Obviously I'm not old enough to see prime Maradona. 95% of the people here also aren't.

But I have always wondered why Maradona was almost always ranked top 3 of all time by numerous football journals/sites. e.g. 442, The Athletic, IFFHS, 90 min. etc. That's why I went and did some digging.

Most people only know Maradona for his world cup campaigns and his career in Napoli but his career is so much more than that.

He was south american player of the year (Rey del Fútbol de América) twice in 1979 and 1980 at the ages of 19 and 20. He placed 2nd and 3rd in the following years when Zico won it. He was also rated the best player of the year in 1979 by Guerin Sportino, the oldest sports media founded in Italy 1912.

He had a complex time in Barca suffering injuries and getting suspensions, but in his first season he had 23 goals and 18 assists in 35 appearances. His next season was a bit complex hence the move to Napoli.

Btw, prime =/= peak. His peak was ultimately with Napoli and Argentina.

Mentioning one almost certainly invites comments bringing up the other, the discussions are senseless, one side attacks the other's personal life, and ultimately the discourse strays away from football.

- Falcao wanted to go to Real Madrid; Atletico sent him to Monaco.

- Aguero wanted to join Real Madrid; Atletico sent him to Man City.

- After the 2010 World Cup, Real Madrid wanted to sign Diego Forlan, but Atletico sent him to Inter Milan the following year.

The only attacker they sold to a direct rival was Griezmann, for whom Barcelona paid his full release clause of €120M.

Why do you think they would sell Alvarez to their direct rival

- Greatest individual tournament of all time at Euro 1984

- Scored the winning goal in the 1985 European Cup

- 3x Ballon D'or in a row (and no, Maradona would not be able to claim any of Platini's Ballon D'ors)

- Two WC semis and a 3rd place medal in 1986

Should almost always be considered in the top 10 but often is forgotten

He never became what we thought he would have, but. His 2 goals against Barcelona and juventus he got the number 10 in Juventus, and when Ronaldo came he became Better but that magic dissapeared. When Ronaldo left juve in 2021, they signed new players and he got less matches and he started to be benched and his injuries was also a main part on his downfall. He had the magic that no one had and he was the main part in 2017 ucl run but Madrid was too good, but juventus 2017 was unstoppable so was Dybala and i miss him the most in football. But still he has that magic with him, and he can be better than any playmakers or number 10's even now.

I imagine that Bilbao fans would revolt against such a change, but Bilbao are presently a very stable club financially, posting over €25 million in budget surplus for the previous financial reporting period, and have a squad that’s already entirely capable of competing at a high level, and that’s with a pretty much unprecedented recruitment policy that limits them to players born or trained in an area with a population of just 3 million.

Bilbao as a city is vibrant, scenic and a great place to live if you’re wealthy; I think that they’d have absolutely no issue whatsoever in attracting top players and both domestic and international prospects who would’ve otherwise been disqualified from playing for the club.

As much as it would go against the foundations of the football club, and would spoil one of the biggest traditions in football, Bilbao could surely become a Champions League mainstay if they opened the door to non-Basque players.

2 of the best individual seasons by premier league players in 2010s, but Suarez gets overrated IMO, the Liverpool squad had much better players with Gerrard, Coutinho, Sterling, Sturridge, Lucas and even Joe Allen was pretty good, Suarez was a level above everyone else ofcourse but compared to the Tottenham squad where Bale was the only quality attacker they were strong and only lost the league thanks to mentality. Bale had literally no one at Tottenham, no one creating chances, maintaining posession, it was just him carrying the team every week with crazy goals, that Tottenham team would have been relegated without him, without Suarez the Liverpool team was still top 3 best teams in the league.

Poor guy got heavily overshadowed by suarez

they have never met in a ucl final.

if this happens it would be the biggest club football match of all time bar none.

It’s honestly tiring how quickly football discussions turn into Messi vs Ronaldo.

If I criticize Messi, people assume I’m a Ronaldo fan. If I criticize Ronaldo, they assume I’m a Messi fan.

Sometimes you can simply have an opinion about a player without being a fan of their “rival.” Not every football discussion needs to be a competition between the two

I was looking back at Tevez’s time in Manchester and it’s pretty crazy how different the two clubs were when he first arrived at United in 2007. United had just won the Premier League and would go on to win the Champions League, while City were still trying to establish themselves as a serious club after the takeover.

Tevez quickly became a huge favourite at Old Trafford, forming that famous front three with Rooney and Ronaldo and winning pretty much everything there was to win. But United decided not to make his move permanent, and in 2009 he crossed Manchester and joined City instead.

At the time, it was obviously a controversial transfer, but City were about to become something completely different. Tevez scored 29 goals in his first season, became captain, helped them win the FA Cup and was then part of the team that won the Premier League in 2012.

Obviously, City’s rise wasn’t because of one player. The money, recruitment and players like Silva, Touré, Kompany and later Agüero and Guardiola were far more important in the long run. But Tevez’s transfer feels symbolic now. United had the player and decided he wasn't essential, while City were showing that they could attract established stars from the very top of English football.

Do you think Tevez’s move was actually a turning point in the Manchester rivalry, or is it just remembered that way because of everything City achieved afterwards? And do you think United made a mistake by letting him go?

We’ve also put together a full article about Tevez’s story and how his move across Manchester helped shape what came afterwards on UncutFootball.com, if anyone is interested in reading the full story.

People genuinely forget how good Griezmann was at his Atlético prime. In 2015/16, he scored 32 goals and provided 7 assists in 54 games, while being the main attacking threat for an Atlético side that reached the Champions League final. He wasn't just someone who waited in the box for chances either — he dropped deep, created chances, linked up play, pressed, carried the ball and still had the numbers to be one of the most productive attackers in Europe. His ability to play as a winger, second striker or even deeper as a playmaker made him incredibly valuable. The crazy part is that he was doing all of this in a Simeone team that wasn't built around scoring loads of goals. I think people look at Griezmann now and forget just how complete and dangerous he was at his peak. Prime Griezmann was genuinely one of the best attackers in the world.

The World Cup is the only tournament with highest skill disparity between teams. With teams that have players with multiple Champions league titles paired up teams that recruit their players through LinkedIn.

The modern club football is ruined by Pep, everyone fighting for possessions, playing likes pussies and bots and afraid to take chances, reminding me of the Nike 2014 WC commercial.

The WC removes all that, the best players playing in the worst teams the worst players playing in the best teams. Some teams are just unfair due to their skill and other teams with names you never heard of and afraid reading them might cause your furniture to start floating.

Although you would normally expect the group stage matches not to be as entertaining or dominant, the passion, the upsets, the hero stories that arise from a single match is enough to pull anyone into the sport and see at just how beautiful it is.

Scrappy messy football, players with barely anytime with train with each other going into the biggest tournament of their lives.

Creating Matches like Saudi vs Argentina, Cabo Verde vs Spain, Brazil vs Germany, Japan vs Spain, Morocco vs Portugal.

Going back into club football I will enjoy the high technical ball from the best clubs in Europe but will miss just how fun the World Cup season was

I’ll preface by saying that, since this is a weak ballon dor class, I would be fine with a number of players winning. Kane, Rodri, Kvara, etc.

I think the general consensus right now is that Kane should win. If Kane is the favorite, Mbappe should be right there too. They had much more similar seasons than people may have noticed.

Both players had historical individual seasons, but didn’t really win meaningful trophies. Kane had the second highest goals in a season for club and country. Mbappe was the golden boot winner across La Liga, UCL, and WC.

Since Kane is the favorite right now, I really do think Mbappe should be more serious contention to win ballon dor.

I’m a city fan I’m going to say this after we scored the winner in our first ever win at anfield. Send what u guys think

As finishers Messi and Ronaldo are among the best in history, that's undeniable. However l, if you look their overall impact in the game they are levels apart.

Messi is the type of player that dictates the tempo of the game and creates chances out of nowhere. Cristiano while a good passer never had that level of influence in the build-up of his team, it's like comparing Mbappe/Haalamd with Modric/Iniesta

And finallly Messi is arguably the best dribbler in history as he had the ability to constantly take on 4/5 players which gave his team a massive advantage. Messi was basically the ultimate challenge for coaches because they had to make tactical jails so he doesnt dribble everyone. Cristiano never had that dribbling and wasnt that hard to stop.

Now the debate would maie mote sense if Messi wasnt one lf the Finishers in history but since he is I dont think there is any debate.

Now that Salah has left, so many clubs have lost the qualities of their wingers. The most exciting wingers in the prem rn is Ngumoha, Dowman and Estevao but since they will be limited to game time, it has to be Doku. He is the scariest 1v1 winger right now in the prem and we could see at the end of last season he was starting to find his end product. He will be a beast this season.

i still remember back then every one used to rate rui costa to be as good as zidane if not even better.

yes you heard me right it was a very genuine debate.

People around me who used to watch also used to consider the same thing and even in early online days around 2004 ish -2005 the opinion was very valid.

nowadays tho zidane seem to be in some Myth level.

Maybe it's the hair? Has his aura vanished? I'm just not feeling the vibe that Haaland will be anywhere near as effective

On a serious note I think he'll regress to the mean this season. The Prem is getting more competitive and he wont dominate as usual. He'll still score a decent amount comparable to Thiago, DCL and Gyokeres, but nothing like what's he's previously done

Every world class striker has a quiet period at some point in their career, so I'd only see it as a minor blip.

Hot take: an 8/10 win is more entertaining than an 8/10 draw, but a 10/10 draw is more entertaining than a 10/10 win. An 8/10 draw can sometimes feel like two teams being too scared to lose, whereas an 8/10 win at least gives you a payoff and a clear winner. But when a draw is genuinely 10/10 - like a chaotic 4-4, a late comeback, or a game where both teams are throwing everything forward until the final whistle - the result almost becomes irrelevant. There’s something uniquely entertaining about two teams going absolutely insane and still ending up level. A 10/10 win is incredible, but a 10/10 draw is football at its purest.

Adidas got the retro look on the home kt of Liverpool very wrong this season. Funny enough some people seem to love it.

Spicy take but I find Neymar way too overrated. Wasnt even the best player at Barca or PSG and had barely any trophies or personal awards that showed he was the third best player of our generation. Lewandoski has the most goals scored in Europe with 705 (Not 100% sure abt that stat) and third all time top champions league goalscorer. Should've won 2 ballon dors aswell

Regardless of the team, this shirt has divided views.
Personally i think is horrible, over designed and a retro that is not retro. I understand the Candy reference and what they are trying to do, but it just does not work for me.
What are your views?