Greatest European footballers In football history

That's right but you claim less than 50 players have done such things.

 

I agree with you, I do not think there are 50 other players who were better than Stoichkov... Furthermore, Stoichkov not only achieved exceptional results relative to his era, but also his era was notoriously difficult for great players (note: right after the zonal marking revolution of Arrigo Sacchi, but before modern referee protection, making it a particularly difficult generation for the creative players), not to mention the fact that his generation enjoyed an abundance of talented players e.g. Hagi, Laudrup, Romario, Baggio, Le Tissier, Cantona, Savicevic, etc.

I do not think it necessarily makes Stoichkov a superior player versus Romario, but it does make Stoichkov a more modern player than Romario; the fact that it is extremely easy to imagine Stoichkov doing better in the 2002 - 2007 era than in his own era, where on the other hand, with Romario it becomes necessary to assume that Romario would need to become a harder-working type striker, and that is a big assumption to make.

With Stoichkov, he will only become better as a result of modern referee protection; more willingness to complete dribbling runs, more willingness to cross the ball more often, etc. Stoichkov in my view is basically a selfless version of Cristiano Ronaldo; for example, Stoichkov had a great enough technique that he could've done more to make himself an entertaining player in the eyes of the fans (which is very useful in terms of how said fans will rate the player after retirement), this is one of those dimensions of the game where Ronaldo's selfishness allowed him to intuitively pick up on that fact, as from a young age Ronaldo knew that being a bit of a trickster circus act would get him the love of the fans, which is directly beneficial to the perception of the modern player.

Stoichkov was a selfless, humble, and simple player in that regard; I think it definitely hurt his legacy. Stoichkov's technique was natural enough, and stylish enough, that he could've done a lot more to facilitate or adorn the art of selling himself to the global viewers; he could have adorned his technique in such a way that his perception as that type of player would've been better. But in any event, the fact of the matter is that Stoichkov preferred efficiency and simplicity, that was who he was as a player.

I think the midfielder playmaker Pavel Nedved gets routinely underrated on the basis of similar arguments.

 

Amazing. Didn't know this existed, thanks.

 

Thanks @carlito86
It is sad that players like Di Stefano and Puskas are not even mentioned as Europe's greatest players of all time let alone the world. Obviously, most people don't take interest in history.
In any case, I have set this page aside and am waiting for the day that it is released.
You hear the older players speak so highly of him. For me, I put Di Stefano and Puskas in the second category of all time greats. Just below the two major greats that share the spot of being the best. Super, super players. Edit: Neither Puskas or Di Stefano were put on the poll for this thread

@carlito86 for whatever reason, i feel that Puskas shared a similarity to CR7 in CR7's later years (27-32 years old) strictly speaking in terms of directness and effectiveness and not playmaking so much. Not necessarily that they shared the same characteristics or played the same style. For what it's worth, I prefer Di Stefano of the two, as I have an affinity for players that are pleasing to the eye and get many touches on the ball in a game. AKA, playmakers or number 10s and 8s

 

From some of the games ive seen from him. And I like the games not the highlights. Ive been impressed. I see him and Puskas as completely different players. I've see Di Stefano start plays from the center back position or number 6 position many times. And he's a very intelligent player. From the Di Stefano book I read, he ran the real Madrid team by the accounts of many others (even Puskas had something to say about it). And from what I read, he was not easy to get along with.

Edit: I love Zidane. But I put Di Stefano over Zidane.

This Statement is subject to change as I am always trying to learn more information and better take the context of the game into consideration and watch more games

 

Zidane was not naturalized.

 

It is fairly obvious that Zlatan is an underrated player, and it is arguably quite tragic (from Zlatan's perspective) that he got to play in one of the least balanced eras of all time, an era where Barcelona and Real Madrid won 7 out of 10 cups between 2009 and 2018; a level of dominance without precedent; Messi and Ronaldo enjoyed the extraordinary privilege of playing for the most dominant super-clubs in recorded history, all the while Zlatan had to make due with 2nd-tier clubs like AC Milan and Inter Milan for almost the entirety of his career, with his one season with Barcelona as the solitary exception in an otherwise unlucky career.

In other words, Zlatan's lack of big game performances, are almost entirely a result of his unbalanced era, as well as the fact that Sweden are not Portugal, that is, a 2nd-tier national team with a proven track record of frequently over-achieving relative to their talent; which Portugal was doing before, during, and probably long after Cristiano Ronaldo retires.

From the players I have watched closely (note: Van Basten not being one of said players, which is why I am omitting him out of pure ignorance); the Dutch genius Dennis Bergkamp is the most obvious one who I can put in the same class or slightly above Zlatan; basically, Bergkamp offered almost everything Zlatan offers, but Bergkamp was more selfless and better defensively, and also a better passer as well.

Furthermore, the Uruguayan prodigy Enzo Francescoli I think had the talent to hit the same heights, but lacked the career to convincingly substantiate the argument; but this player I think was the South American equivalent to Dennis Bergkamp, albeit of course he played before Bergkamp.

 

He gets criticized a lot for his UCL record, but I've been reviewing the past 20 years, and I've become a bit more sympathetic for him. It is not clear to me, if he was in fact in the best position to do well in the UCL throughout most of his career.

Personally, I think he could've done better with Mourinho's Inter Milan, and were it not for his breakdown with Pep, he could've had a dynasty with Barcelona. Outside of those two cases, I don't think he did particularly poorly given his circumstances.

 

Ibrahimovic is a genius, no doubt. He was exceptional technically to play for Barca, but the ego clash between Pep and him was the reason he left. I like Suarez, but Ibrahimovic is the more naturally talented player and fit Barca more tbh. Marco van Basten is one of my favourite player and this guy is the closest I’ve seen, but had a very unlucky career. What he’s doing with Milan is great.

 

@carlito86 Have you watched this goal? Dude is 6’5 with technical ability of small great players.

 

Cristiano Ronaldo, of course. His passion, discipline, dedication and desire to win titles are at the top of football today. He is still scoring at the top level and can expect to continue to win titles.

 

I don't know if I would call is very unlucky. He was put in a position to reach great heights, but never quite found a way to make it work for him. Plenty of great players have worked under Pep. I think even Yaya Toure, who had a very bad relationship with Pep as well, held it together just long enough for him to win the UCL.

 

I agree with most you said.

Just, excluding the Barça/Real dominance, I don't remember clearly standout matches for Zlatan in the decisive KO rounds in UCL, to give him, the clubs achievement that his NT wasn't able to offer.

 

Rob Rensenbrink would have been in there for me.