Name top-3 dribblers of each football era since 1960. 1960s: 1. Pele 2. Garrincha 3. Best 1970s: 1. Cruyff 2. Rivelino 3. Bochini 1980s: 1. Maradona 2. Zico 3. M.Laudrup 1990s: 1. Ronaldo9 2. Romario 3. Baggio 2000s: 1. Ronaldinho 2. Zidane 3. Henry 2010s: 1. Messi 2. Neymar 3. Hazard\Cristiano 2020s so far: 1. Mbappe 2. Musiala 3. ? Overall: 1. Messi 2. Pele 3. Maradona
I thought I'd give it a go from the 1930s, just keeping to naming a player in only one decade - I kept Michael Laudrup in the 80s as I'm thinking for dribbling there can be a good case his peak was in that decade and ditto put Zico in the 70s, while I put Stanley Matthews in the 40s but guess I could have potentially gone a decade either side of that (and I did go with the 40s too for Finney, but late 40s and early 50s are probably the options) and I thought Garrincha in the 60s seemed right and Sivori could be a similar case of early 60s peak for dribbling as well as overall; likewise Baggio and Futre might be interchangeable between 80s and 90s for example, and Zidane goes in the 00s kind of by virtue of the 90s being more stacked for options and that making up my mind by default - I've extended to 5 options, though it makes it trickier and even more uncertain having to name that many for the 30s and 40s: 1930s: 1 Meazza 2 Orsi 3 Sindelar 4 Tommy Walker 5 Puc 1940s: 1 Matthews 2 Finney 3 Martino 4 Bican 5 Liedholm 1950s: 1 Wilkes 2 Kopa 3 Vukas 4 Julinho 5 Vincent 1960s: 1 Best 2 Pele 3 Garrincha 4 Sivori 5 Albert 1970s: 1 Cruyff 2 Bochini 3 Zico 4 Susic 5 Rivelino 1980s: 1 Maradona 2 M.Laudrup 3 Littbarski 4 R.Baggio 5 Futre 1990s: 1 Ronaldo 2 B.Laudrup 3 Figo 4 Savicevic 5 Ortega 2000s: 1 Ronaldinho 2 Henry 3 Zidane 4 Joaquin 5 Pires 2010s: 1 Messi 2 Hazard 3 Robben 4 Neymar 5 Ribery 2020s so far: 1 Mbappe 2 Musiala 3 Mitoma 4 Rodrygo 5 Pedri Overall (hard to be definitive about the order, or excluding other possibilities like Pele, Garrincha and Wilkes, I think): 1 Best 2 Maradona 3 Cruyff 4 Ronaldo 5 Messi
Susic as in safet susic? He’s really a 1980s player(in terms of recognition at least)unless you mean he was more capable before this?
Yeah, Safet I was thinking although he had a brother who was for sure more a 70s player and liked to dribble too, so I should have specified really: Yeah, Safet's profile in the 80s was bigger I suppose, playing in France, but he did become a top player during the 70s at Sarajevo and starred in some International games already (whether his peak could be deemed 1979 or something is maybe hard to be sure about): Just like the 90s was crowded with other options, the 80s was too though I felt, if having Baggio and Futre in there anyway, so it might have been a bit like Zidane's case where that made my mind up by default on Safet Susic (I'm not sure I have reason to believe he was definitely a better dribbler in the 80s than the 70s, but having said that perhaps he'd have a case vs Baggio for dribbler in the 80s - probably a close call I'm thinking, and ditto Futre who's one where I'm not totally sure whether some Atletico Madrid dribble goals I saw were 80s or 90s actually...maybe it's the same for you in that respect I'm guessing).
This guy rates everything based on how much fame/ reputation the player has , and no objectivity or rationality. I've noticed from few threads
For me anyways going back to the 1980s only 1980s decade Top 10 Diego Maradona Gheorghe Hagi Roberto baggio Vasilis Hatzipanagis Would’ve been as high as third but his ability wasn’t tested against real defenders Magico Gonzales Paulo futre Micheal laudrup John Barnes Zico/Enzo Francescoli Bruno conti 1990s Top 10 Dejan savecevic Did his damage against top club teams be it Bayern,Barcelona,Milan etc He’s out on his own Roberto baggio Ronaldo nazario Dragan stojkovic Micheal laudrup Ariel Ortega Rivaldo Alessandro del piero Zinedine Zidane Romario 2000s top 10 Ronaldinho gaucho Cristiano Ronaldo Lionel Messi Thierry Henry Zinedine Zidane Andres iniesta Robert pires Gudjohnsen Ronaldo nazario Zlatan ibrahimovic 2010s Top 10 Lionel Messi Neymar Jr Hatem Ben Arfa Arjen Robben Eden hazard Frank Ribery Andres iniesta Kylian Mbappe Cristiano Ronaldo Adama Traoré(purely for the destruction he caused in the PL at the end of the decade) Top 5 dribblers from this time frame IMO Lionel Messi Diego Maradona Dejan savecevic Roberto baggio Ronaldo nazario Favourite dribblers from this timeframe Diego Maradona Dejan savecevic Ronaldo nazario Cristiano Ronaldo Lionel Messi
Between baggio and savecevic the difference in dribbling I’d say was baggio was more likely to score a spectacular dribbling Goal vs a top tier team in a domestic league context He was a vastly superior finisher in my opinion However Savecevic on his day would destroy a top tier club team across 90 minutes in a way no one from his era could He is the only player from that era I’m sure could average 6-7 dribbles per 90 during his best phases And he would do that with pure technique because he was hardly fast at all IMO destruction of every single Bayern player on the pitch Bayern Munich was a top 2 team in the world back then http://elofootball.com/index.php?season=1990-1991#club ⚽️ 22' Massaro ⚽️ 45+3' Massaro⚽️ 47' Savićević ⚽️ 58' Desailly🔴⚫️ #OnThisDay in 1994, AC Milan produced one of the great #UCLfinal performances before lifting the #UCL 🏆 pic.twitter.com/Yl6aZCCDXf— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) May 18, 2019 Destruction of Barcelona 1993/94 Great dribbling assist on the massaro goal and arguably scored the best final goal in UCL history People forget this goal but that’s their problem Was a phenomenon dribbler vs Manchester United in the super cup 1991 Even vs Milan towards the tail end of the 80s Specifically 88/89 if I recall correctly(although that maybe stojkovic who was the main dribbling threat in that match)
I think Savicevic was pretty fast to be honest Carlito; more than Baggio anyway. I agree he was a very technical/creative dribbler though at times, as well as a smooth and precise one at other times.
I think that savicevic performance vs Bayern is the best dribbling performance in EC/CL history What do you think? If I had the time to calculate he definitely completed double digit dribbles Definitely He practically humiliated every single outfield opposition player Savicevic just doesn’t dribble past you he literally leaves you on your ass Twitter would’ve had a field day with this match He turned 10 different guys into boateng 2015
Possibly. I guess it's a big call considering all games, but I wouldn't say definitely not off the top of my head; the difficulty for older games would be availability of footage though I suppose anyway (George Best vs Rapid Vienna 1968/69 seems a likely contender potentially, but with minimal footage, for example) Yeah, I think that was in the away game in Dresden which got abandoned after a pitch invasion, with Red Star Belgrade awarded the game by default (so whether that's officially a goal in that case I'm not sure, but it was a great one for sure I'd say anyway). I think this is a very good general/dribbling game by Savicevic, vs Sampdoria, and for a good moment to see he did have good speed I think 0:54 would be a good choice anyway
I thought Bocchini was more of a game controller (like iniesta) than a dribbler, no? In 2020 so far, you mustn't forget vini jr. He's a average finisher (although is getting better), but his ability to break lines shouldn't be underestimated. Ortega, Okocha and Denilson are among the best of the 90s Despite Robinho not having exploded, he was one of the best in his era too (2000-10) in terms of dribbling.
1930-34: Sindelar, Orsi, Meazza 1935-39: Sarosi, Moreno, Leonidas, 1940-44: Moreno, Pedernera, Zizinho 1945-49: Zizinho, Matthews, Martino 1950-54: Wilkes, Basora, Puskas 1955-59: Garrincha, Julinho, Kopa 1960-64: Pelé, Garrincha, Sivori 1965-69: Best, Pelé, Beckenbauer 1970-74: Cruyff, Rivelino, Jairzinho 1975-79: Zico, Bochini, Cubillas 1980-84: Maradona, Gonzalez, Zico 1985-89: Maradona, M.Laudrup, Futre 1990-94: Baggio, Savicevic, B.Laudrup 1995-99: Ronaldo, Figo, Giggs 2000-04: Ronaldinho, Zidane, Riquelme 2005-09: Messi, C.Ronaldo, Ribery 2010-14: Messi, Robben, Neymar 2015-19: Messi, Neymar, Hazard 2020-so far: Mbappé, Vinicius, Neymar 1930-2023: In any order...Maradona, Pelé, Messi
If I was to amend my list 1990s to include some players who skipped my mind and swap the positioning of other players 1990s Dejan savicevic Roberto baggio Ronaldo nazario Dragan stojkovic Luis Figo Micheal laudrup Rivaldo Andrei Kanchelskis Brian laudrup Zinedine Zidane Elite 1990s dribblers who Just missed/Honourable mentions Hristo stoichkov Ryan giggs Ariel Ortega Romario George Weah Alessandro del piero Boban All these highlighted players at their peak would be the best dribbler in the world in 2023 Some others Names to be given consideration David ginola Marc overmars Canniga Giussepe Signori
Georgi Kinkladze for sure would be in the mix, I think (probably him and Weah were next in line for 90s players for my own list)
I think top 3 is too easy They are usually uncontested and inarguable It becomes more murky the further you go down In the previous list that I jotted down I felt del piero was a more dangerous dribbler vs Zidane especially when he got into his famous “del piero zone” it was usually goodnight and goodbye But then del piero was rarely if ever a legitimate world class dribbling threat in any major intl tournament Like literally ever not even once in a single game I can recall Zidane on the other hand looked a world class dribbler in World Cup 98 at moments at least and of course he bettered this few years later in 2000 I also felt strange leaving out Romario even though I included him in the other list I sided with kanchelskis over giggs for his superior solo goal dribbling threat even though giggs has his rare moments too(Arsenal 99 or even juventus 2003) https://theconventionalplaymaker.wo...n-giggs-vs-juventus-2002-03-champions-league/ Even Cantona could be in my third list(with signori,canniga etc even if he was markedly slower as those player he was capable) The peak of waddle was in the early 1990s too right? If so he’s definitely in(even above kanchelskis) He destroyed a legendary Milan backline singlehandedly and was probably/arguably the most talented player In french football when it was the 1st or 2nd best league in the world during the very late 80s going into the very early 90s I’ll return to this once more when I have a proper think about it
Yeah, I'd say early 90s would be Waddle's peak (at Marseille and Sheffield Wednesday), although I'm pretty sure he scored a solo goal dribbling down the left for Tottenham in the 80s.
The Waddle one is a good one too - I just gave it a watch and hadn't noticed/watched it before. Funnily enough, by Rensenbrink70, given along with Mario Kempes, I think Rob Rensenbrink would have been my next port of call for my 1970s list. Quite a lot of 1980s clips on it actually, when he was playing for Tottenham (one or two from his Newcastle days too). If you're not sure on a particular clip I can probably confirm whether it was 80s or 90s, and which team he was playing for.
he seems to me as a great player at combining dribbling with other skills, but not per se a pure dribbler.. Kanchelskis seems to me as a lesser version of Figo. Great winger, but at least this compilation didn't showcase his dribbling skills as something special. He mostly had pace. Kinky is great. Definitely above those two. This is such a hard topic to discuss as dribbling is very hard to quantify and measure, plus we don't have any stats to compare them. Regardless, if Bochini is mentioned then I believe many more midfielders of past 15 years must be mentioned Santi Cazorla Modrić Verratti Thiago Kovačić Obviously ISCO Also question is what is meant by dribbling? Is press resistance taken into consideration or only winger (#10) type players deserve a mention? There are many more: Adama Traore Maximin Zaha Holly trinity of dribbling by 2nd class players in epl in recent times Zaha has some of the most ridiculous, smooth, dribbling combos I've ever seen Coman Coutinho I see Ousmane Dembele is left out of converstaion so far: And of course. Kvaradona:
Just a quick reply as I'm logging off now, but while I see it like you on Kinkladze, and perceive Bochini a bit differently (not to disagree it is the combination of dribbling and passing that was his stand-out feature), I would also have to lean to agreement on Kanchelskis although I did think he was a very good winger in his day (for pure dribbling I'd have to be honest and say team-mate Giggs was able to run more fluently with the ball though I feel in general) - this goal may not have been on the video in this thread though I think (again maybe not a 'pure dribbling' example as such, but for sure a great solo goal after running with the ball) https://youtu.be/QubC7F1fDnM