Football's five greatest players of the 21st century

Midfielders of the century: Zinedine Zidane and Xavi

Zinedine Zidane

The modern game has seen some remarkably gifted midfielders, but none more so than the legendary French magician Zinedine Zidane. Zidane is widely considered to be one of the greatest of all time and played the game with elegance and poise. Zidane started his career at French club Cannes in 1988, slowly rising up the ranks and finding his way into the national team. In 1995 when Blackburn manager Kenny Dalglish wanted to sign Zidane, the owner Jack Walker gave a famous quote, “Why do you want to sign Zidane when we have Tim Sherwood?” which the latter has since made fun of himself . Zidane was the heartbeat of France’s golden generation that won the 1998 World Cup, Euro 2000 and reached the 2006 World Cup final. In 2001, Real Madrid paid €75 million for Zidane’s signature from Juventus, a world record fee that stood for eight years. Zidane won the FIFA World Player of the Year three times in his glittering career in addition to being named the UEFA Best European Player of the last 50 years. He will forever be immortalized for his two headers in France’s 1998 World Cup Final win over Brazil and his famous match winning volley that was hit with his weaker left foot against Bayer Leverkusen in the 2002 UEFA Champions League final. One of the most decorated players in the history of the game, his last infamous match against Italy will haunt him forever, when he head-butted Marco Materazzi and reduced the Les Bleus to 10 men. Despite that, the legendary playmaker has won praises from many of the game’s elite, with Zidane’s former manager Marcello Lippi in particular saying ‘Zidane is the best player of the last 20 years’. In 2011, he condemned the impeccable Lionel Messi to the 2^nd spot to be named the best UEFA Champions League player of the last 20 years. Many consider him to be ‘the greatest of all time’, including his former Real teammate, David Beckham. ‘Zizou’ was truly one of a kind with exceptional ball control, passing and playmaking skills. Will we ever see another Zidane? Will France ever manage to replace one of its greatest sons?

Zidane scoring the incredible volley against Bayer Leverkusen in the 2002 UEFA Champions League final

Xavi Hernandez

The man with the perfect pass. With pinpoint, deadly and abnormally accurate passing, Xavi is the heartbeat of the best club and national team of the decade, FC Barcelona and Spain. Xavi’s style of play is perfectly simple. He relies on exploiting space, which he does so with his extraordinary vision. The deadliest playmaker since Zidane, he is a quiet and unassuming man who goes about his game, picking off teams with practiced ease just like the French genius before him, while rarely showing any effort whatsoever, as if it’s as natural to him as breathing is to us. The architect of Barcelona’s game along with the equally dangerous Andres Iniesta, Xavi dominates the midfield battle with ease, enabling his team to dominate games completely. Xavi’s true force lay dormant till the arrival of his mentor, Pep Guardiola at the Catalan club in 2008. Guardiola transformed Xavi from ‘excellent’ to the best midfielder on the planet and with Xavi’s help he made ‘beautiful football’ popular again. Considered to be the best Spanish midfielder in history and Barcelona’s most capped player of all time, Xavi was instrumental in the Spaniards’ maiden World Cup triumph in 2010, playing in every game and creating most of the goals. His ability to control games has earned him the name, ‘The Puppet Master’. Without him, Lionel Messi couldn’t have been the player he now is and Barcelona certainly wouldn’t have won 13 trophies in 4 seasons with Guardiola. Despite the numerous accolades, the Euro 2008 Player of the Tournament has never won the FIFA World Player of The Year he rightly deserves due to the presence of teammate Lionel Messi on the planet. It would be a crime if Xavi doesn’t win the accolade before he retires, with even Messi having acknowledged so. Despite the presence of Iniesta and Fabregas in the same team, Xavi is still the big daddy of Barcelona’s midfield with the team building their play around him.

Xavi kissing the World Cup trophy

Honorable mentions: Kaka, Steven Gerrard, Andres Iniesta, Pavel Nedved, Michael Ballack, Andrea Pirlo, and Claude Makélélé.