10 most popular comparisons in modern football

“Beatles or Pink Floyd?”. “Seinfeld or Friends?”. “The Godfather or Goodfellas?”. “Sachin Tendulkar or Don Bradman?”. “Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal?”. And of course, “Pele or Maradona?”. The list of this versus that could go on and on and on, right from teabags to fighter jets. I mean, what is popular culture, or indeed, life in itself, without knowing who’s better. After all, that’s the eternal mantra of what’s become a dog eat dog world – competition. We just cannot be, without finding out who bests who in a tight encounter. We want to know. We have to know. We need to know. No answer, no closure; as simple as that.But sometimes, though, our rationale appeals passionately to us to let it be, and enjoy the superstars for what they bring to whatever endeavour they excel at. Sit back, grab a pack of popcorn and just lose yourself in awe.Football too has many such stalwarts – players who are so similar in stature, yet so different. Them and their polarising effect is what gives the game that extra charm, that glues us all to television sets week in week out.Here’s a look at ten such cases in modern football, where one player simply can’t be separated from the other, in terms of quality.

#10 Marco Reus and Mario Gotze

Borussia Dortmund has always been a proud, storied and hallowed club. With perhaps the most popular fans in the game today, the Westfalenstadion has seen a huge deal of heady times. However, the club reached its nadir in 2005, when they went bankrupt and needed heated rivals, Bayern Munich to bail them out. They recovered. And in three years’ time, a new era dawned upon them – Jurgen Klopp had arrived.

Klopp’s famous Dormund side had two young Germans who were, and are adored by fans all over the world. Marco Reus and Mario Gotze played the game with such zeal, chutzpah and joie de vivre, that the whole world took notice – these kids weren’t just flashes in the pan; they were the worst nightmare of defenders across Germany. For the better part of 3 seasons, the No10 and No11 tied defenders in knots, along with their No9, Robert Lewandowski.

As is the case with the big bad world of football, world class players can only stay for so long, before moving to pastures anew. Today, the Polish striker shares the dressing room with Gotze at Bayern Munich, while Reus is the flagbearer of a resurgent Dortmund unit. However, “Gotzeus” is a part of popular imagination so much, the memories of these two in yellow won’t fade for a long time.

#9 Gianluigi Buffon and Iker Casillas

The great goalkeepers of their generation

Enough has been said about Iker Casillas over the past month or two. The Spanish custodian and Real Madrid legend was not only shown the door by the Blancos, but was also given the cold shoulder by the supremely tactless Florentino Perez. Needless to say, an era has ended at the Bernabeu, with their beloved Sant Iker moving to FC Porto. However, another era is still going strong in the land of the Old Lady of Turin. And in the Juventus colours, Gianluigi Buffon is like fine wine, as the cliche goes.

There was a time when it was Casillas-Buffon, Petr Cech, stratosphere, and then the rest of the goalkeepers. While those days maybe long gone, one simply cannot take away what the two of them have achieved. Two absolute gentlemen of the game, they symbolized two teams who have big legacies and bigger trophy cabinets.

And there simply isn’t any way to find out the better among the two. While one lifted the World Cup in 2006, the other lifted it in the subsequent edition. When one guy hit a low with the Calciopoli scandal, the other guy peaked. When one guy started getting booed by his own fans, the other guy was still idolized by his followers. Both of them have seen the good, the bad and the ugly of what the beautiful game has to offer. And needless to say, football will be much the poorer, once its devoid of what they have to offer.

#8 Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher

In the streets of Bury and Bootle in Northern England, you’re either red or you’re blue. There simply isn’t any middle ground. Two 70s kids, Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher, grew up worshipping the red half of Manchester and Liverpool, respectively. However, for these two teams, their blue rivals weren’t their biggest foes. They hated each other more.

These were two footballers united by passion, work ethic and leadership, but divided by age old crests. With their quirky accents, which are as hard to decipher as Brad Pitt in Snatch, and a fierce determination that took them to heights far greater than more talented individuals, Carra and Neville were thowbacks in the age of journeymen and mercenaries – old fashioned, if I may call them so.

These were two technically lacking individuals, more adept at scoring own goals than goals. But still, the heart and valour with which they flew into tackles, latched onto headers, and willed themselves into making interceptions that less driven men wouldn’t have, is what gave them the cult following they enjoy to this day. And their epic encounters, whether it be on the pitch during derby days, or inside the Sky Sports studio during Monday Night Football, shall never be forgotten.

#7 Didier Drogba and Samuel Eto\'o

The likes of Abedi Pele, Roger Milla and George Weah gave African football a huge facelift during the 1990s, changing the way the game was played in the continent. Today, we have the likes of Yaya Toure, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Michael Essien et al, taking the game to new heights in a continent where the game is still emerging. However, African football has two legends, two faces and two forwards, who genuinely changed the way the game was followed in the region.

Samuel Eto’o and Didier Drogba. The lion and the elephant. Domestic and Champions League winners with two of the most successful clubs of the last decade. One is a sly forward, equally adept at running at defenders, as he is at finishing them off. The other is a bulldozer of a footballer, outmuscling and shrugging off anybody and everybody who comes in his way.

The debate over who is the better forward, has been raging for nearly a decade now. And it is likely that it’ll never end. For two players whose careers took eerily similar graphs towards the end, this is the one commonality that will bind them forever – their place of birth. And irrespective of their ill-timed recent stint at Chelsea, Samuel Eto’o and Didier Drogba shall always be seen as two of the greatest forwards of not just Africa, but the whole world.

#6 Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta

Xaviesta – The art of befuddling, confounding and stupefying defenders with one touch passing faster than the Roadrunner, and mazy dribbling silkier than Dali’s paintbrush. This phenomenon is even more effective when finished by a certain chap named Lionel Andres Messi.

If not for the extra terrestrial big two of world football, Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta would’ve had a Ballon d’Or or two, in their glittering careers where they’ve won everything there is to win. Whether its been in the claret and blue of Barcelona or in the furious red of Spain, there really isn’t anything more the midfield veterans can achieve.

While the former is the greatest metronome the world has ever seen, the latter is arguably the most languid dribbler since the great Dennis Bergkamp, even replicating the Dutchman’s knack of scoring crucial goals. And together, they formed the creative engine of a Barcelona side, which can genuinely stake its claim to being the greatest club team of all time.

With the departure of Xavi to Al Sadd, departs the heartbeat of Barcelona’s midfield. Finding another of his ilk won’t be easy for a club that is gradually shifting from its La Masia policy to the Galactico one, a policy embraced by heated rivals in white, with reasonable success.

#5 Alessandro Del Piero and Fransesco Totti

Italy has always been the land of wavy-haired, feisty strikers, each with his own legacy. Two of the best among them in modern football, played in Turin and Rome, two of the heartlands of Italian calcio. One was a laidback artist, whose attitude was almost mistaken for a certain sense of laissez-faire, but forever adored. The other was an industrious, deep-lying, creative forward, who played for nearly two decades at the club he joined as a teenager.

Back in the day, there was nothing as beautiful as Fransesco Totti’s cheeky lob and nothing as accurate as Alessandro Del Piero’s pinpoint free kicks. While the former is still the darling of the Ultras of Roma, the latter is well past his heydays, being a quadragenarian now. However, the two of them represented something that wasn’t very common in the merry go round world of Italian football – loyalty.

Alessandro Del Piero, like so many of his great Azzurri namesakes, was a brilliant forward; yet, he stuck with Juventus through the Calciopoli scandal, dragging the club on his shoulders during many a weekend. Totti, on the other hand, could’ve chosen any club on earth to play for; he was that good during his prime. Whether it be those dainty flicks above hapless goalkeepers, or those blistering tracer bullets that nearly rips the net off, the Roman skipper had, and still probably has everything that makes a striker world class, in his arsenal.

Who among them is better, is a million dollar question, as is every other one in this slideshow.

#4 Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira

There was a time in the early noughties, when Manchester United was a team with a distinct identity, and Arsenal was a team that could play well and win. Needless to say, this made their rivalry one of the biggest spectacles of world football back then. And leading the charge for either team, was their skipper and midfield matador – Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira. Undoubtedly, it was the best individual duel in the history of the Premier League.

These were two combative, volatile characters, who snapped at each other’s throats at the first given opportunity. Their battles down there on the pitch, and out there in the dugouts, were up there among the most dramatic moments in the history of the “Greed is good League”, as eminent football writer, Brian Glanville, put it. With the two of them glaring and snarling at each other for more than their fair share of fixtures, the Premier League’s Hollywood match arguably became the ones that pitted these two giants of the game. And, were we entertained or what?

With the Frenchman now heralding a new dawn in the backroom of Manchester City, there’ll definitely be no love lost between him and United fans. It wouldn’t be fun if they make amends, would it?

#3 Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard

Where do we even begin with the two of them? I mean, I for one, still haven’t gotten used to seeing the Premier League without these two hammering balls into the net, peppering them from one wing to the other, and running up and down till they’ve given everything they have in them. The two greatest English footballers of this century, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard were often compared, with the respective loyalists cheering for their hero, while doffing their hats off to the other.

Some people might question the Chelsea legend over his move to Manchester City. Some others might mock the Liverpool legend over his ill fated, yet poignant slip, while facing Lampard’s Chelsea. However, any follower of the game in his/her right mind would never begrudge the adulation, adoration and admiration the world has for these two wonderful servants of the game.

The questions as to who is the better among them will never cease to exist. Lampard may have a bigger trophy haul; but, Gerrard has definitely had the greater impact on his club per se. Gerrard may have been a midfielder par excellence; but, Lampard has a goals tally that can put a striker to shame. Why even bother to find the first among these two equals? Now that they’ve left to pursue their own American Dream, it is up to us to stop bickering and start celebrating the careers of these incredible footballers.

#2 Frank Rijkaard, Ruud Gullit and Marco Van Basten

There was a time when AC Milan was much, much more than a team swamped in mediocrity, languishing in the mid-table of the Serie A. It was the time of the great Milanese defence of yesteryears, with the likes of Franco Baresi and Paolo Maldini standing out. But then, what is the beautiful game without beautiful, flowing, attractive football? And what greater proponents of attacking football than the Dutch?

Frank Rijkaard. Ruud Gullit. Marco Van Basten. The three Oranje Rossoneri. It was a procession more than a trio. Rijkaard was the pitbull in holding midfield, making those trademark crunching tackles and chipping in with an unprecedented number of goals, for a trequartista. Gullit was the domineering presence in the hole behind the striker, thundering past defenders with consummate ease. And Van Basten was the Zlatan of the late 80s and early 90s – an unbelievably good striker, with a penchant for stunning goals.

Together, the three of them took Serie A by the scruff of its neck and belted the teams in it black and blue. The paralyzing, hypnotizing Dutch treatment was meted out to European royalty too, with AC Milan enjoying its golden days during their very own Orange Revolution. With all three of being the best in the world at what they did, the only players they could be compared with, was each other.

How then, would our Dutch trio fare against the MSN? Cue another heated debate.

#1 Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi

Well... this was coming, wasn’t it? It just had to be them. How else could it have been anybody else? After all, the staple ingredient of any football article dealing with superlatives, is a healthy dose of Messi-Ronaldo. And they deserve every single ounce of respect they receive. Their greatness, and its halo and aura is universal. They have fans everywhere, and I mean everywhere – right from the socio offices in Madrid and Barcelona, to the frozen Mann planet in Interstellar.

This is an unparalleled, unbridled and unprecedented rivalry, made by the footballing gods themselves. In fact, the symmetry of it makes you suspect everything from fate to the Illuminati for creating a rivalry of this magnitude. Right foot vs left foot. Europe’s best vs South America’s best. Nike vs Adidas. Real Madrid vs Barcelona. 3 Ballon d’Ors vs 4 Ballon d’Ors. Simply put, the Yin and the Yang of attacking football.

This will forever be an eternal, perennial rivalry, with us being none the wiser as to who’s the superior footballer among the two. But then, is that really important? With age fast catching up with both of them, we need to thank our lucky stars for having been able to witness two of the greatest footballers to walk the earth. To imagine them calling it a day in a few years’ time. As Col. Kurtz put it during his dying words in Apocalypse Now, “The horror. The horror”.