The 101 Greatest Players of FourFourTwo's Lifetime
GP writes: In May 2019, a special anniversary issue of FourFourTwo celebrated the finest players in the magazine’s 25-year history. As someone who was working there for more than half of that time, I was understandably asked to contribute. Below are the players I was asked to describe.
100 Mo Salah
Some said Liverpool were mad to break their transfer record for the former erratic winger Chelsea fans called “Sally”. They don’t say it any more. His irrepressible verve, low centre of gravity and fearsome strike-rate mean that some fans even dare compare him to Kenny Dalglish; at Anfield, no praise is higher.
98 Miroslav Klose
What’s the opposite of a flat-track bully? Frankly ungainly and bang-average at club level, Klose nevertheless had the unbuyable knack of scoring for his country: 71 in 137 caps. Germany never lost when he scored, and they rarely lost because he almost always scored, including a record 15 at World Cups. Not bad for a beanpole from Soviet-era Poland.
94 Yaya Toure
City were poor and flaky, then they were rich and flaky, they they signed Toure. Forget the cake and give him a crown: City’s Cantona. He made them winners, because at his best he looked like a benign 16-year-old idly bossing an under-11s game. For a vital half-decade there was nobody to touch him: they couldn’t get near.
93 Juan Roman Riquelme
All Argentinian No.10s live in a shadow, but Riquelme was nothing like Maradona. Languid (lazy?) and fonder of the pass than the dribble, he was the last great enganche, sitting in the hole and orchestrating operations with grace, flair, beauty, vision and maybe five tackles in two decades.
91 Davor Suker
The career of the shotputter’s son can be reduced to fragments: that shirt. That chip. That underwhelming Premier League spell. That controversial rise to become president of the Croatian FA. But throughout, he combined physicality with grace and a left foot like a cliché. In Sevilla, the shotputter’s son was given a melon every time he scored. He got a lot of melons.
89 Diego Godin
With four out of 63 Ballons d’Or, defenders rarely get praised, unless they’re frustrated attackers. Godin is the exception: an almost universally admired throwback who exemplifies Atletico’s none-shall-pass rearguard, hovering on the laws’ fringes and occasionally boncing home a set-piece up the other end… before scurrying back to mind the shop.
88 Carlos Tevez
Tis pity that controversy over ownership, transfers and subs-bench strikes might mar the memory of this fearsome competitor. The taurine Tevez tore apart defences with his strength and vision: an epitome of how our game at its best combines brains and brawn, intelligence and presence.
87 Filippo Inzaghi
Although Fergie said he was born offside, Super Pippo spent half a lifetime celebrating. Just the 313 goals, mostly for Juve, Milan and Italy, of which 46 came in 81 Champions League games. Cruyff said “He can’t play football: he’s just always in the right position.” Some knack to have.
86 Franck Ribery
Always watch the little ones. Although he only grew to 5ft 7in, Ribery stretched himself out of a tough childhood into one of the world’s best attacking threats, the opinionated joker exemplifying élan and joie de vivre from either wing. Zidane anointed him his successor; Beckenbauer bracketed him with Messi and Ronaldo.
84 Didier Drogba
Many players excel. Few change the game. Drogba’s pace, presence and goalscoring prowess enabled Jose Mourinho’s sole-forward system to flourish, and thence to become the tactical standard. Only twice in eight Chelsea seasons did he top a dozen league goals, but that was enough to change football forever: every manager since has wanted a Drogba.
81 Xabi Alonso
He won £25,000 for a fan who’d bet on him scoring from his own half, but Alonso’s game was usually far more discreet, his passing as unruffled as his action-figure hairdo. Although often overlooked in the clamour to praise near-homonymous Spain team-mate Xavi, he was nevertheless adored wherever he went.
78 Wesley Sneijder
Still popping it about in the Middle East, Holland’s most-capped man was one of the world’s best midfielders – Man of the Match in six of the Oranje’s 11 games at Euro 2008 and South Africa 2010. Versatile and ambidextrous, Wes has won a dozen trophies in five countries, but sadly not England.
77 Eden Hazard
At 28, the buzzcut Belgian with the untacklable balance needs to stop being the only world-class performer at the Stamford Bridge circus. Drifting through the melee like a fox in a graveyard, he has given Chelsea seven seasons and won just two league titles; he needs bigger stages before his Ballon d’Or window closes.
76 David Trezeguet
Only Del Piero, Boniperti and Bettega scored more for Juve, and the latter two lingered much longer with the Old Lady. In England, Trezegol is best known for the Euro 2000-winning Golden Goal, but that was one of 300 bagged by the opportunist French-Argentinian who scored in 22 countries, including one at Old Trafford clocked at a mere 97.6mph.
73 Michael Owen
He’s no fantasy dinner guest, but on the other hand Stephen Fry doesn’t score many goals. For a decade until his hamstrings pinged, Owen combined unpreventable speed with unflappable finishing to smash records like a protesting DJ. In Saint-Etienne, helpless Argentina suffered the ur-Owen goal: send it through and watch him fly.
GP: In case you’re wondering, the 22 countries in which Trezegol scored (for club or country) are Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, Croatia, England, Finland, France, Germany, India, Israel, Monaco, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Scotland, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and Uruguay.
