Maradona
Ronaldo (Brazil)
Messi
Ronaldinho
Mathaus
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Very hard to dispute the top two with both having guided their team to two world cup finals and winning 1 each.
Zidane did that too but you excluded him. His performances during the 2006 World Cup were second only two Diego in '86.
Maradona
Messi
Zidane
Ronaldo Snr
Ronaldo Jnr
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They wereānt the only defining merits ā¦ Zidane was a great player, iām not saying he wasnt, magical at times āBut I can only fit 5 in my top 5. Paul Lambert did a serious job on him in the CL final back in 97 or 98 or somewhere in there ā¦ Thatās a black mark right there.
Marco Van Basten would have been the greatest striker ever if he didnt retire at 28. What he achieved up to then was phenomenal and still is up there amongst the best. Cut down at the prime of his career.
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If weāre taking about the greatest then itās more than mere numbers, itās becomes more aesthetics and the feelings and emotions that these players arose inside of you. Reflecting on it now, Iād put Ronaldinho ahead of Messi, just. Maradona was the reason I started following soccer and Ronaldo and Ronaldinho both awoke something deep inside of me. Itās hard to explain, kid.
Brazilian Ronaldo was on another level to Messi.
My lifetime top 5
Pele
Beckenbauer
Cruyff
Maradona
Platini
Yes, yesā¦ all thatā¦ I feel cold when I watch Ronaldo junior ā¦ heās never ever excited me as a player and thatās nothing to do with Man Utd ā¦
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Nail on the head, kid. Heās a great player but clinical & cold so hard to warm to. Iād love to go on a binge with Maradona and get out of my fucking bulb.
When on form he dominated games the way no other player could. He made the difficult look effortless and every trick he used wasnāt for show but for the benefit of the team. I never enjoyed watching anyone play football as much as I did watching him. That and I doubt there is any competition he took part in that he didnāt win.
I dont think Iāll be changing my top 5 any time soon.
Pele, who @Fagan_ODowd has at #1, called George Best the greatest footballer of all time.
I rest my case.
Pele said everyone was the greatest footballer of all time at one stage ffs 
ā Heās a money hungry gimp ā heād tell you what you want or suck your cock for a cheese burger.
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Itās fascinating to watch the moving of goalposts and tangential arguments going on to avoid the original claim, all because of a dislike for Ronaldo the person and a team he played for a decade ago.
The claim is that based on their careers to date, Ronaldo has to be placed above Messi. Unless you believe losing finals is as good an achievement as winning them.
You never saw either play you clown, so in no position to judge.
Nor would I want you to, itās all a matter of opinion although including a show pony like Ronaldinho in the top 5 is a strange choice.
And I suppose you did? ā¦ And I never claimed anything about any footballer iāve never seen play.
Iām sure you were glued to Seria A when Franco Baresi was playing.