'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Who is a false 9? The traditional number 9 is a team's primary goalscorer. He is the fox-in-the-box who is waiting to snatch at anything that comes his way and finds the back of the net. But over the course of history, like several other positions, the centre-forward has also undergone massive changes.
Plenty of teams use false 9s today
The days of the burly and belligerent strikers are long gne. More and more managers are going for technical finesse over brawn. This had a lot to do with the emergence of false 9s. A false 9 contributes heavily to build-up play and helps his fellow forwards get into dangerous positions.
The false 9 drops deeper than a traditional number nine. This makes it difficult for the opposition defenders to mark him as they will need to leave the backline in order to stay close to him. This in turn opens up space for other attackers to run into and exploit.
Without any further ado, let's take a look at the greatest false 9s of all time.
#5 Roberto Firmino
Liverpool's resurgence domestically and in Europe in the late 2010s had a lot to do with their incredible frontline consisting of Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah. They were arguably the best attacking trio on the planet for a few years as the Merseysiders won the Champions League and the Premier League.
Liverpool were deadly on the counter. If they are afforded a lot of space to run into, Mane and Salah are unstoppable. Firmino's task was to facilitate this and he did his job to perfection. The Brazilian international is one of the most intelligent forwards in Europe.
He also acts as Liverpool's first line of press and doesn't mind dropping deep to get the ball back. Once he receives the ball, he has all the technical abilities needed to release his fellow forwards into dangerous positions.
Firmino's skillset is replete with tricks, flicks, no-look passes and shots and he is simply a joy to watch. At his best, he is easily one of the best false 9s of his generation.
#4 Dennis Bergkamp
Dennis Bergkamp is one of the greatest players of his generation and is a bonafide Premier League legend. Bergkamp was one of the most technically astute players to have ever graced the game.
The Dutchman started out as a wide midfielder and then excelled as a striker before playing the role of support striker to perfection in his latter years. Thierry Henry is regarded as one of the greatest strikers of all time.
His goalscoring exploits for Arsenal in the Premier League were well aided by Bergkamp's brilliance.
He played further up than the traditional number 10s but he was extremely creative with the ball at his feet and always had an answer no matter how tough the situation looked. That was largely down to just how good he was technically.
Credit has to go to Arsene Wenger as well for unlocking the true potential of Bergkamp by playing him as a false 9. In 410 appearances for Arsenal across all competitions, he scored 113 goals and provided 94 assists.
#3 Francesco Totti
Francesco Totti is one of the greatest forwards of his generation and he played only for AS Roma in his club career. Totti had all the qualities to be a well-rounded forward. He was excellent with the ball at his feet and his passing and vision were all exemplary.
Totti was also one of the most passionate footballers around and he was willing to bleed to win for the Giallorossi. Luciano Spalletti famously used the 4-6-0 formation at AS Roma in 2006. During that time, Totti was the main man going forward for his side and he always operated a bit ahead of the opposition defence.
He would consistently drag defenders out of the backline, thereby creating ample amounts of space for his teammates to exploit. In the 2006-07 season, Totti scored 32 goals and provided 15 assists in 50 appearances across all competitions for AS Roma.
He won the Serie A title with Roma in 2001 but his greatest achievement was winning the 2006 World Cup with Italy.
#2 Johan Cruyff
Johan Cruyff played as the false 9 for the greatest Ajax team under Rinus Michels. He wreaked havoc playing a slightly withdrawn forward's role in Michels' famous 1-3-3-3 formation.
Cruyff was the greatest footballer around at the time and he won the European Cup three times in a row in 1971, 1972 and 1973 with Ajax before moving to Barcelona. Cruyff is also part of the greatest national side to have never won the World Cup.
He led the Netherlands to the final of the 1974 World Cup but fell to West Germany in the ultimate showdown. Cruyff would start as a center forward but would regularly drop in deep to unsettle the opposition defences.
He is also one of the most technically gifted footballers of all time and once he'd created space with his movements, he had no trouble feeding dangerous passes to his fellow attackers.
#1 Lionel Messi
No player in the history of the game has played the role of the false 9 as well as Lionel Messi has. The Argentinian international is arguably the greatest footballer of all time and has won the Ballon d'Or a record seven times.
In addition to being one of the best dribblers and finishers of all time, Messi is also one of the best ever when it comes to playmaking. Fuse all of those qualities together and you get the perfect false 9.
Under Pep Guardiola's tutelage, Barcelona transformed into a force of nature. Messi's game was simply too well rounded for him to be limited to just being a playmaker or a goalscorer. Guardiola immediately found the answer to the problem and that was to deploy Messi as a false 9.
Needless to say, he flourished in that position. During those days, Messi would beat defenders like it was child's play. He made a nuisance of himself by dropping deep and taking defenders out of the game with his wonderful close control and exquisite passing.
His greatest performance as a false 9 came against arch rivals Real Madrid in May 2009. Messi ran riot, bagging a brace and providing an assist as Barcelona beat Los Blancos 6-2 at the Santiago Bernabeu.
