Do you agree with our list of the definitive top 10 forwards EVER…
CaughtOffside counts down the ten greatest forwards in history, two Brazilian World Cup heroes feature along with Argentina’s greatest ever player, and modern greats Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Tell us your top 10 in the comments!
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Every day this week will be uploading our definitive top ten lists. Make sure to come back at 11pm tomorrow evening, when we’ll be closing out the working week with the definitive top 10 dribblers EVER.
10) Romario
He is one of the few players that scored more than 1000 goals. He was the striker of Barcelona’s dream team during the early 90’s that was coached by Johan Cruyff. He won the World Cup with Brazil in 1994, winning the golden ball for best player.
9) Marco van Basten
The Ajax and Milan hero inspired Holland to victory in the European Championships in 1988, where he was the tournament’s top scorer with five goals. A talented player whose career came to an end early due to injury.
8) Gerd Muller
Muller won the World Cup with West-Germany in 1974, scoring a total of 68 goals in 62 matches for the national team. He was nicknamed “Der Bomber” because of his incredible scoring ability, netting 566 times in 607 matches for Bayern Munich.
7) Eusebio
Eueébio, nicknamed “The Black Panther”, is Benfica’s all-time top scorer with 638 goals in 614 matches. He impressed with Portugal at the 1966 World Cup in England where he finished as the tournament’s top scorer, with nine goals.
6) Cristiano Ronaldo
A modern legend who is not strictly a striker, but slots into this category as an attacking forward. At the time of writing, his goal tally for Real Madrid stands at 277 in 264, although that has probably changed again by now. Champions League winner with Madrid and Manchester United, by the time his career comes to an end he will be among the greatest of all time.
5) Lionel Messi
That same sentiment rings true for Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, now the highest goalscorer in La Liga history, with 253 league goals. His overall tally for the Catalans stands at an incredible 368 in 441, although his critics would have you believe that he must win the World Cup before he can be considered the best ever.
4) Ronaldo
Ronaldo was the greatest striker of the late ’90s and early ’00s. In this period he was just unstoppable, he could score from any position at any moment. His (until recently, record) 15 World Cup goals helped Brazil to success in 2002, as well as reaching the 1998 final. He also enjoyed a successful club career, perhaps most notably with Real Madrid.
3) Ferenc Puskás
The Hungarian icon scored 513 goals in 528 club matches, as well as 84 in 85 for his country. He helped his team to a gold medal at the 1952 Olympics, although he missed out on World Cup success, as his side were controversially beaten in the 1954 final, losing 3-2 to West Germany.
2) Diego Maradona
An attacking midfielder by trade perhaps, but he deserved to be compared with his greatest ever rival – Pele – and his successor as the golden boy of Argentinian football – Lionel Messi. Maradona was the inspiration behind his country’s World Cup triumph in 1986, where he scored one of the tournament’s best ever goals (as well as one of its worst).
1) Pele
Like Maradona, not a traditional striker, but surely the most clinical player of all time. The scorer of 619 goals in 638 league games for Santos, as well as 77 goals in 92 games for Brazil, whom he took to World Cup glory in 1958, 1962 and 1970.
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