For me Rivaldo is the most underrated player ever. In my opinion he was good like Romario and R9, better than Ronaldhinio and Kakà. He is never mentioned among the greatest and this is shameful for me.
Rivaldo underrated? If you talk to fans of a certain age (kind of late 20s or above), they'll certainly rank him as one of the best players ever. FIFA and European footballer of the year in 99(?) and ranked by no less than Pele as one of the 125 greatest living footballers. His hatrick on the final day of the 00/01 season against Valencia is, for my tuppence, the best hatrick ever, and his over-head kick in the last minute of the game to secure Champions League football still ranks in my top 10 goals of anyone, at any time, any where. Youtube it. The thing is, he was just that; one of the best players of his generation. He was truly magnificent, but probably marginally short of the 'immortally good' status afforded the likes of Pele and Maradona - like many, many more top quality players I could trot out. The game moves on, and the exploits of newer heroes simply stands fresher in the memory. Talk of an all time XI, and its 50-50 if he would make it. Talk of a late 90s/early 00s XI, and I think he would probably be one of the first names people mention.
I always rated rivaldo above zidane.. I suppose many will disagree with that but for me rivaldo was the player of the 2002 world cup and brazils best in 1998... Zidane was more elegant but rivaldo was more spectacular and direct and had one of the best left foots i ve ever seen
He definitely had one of the deadliest mid distance shots in the history of the game. That left foot shot had some venom in it. Definitely a better scorer than Zidane. As brilliant as Rivaldo was, he could be incredibly annoying by holding on to the ball way too long. He was a pretty unorthodox player physically speaking, lanky and downright goofy at times. I wish I could have seen his games week in and week out at Barca. Zidane IMO was superior at doing what midfielders do best. He controlled the tempo better and I seemed more elusive as he was very skillful with the ball at his feet but had a great notion as to when to pass the ball. I also wish Rivaldo had better showings at the SF and F of the WCs he played. He actually played good in the 02 SF but didn't score. He had the shot that created the goal in the final of 02 but had a pretty poor game overall (offensively speaking).
I cant agree that Rivaldo was better than Zidane. I've said Rivaldo was a magnificent player, he was, but Zidane was a level above and possibly pushing that Pele/Maradona bracket. What Zidane did with a football at times beggared belief. And, more importantly in my eyes, he made everyone around him play better. That is a fairly unique quality. I'd argue that not even Messi or C.Ronaldo possess that.
People give Zidane far too much credit for a handful of key moments and a brief stint around 2000. Yes he was very talented. Yes he was elegant. Yes he was great to watch. However he simply did not do enough, was carried by teams far too often and has been given far too many free passes by fans and the media alike. Rivaldo was better. Riquelme was better. Rui Costa was better. A lot of players were better.
I must ask: when we consider the fact that Real Madrid actually did better the 5 years before Zidane joined, when compared to the 5 years they played with Zidane..... when we consider the fact that many Juventus fans not only think that Pavel Nedved had no problems at all replacing Zidane, but arguably was more consistent and overall better than Zidane ever was at Juventus.... just how "fairly unique" is Zidane's ability of "making everyone around him play better"? I can tell you that Luis Figo certainly did not "play better" when Zidane arrived at Madrid, it was quite the opposite, Figo declined a great deal after Zidane joined. And not only did Figo decline after Zidane joined, but Raul as a goal scorer arguably declined after Zidane joined. Did Thierry Henry become a better player when he had the privilege of having Zidane around him? Zidane never connected with Henry, and yet, players like Dennis Bergkamp and Robert Pires connected perfectly well with Henry. I must ask, again: how come Zidane, a player who "made everyone around him better", actually did not make Thierry Henry any better? Or Figo any better for that matter? Or Raul any better for that matter? So with all due respect, I find your statement that Zidane made "everyone around him" play better, to be rather false. How and why was Zidane a "level above" Rivaldo, for example? And when did Zidane ever do anything to be described as a player who could "push for that Maradona/Pele bracket"? I have to be honest -- I think opinion like yours are concrete evidence of the fact that (a) Rivaldo is underrated and (b) Zidane is overrated. But that's just my opinion, of course.
I always respect your opinion celito but i just pefered watching rivaldo to zidane.. And rivaldo set up both goals in the 2002 final.. His dummy for ronaldo to score... i am not doubting zidanes ability or greatness .. And you are right about rivaldo sometimes holding on the ball too long and being sometimes frustrating but watching him for barca was magical at times.. The goal that sums up rivaldo for me is his underrated side footed finish against england.. Class goal ..made it look easy
He also provided a quality assist for Ronaldo against Netherlands at the SF in WC98. I agree he was really subpar at the final game, like the entire team. A interesting thing about the WC02 final: I have the impression that Ronaldinho was on the way to be MOM, he created many chances for Ronaldo and Kahn made good saves in those moments at the first half. Rivaldo and Ronaldo were poor on the first half. At the second half, Ronaldo scored 2 goals and Rivaldo had some involvement in both, so Ronaldinho performance there became forgotten. Anyway, I would rather like to see a comparison between Rivaldo and someone like Roberto Baggio, instead of this Rivaldo - Zidane discussion. I think Rivaldo role was much more similar to players like Baggio and Zico.
I am basically saying apart from the assist (98 SF) and Final 02 goals involvement, Rivaldo was poor offensively. Obviously he was decisive. I am just looking at other aspects of the game. He was more involved / dangerous in the SF vs Turkey. Yes Ronaldinho put Ronaldo in front of the goal twice in the first half with great passes. He fizzled out in the 2nd half. People would have remembered him more had Ronaldo converted them.
Do we have to compare every player with Zidane? Can't we just enjoy the brilliance of Rivaldo on its own? Football is art - not science or math. No one has to be better. It's okay for each of us to like different things.
that's extremely biased comment ... Zidane was NOT one level above rivaldo, nor he was any where near to Pele/Maradona quality! In talent , Zidane was around the likes Didi, Socrates, Laudrup, Hagi , Falcao, Rivaldo , Ronaldinho Riquelme ... kinda level NO MORE NO LESS In "peak" year 99, rivaldo was awesome, that beaten out any Zidane's best year. However, Zidane was more "consistent" in his performance thru out 8 years (97-04) then a rivaldo's with barely 5 (98-02). That's all.
Oooook. This could get silly, go I'll refrain from getting into a protracted argument here. I fully respect everyone's right to an opinion as I was simply stating mine. I do believe that Zidane was a notch above Rivaldo in his overall footballing ability; that covers a very wide range of attributes. Bold and capital letters will not make me accept a counter-statement of opinion as fact. Incidently, if Zidane was more consistent over a longer period of time, would that not have made him 'better'? And I do not agree that Figo "certainly didn't" play better when Zidane was added to the Real squad. Figo's personal impact/contribution to success to the team may have been reduced, but that's understandable when you add another talent into the mix. If anything, I think Real were more fluid with Figo and Zidane in the set up than just Figo alone as they together created far more options. I also don't quite get the Henry comment. Was he poor for France then? As I say, I don't really want to get into a pointless argument over something as subjective as "betterness" and I respect the opinions of the gentlemen present, even if I continue to disagree. And this.
That's fine as your own opinion. there is no fact nothing to claim zidane was one notch whatever it is ... as better then Rivaldo. In fact Zidane had many weaknesses ... like shooting, positioning and slow Speed (if compared to Rivaldo)
The Zidane myth is quite something. I doubt we'll ever see another player praised/elevated to the highest level that he was, to the point where people make silly arguments (he won France a WC blah) to defend him.
The level of hate that Zidane gets is absolutely ridiculous. He was a great player and should not be discriminated against just because he's from one of the younger generations. We tend to overrate players that we did not watch play. How many people here have actually seen Pele play in his prime with their own 2 eyes? How many here got to see Beckenbauer, Cruyff, Di Stefano, Best, Garrincha, etc with their own two eyes? I'm certain our opinions of them would change if we had seen them play all the time. We would have seen the good and the bad. We only talk about the good aspects of Pele's game because it's the only thing we've seen in highlights. There were bad parts of Pele's game that history has turned a blind eye to. It's the same with many great players from previous generations. On the other hand, we tend to nitpick when it comes to players we've actually seen play. Players like Ronaldo, Messi, Zidane, Fat Ronaldo, Ronaldinho get nitpicked to death by fans. Maybe people should be fair and stop discriminating against ''newer'' players. You want an example of how good Zidane was? Just look at 2006 France world cup squad. That squad goes nowhere without Zidane. Yes they got off to a mediocre start in the group stage, but they beat several good teams later in the tournament. A great Spain team in the round of 16, an elite Brazilian team in the quarter-finals, and a really tough team in Portugal. They took the eventual champion Italy, who had one of the best defenses ever, to penalty kicks. Most of this was on the back of Zidane. Why even bother comparing Rivaldo and Zidane? Both were great players. They had different styles. Respect that and enjoy the memories that both players gave us.
Absolutely ridiculous is the level of hypocrisy coming from you. On one hand you call me a "hater" simply because I do not agree with your highly debatable opinion about Zidane. On the other hand, you compared Zidane with players like Pele and Cruijff, as if Zidane was ever as good as those players. Tell me something, why does Zidane deserve to be compared with a player like Pele? And, furthermore, if I think that Zidane was not on the same level as Maradona and Cruijff, am I a "hating" on Zidane? As for "France 2006 goes nowhere without Zidane" -- how do you know? If you took out Ribery (who had a great game against Spain), does France win the game against Spain? I highly doubt it, Ribery was just as important as Zidane was in the victory against Spain. Furthermore, the whole French midfield was great against Brazil and, even without Zidane, the likes of Claude Makelele and Patrick Vieira would have still bossed the field. It is hilarious how much you exaggerate Zidane's importance. You don't appear to have an ounce of respect for the performances of key players such as Claude Makelele and Patrick Vieira. You are acting as if France 2006 was some average team when in fact it was no such thing, no team that contains Makelele, Vieira, Thierry Henry, Frank Ribery, is an average team -- France 2006 was a team full of quality, the lack of quality was never the problem. As for "old" players such as Beckenbauer, Di Stefano, Cruijff, etc -- I do not need to watch any of them to know if Zidane was overrated or not, more than a few players from Zidane's own era were every bit as good as Zidane, and none of them get anywhere near the adulation that Zidane received in his playing days and that Zidane still receives to this day. For the record: why even bother comparing Rivaldo and Zidane? Well gee, I don't know, why should we not compare them? And what is so wrong about comparing them? And who do you think you are to decide who is a "hater" and who is not a "hater"? You sound awfully self-righteous, awfully condescending, with all your accusations when all we are doing is offering our honest opinions about two players. Why is that so wrong? And may I ask, why is it "ok" when Zidane gets credit that he does not deserve? And why is it "hate" when some person says that Zidane gets a lot of undeserved credit? In my opinion, Zidane was in the same class as Rivaldo, no more, no less. Does that make me a "hater" of Zidane?
I agree with you in the last comment. Zidane was the same class as Rivaldo Ronaldinho, ... no more no less ... Zidane was very much overhyped with his goals scored at WC98 final, UCL02 final and a penalty goal (Malouda diving) in WC2006 final ... as 3 biggest games that people could easily remember. In fact, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho did have quite a few great games as "marque' " for a great player ... Many treated Zidane like he won the WC and Euro ... for France "by himself" ... NO I like Zidane's style and I do rate him higher then the latter two for his longevity and his "showing up in big tournaments" .. but Zidane was never a type who could win games on his own ... a la Pele Maradona Zico Platini Garrincha Best Puskas Di Stefano Cruijff .... and lateley in same era Romario Ronaldo Rivaldo, Ronaldinho ... or lately Messi CR7
Teso, you mention above that Zidane did not do enough and was carried by teams far too often. In such a case, would you care to elaborate on, what is the definition of being carried vs having carried a team? And how do you apply it to different roles i.e. striker, forward, midfielder, defender, goalkeeper? What, according to you, do players playing in each of these roles need to do to have carried the team vs to have been carried by the team? If you can put down a numerical formula that would be best since it would allow others to achieve a similar understanding to what you have. For e.g., you can say that a forward needs to be involved in more than 50% of the goals scored by his team in a tournament, to have carried his team and that his contributions need to be spread out across the various phases of the tournament and not just in one part of it. Now I understand that you are a MU fan and thus for you the 98-99 season would be a watershed season in football. As such, I would thus assume that you would have significant knowledge about the CL tournament of that season. Secondly, you also mention your admiration for Riquelme in the above quoted post and, I assume here, you consider his CL campaign of 2005-06 an example of how a player carries their team on their backs. Do correct me in case I am wrong in any of the above two assumptions since they will have great bearing on my next set of questions for you. @All - For the record, IMO Rivaldo was definitely a great great player and its a pity that he is not placed above the likes of Messi and Ronaldinho (closer matches in term of position and thus far better comparisons than Zidane) by more Barca fans, considering that he played and won quite a bit with poorer Barca teams than what these players played and achieved success with and considering that he was better for his NT as well, as compared to these players (till date).
Cr7 win games on his own? He is the best to score tap-ins or useless goals. 16 of its goals in UCL were unnecessary, just 1 penalty against Juventus were decisive for the Match. Ramos was the man of La Decima not Cr7. Cr7 is the most overrated football player ever, If the overvaluation of zidane is justified(won everything, was decisive in big games) the overvaluation of CR7(greatest flop in big games ever) is laughable
The Cicero of 2000 your posts are always very eloquent I agree with you that Zidane is a lot overrated, is was sure a great player but not better than other legends like Xavi, Pirlo, Iniesta, Didi, Rivaldo, Ronaldo, Romario, Van Basten etc