Greatest XI of all time - Liverpool 

Centre-Backs - Ron Yeats and Alan Hansen

Ron Yeats was nicknamed "The Colossus"

Although the current centre-backs at the club do not evoke supreme confidence, the Reds have been blessed with some of the best defensive stalwarts over the decades. Among the lot, Ron Yeats deserves a place right at the top of the list. ‘Take a walk around my centre-half, gentlemen, he’s a colossus!’ remarked the revered Bill Shankly when announcing the Scot's arrival in 1961 and he indeed turned out to be so.

Yeats was more than just a centre-back. He was named captain right away and went to captain the side for a decade, a record broken by another player on this list later. Along with striker Ian St.John, he was the final piece of the jigsaw as Shankly built a side to rise from the Second Division and become a dominant force in England and Europe.

The former Dundee United defender clocked 454 games for the Merseyside club during his time at the club and became the first Liverpool captain to lift the FA Cup, an accomplishment he achieved in 1965. Prior to that, Yeats' arrival in 1961 became instrumental in the club securing promotion to the First Division in his first season, after spending eight years away from the top flight.

The Colossus then led the team to two league titles in the First Division. As the club became less successful in the late 1960s, Yeats was phased out at the club by Shankly and eventually left the club in 1971. One of Liverpool's greatest goalscorers, Roger Hunt, sums him up aptly.

"Big Ronny is the best centre-half I have ever seen. With him in the team and at his best, we used to think we were unbeatable."

A ball-playing centre-back of the highest order

Partnering him in the heart of the defense is Alan Hansen, a player who was deemed as not good enough for Liverpool at sixteen years of age during the Shankly era. However, Bob Paisley rectified the mistake and brought in 22-year old Hansen to Anfield in 1977 and from then on, he became the prototype of a classy ball-playing centre-back at the Merseyside club.

The Scot could tackle but rarely needed to given his excellent reading of the game. Further, he had a calming influence on the backline and his brilliant technique meant he could play the ball from the back as good as any midfielder, a rare sight in English football at that point.

In a Liverpool career spanning over 14 years, Hansen was pivotal in the club winning 8 league titles, 3 European Cups, 4 League Cups and 2 FA Cups. Knee injuries troubled the centre-back in the late 1980s and he eventually retired in 1991.

Despite not being as wildly popular as the fellow Scot who joined Liverpool along with him, Kenny Dalglish, Hansen was just as important at the back as Dalglish was up front. No wonder, Liverpool are yet to lift the league title since Hansen retired, highlighting his impact and quality.