No place for Cristiano Ronaldo, Best and Eusebio in the best football XI of all time

George Best (in red)

Two of the most iconic players in the history of Manchester United, Cristiano Ronaldo and George Best, have been left out of the greatest XI in the history of football.

Well known journalists, managers and former players were asked to vote by the World Soccer magazine to make up the team of the XI most outstanding players in a 4-4-2 formation. Barcelona talisman and the biggest competitor of Ronaldo in current times, Lionel Messi is the only player who is playing football presently.

Nicknamed the Black Panther, Portuguese great Eusebio is also missing from the list.

Brazil forward Pele who has scored more than thousand goals in his career along with Messi were selected to lead the attack.

The midfield is composed of three time Ballon d’Or winner Johan Cruyff, Real Madrid legend and France World Cup hero Zinedine Zidane, Alfredo Di Stefano – who was regarded as the most complete player by many legends of the game for his ability to play in any positions of the field, and lastly the simply unstoppable but controversial Argentine, Diego Maradona.

The defence of the team is equally breathtaking with England’s only World Cup-winning captain, Bobby Moore partnering German defender Franz Beckenbauer in the centre of the defence. While two-time World Cup-winning Brazilian, Cafu, got selected in the right-back position. Versatile defender Paolo Maldini was chosen in the left-back spot..

Lev Yashin, voted the best goalkeeper of the 20th century by the IFFHS, is the goalkeeper in the team.

The Greatest XI:

Goalkeeper: Lev Yashin – USSR (1950-1970)

Known as the “Black Spider” due to the distinctive all-black outfit he wore and the fact that it seemed as though he had eight arms to save almost everything, Lev Yashin is the only goalkeeper to have won the Ballon d’Or. He was a one team player and played for Dynamo Moscow for his entire 22-year-long club career.

Defence:

Right Back: Cafu – Brazil (1989-2008)

He is the most internationally capped Brazilian footballer. In a career that spans over 21 years Cafu played for big clubs such as AC Milan, Juventus and Roma. He was selected in the Brazil team for three World Cups and went on to win the trophy on two occasions in 1994 and 2002.

Centre Back: Bobby Moore – England (1958-1978)

Having played every minute of his 108 games as an England international, Bobby Moore won the World Cup in 1966. He captained West Ham for more than ten years and was widely regarded as the best defender of his time.

Diego Maradona in 1981

World Cup, league titles or the European Cups, this man has won it all. Beckenbauer first won the World Cup as a player in 1974 and then as the West Germany manager in 1990. He is still the only man to have achieved this feat. He played at Bayern Munich for 14 years and won four Bundesliga titles and three European Cups.

Adept at playing both in the defence and midfield, the German is credited to have invented the role of the modern sweeper.

Left Back: Paolo Maldini – Italy (1985- 2009)

Maldini played for 25 seasons at Serie A club AC Milan. He retired at the age of 41 in 2009 and earned the reputation as one of the most outstanding defenders of modern day football. During that period he won the Champions League five times and seven Serie A titles.

Midfield:

Zinedine Zidane – France (1989-2006)

Zidane was named as the best European footballer in the past 50 years by UEFA in 2004. The influential attacking midfielder won all there is to win in the game with Juventus and Real Madrid. He led the France national team to the finals of the World Cup in 2006 but was red carded for head butting Marco Materazzi in the chest.

Alfredo Di Stefano – Real Madrid (1945-1966)

Di Stefano was a part of the invincible Real Madrid team of the 50′s that won five consecutive European Cups between 1956 and 1960. He was regarded as the most complete player in the history of football for his ability to play in all the positions of the pitch.

Johan Cruyff – Holland (1964-1984)

Cruyff won the Ballon d’Or award thrice in 1971, 1973 and 1974. He is famous for his Total Football philosophy and a move that he invented that went on to be known as the Cruyff turn.

Diego Maradona – Argentina (1976-1997)

Though of a small built, Maradona was technically outstanding. The Argentine is credited to have single-handedly won Argentina the 1986 World Cup and his famous for his ‘Hand of the God’ and 60m dribble past five England players in the quater finals of the 1986 World Cup.

Attack:

Lionel Messi – Argentina (2003- )

Lionel Messi recently broke the Gerd Muller’s record of the most number of goals in a calendar year by scoring 91 goals in 2012. He has won three consecutive FIFA Ballon d’Or awards and is regarded by many as the greatest player of present time. Messi is the captain of the Argentina national team and the second highest goal scorer behind Gabriel Batistuta.

Pele – Brazil (1956-1977)

Pele played for Santos for 18 years and scored a staggering 619 goals and more than 1,000 in his career. He was the linchpin of the Brazilian squad that won the 1958,1962 and 1970 World Cups. Sir Bobby Charlton said football was ‘invented for this magical player’ and Johan Cruyff claimed that ‘Pele was the only footballer who surpassed the boundaries of logic.’