitches were worse and defenders could tackle from behind and get away with a lot more tactical fouls than we have now. Think of the Copa America and how they don't allow creative talents to shine. You could say that this is compensated for by better defensive organisation now and fitter defenders but a direct comparison for me is always difficult. Also for me there are different type of dribblers. A. You have people that can be press resistant when they are facing their own goals like Xavi, Iniesta, Modric etc B. You have people that once they turn are good at dribbling with technique and ball control such as Messi, Laudrup, Iniesta, Maradona, Zidane etc C. You have people who are monsters using their power and pace such as Bale, Ronaldo, Henry etc Obviously you have people that are in between these 3 but my general point still stands. Type A is Xavi Type B is Messi Type C is probably R9 R9 for me had the technique but once he lost his power his dribbling deterioated drastically. Someone like Baggio and Zidane relied mostly on type B. That's my shirt take anyways. Obviously players need a combination of all types but I broke it down to illustrate a point. Some just use a lot more of one than the other to break a block or win one vs ones Today Pogba combines all 3 quite well, Veratti is a B, Sanchez is a C, Iniesta is A and B, Renato Sanches is an A and C, Messi is mostly a combination of B and C etc