1. Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona, Argentina)
Lionel Messi is the player who needs no introduction. He has been the best player in the history of FC Barcelona and many consider him as the greatest of all time. Messi has created a legacy that no other player will be able to do for a long time.
With more than 470 goals and 170 assists for FC Barcelona, Lionel Messi has left nothing to conquer at club level. He has won every possible trophy in Spain (on several occasions).
He was also a crucial part of Barcelona's treble-winning squad in 2015 having scored more than 50 goals. The list of achievements is huge in the case of Messi and it doesn't seem like he has any intention to slow down.
With all the great accolades under Messi's name, one major miss is an international trophy with his country Argentina.
Messi & co have had the chance to win the last two Copa America titles. But on both occasions, they were defeated by Chile. Argentina also had a poor show in the World Cup suffering major defeats against Croatia & France. Messi also did not look in the best form of his life although many will also blame the manager and other team members.
Messi is still chasing the dream of winning an international trophy. But even if he doesn't win one, it will not change the fact that he is one of the greatest players the game of football has ever had. And not putting him in this list would certainly be a disregard.
2. Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus, Portugal)
Cristiano Ronaldo is the only player in the same league as Messi. Ronaldo is stronger and taller than the Argentine, and his goals-to-games ratio is similar. In 2016, Ronaldo was named FIFA's Player of the Year, his fourth such honor.
Since joining Real Madrid from Manchester United in 2009, Ronaldo has been a revelation, making the world-record outlay of $131 million look less outrageous with every goal he scores. His famous stopover is imitated in parks across the world.
3. Neymar (PSG, Brazil)
Neymar has been playing pro soccer since he was 17. As of 2018, he has scored more goals than Messi and Ronaldo had at the same stage of their careers and he has the capacity to be the very best once Messi's career begins to wind down.
Alongside with the best Players in the world like Argentine and Suarez, he forms one of the best attacking lineups in the history of the sport. In 2016, Neymar was named the captain of Brazil's soccer team at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
4. Luis Suarez (Barcelona, Uruguay)
The Barcelona striker is not everyone’s cup of tea, but his ability is not up for debate. Luis Suarez is a master at weaving his way into the penalty box, deadly in one-on- one situations, and an excellent free-kick taker.
His link-up play with teammates is of the highest order, and he always gives 100 percent. A penchant for conning referees remains his Achilles heel, but that did not stop Barcelona from paying Liverpool $128.5 million for the player in July 2014.
5. Luka Modric (Real Madrid, Croatia)
After six years of the Messi-Ronaldo duopoly, we have a new winner. The Croatian won by some distance, 246 points to be exact, and 79 judges had him as their No 1 (compared with 48 for Messi and 33 for Ronaldo). And it had been coming. When even Zinedine Zidane coos about you, you know you’re doing something right – and Modric does a lot right. “When the ball passes by his feet, the play flows as if football was the easiest thing in the world,” Jorge Valdano wrote for the Guardian during the World Cup.
“Suddenly, we discover space and time do exist and all we needed was someone with the talent to bring them back, to make them what they always were. Someone who knows how to play football. Or better still PLAY FOOTBALL in capitals.” Curiously, his best season – winner of every individual award, climbing five places to first in our list – was not his best season, as he had performed better for his club the two previous seasons. But an extraordinary FIFA World Cup brought universal recognition for a wonderful player.
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