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