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Football is a sport that looks to create idols of the players. We have seen many footballers being recognised as examples for future generations to emulate, both due to their playing styles and also due to their achievements on the field.During the course of the evolution of the sport, we have seen players emerge who have very closely resembled legends from the past, specifically in terms of their playing style. It is great fun understanding how football has worked to recreate stars from previous eras. Here's a look at 5 players that very closely resemble stars of a previous age:
#1 Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi
Many young Argentinian players have regularly drawn comparisons with Diego Maradona, but few lived up to the expectations till Messi burst onto the scene. His technique, dribbling, vision, creativity and eye for goal are very much like the Argentinian World Cup winner. If that wasn't enough, the two of them are similar in terms of their height and gait as well.
Messi first drew comparisons with Maradona, as a 19-year-old, after replicating Maradona's goal of the century in a La Liga match against Getafe. His brilliance since then has led even Maradona to assert Messi as the heir to his throne.
Messi is not only similar in his appearance and style of play, he has also surpassed Maradona’s at the club level, having won three Champions Leagues and six La Liga titles, apart from the four Ballon d’Ors he has been awarded.
The four-time Ballon d’Or winner is also only a World Cup title shy of being proclaimed the greatest ever Argentine sportsman.
#2 Roberto Baggio and Francesco Totti
The original trequartista, Roberto Baggio, is one of the most popular names in World Cup folklore, and there are very few players that can claim to have emulated him. He is a tough act to emulate and so it is only right that one of the few players that can compare with him is a legend like Totti.
The false nine position, often associated with Messi, was originally played by Baggio and then by Totti. Both players were pioneers in the way they changed the traditional definitions of the position they played in. Strikers are now expected to have a more rounded game, and these two are to be credited for that.
In addition to their playing styles and positions, Totti's achievements also have been eerily similar to Baggio's. Totti has one Serie A title compared to Baggio's two while Baggio has won one Coppa Italia when compared to Totti’s two. Baggio carried the Azzuri to the 1994 World Cup final while Totti won the World Cup in 2006.
#3 Michael Laudrup and Andres Iniesta
Very few players have shown the ability to control a football like Laudrup did in his heyday. Even fewer have shown the verve and tenacity to manipulate it creatively, in the manner he did. Andres Iniesta is one of them.
Laudrup is widely regarded as the creative force behind Cruyff's Barcelona, one of the most creative football team's to have taken to the field. Iniesta performed a similar role in Pep Guardiola's Barcelona, which was quite possibly the greatest football team ever.
Both shared vision which could not be matched by their counterparts. Passing and the ability to split defenses at the slightest of opportunities comes as second nature to them. Iniesta has also shown an ability to dribble out of tight spaces, much like Laudrup who people claimed had the ball glued to his feet.
Their similarities are not just in their qualities, but also in the success they brought to their teams. Barcelona had not enjoyed the kind of success they did during Laudrup's time and the story is very similar when it comes to Iniesta.
#4 Patrick Vieira and Paul Pogba
Vieira's legacy is much maligned. He is often remembered as a defensive midfielder owing to his physical attributes. It is a great injustice to a player who was just as big a menace to defenses as much as he was to opposition strikers, a true box-to-box presence.
This stereotyping is now injudiciously misrepresenting a player in a similar vein to him, Paul Pogba. Pogba doesn't just share footballing qualities with Vieira, he also shares the view of the media, such is the similarity between the two.
Pogba is an exceptional player who has made his mark at Juventus at a very young age. His defensive alertness has aided immobile players like Pirlo while his attacking capabilities have made him a nuisance for even the meanest tactical defenses of Serie A.
His powerful box-to-box running is also reminiscent of Vieira and if he continues displaying the kind of form he has, it won't be long before he surpasses his countryman, although it is going to be a task and half to get there.
#5 Dennis Bergkamp and Christian Eriksen
"Eriksen is one who just can't be left out. He's Bergkamp-esque," enthused Tim Sherwood after a 90th-minute equaliser by the Dane against West Brom late last season. It seemed like tall praise for a player who was just beginning to make his mark in the Premier League, but Eriksen is beginning to prove himself and is doing well to draw comparisons with his idol.
His ability to win matches on his own have again sparked comparisons with Bergkamp and they appear to be hitting closer to home with every passing game. His 11 goals this season are a testament to his growing influence in the league and can be matched by very few players playing in his position. Very much like the iceman in his prime.
There's a long way to go for Erisken, but his creativity, nous and eye for goal make him a player very much in the vein of the Arsenal legend and it would not be injudicious to claim that he could achieve as much as the Dutchman.
