GK: Peter Schmeichel (The Great Dane).

Revolutionized the position of goalkeeper, and stood as out, to me, the very greatest of all time. I know about Yashin. I know about Zoff. I know about Banks. Schmeichel tops them all, in my opinion. His athleticism, strength, courage and passion all combined into the perfect keeper, able to to deal with any kind of threat, and with a cannon of an arm to hurl the ball at 50mph down the wing to start the counter-attack.

Small wonder then that he won 15 trophies at United, including 5 league title, a treble including the Champions League and 3 FA Cups.

Oh, and he also guided Denmark to a European Cup title in 1992.

LB: Paolo Maldini: (Il Capitano)

There's not even a need to explain this one, but I'll do it anyway. Greatest left-back in history. Think of AC MIlan without thinking of him. Go on, I challenge you. He's the man who protected their left flank across 3 decades, from 1986 until 2008, racking up over 900 appearances for his club. And what did he use those appearances for?

Well: 7 league titles, 5 Champions League victories (and 3 more finals beside), and 5 Supercoppa Italiana. Not to mention a World Cup final, with Italy.

Beat that.

Anyone.

RB: Cafu

The Milan contingent is not yet over, as on the other flank we've got the most capped Brazillian player of all time, who managed to help Milan win the Italian league, the Champions League, and had also won the league with Roma beforehand. He will go down as an amazing component of the great Milan side of the mid-2000s, but, it is international level where he truly blows anyone else away.

A record 142 appearances for the magnificent Brazil of the 90s and early 2000s, Cafu has played in no less than 3 World Cup finals (the only player in history to have achieved this), and won 2 of them to boot. He also holds the record of having participated in the most World Cup matches, having been victorious in 16 of them.

There's no argument. He's the greatest right-back of all time.

CB: Franco Baresi (Piscinin)

Incredibly, the Rossoneri are still not done contributing to this list, and to the Milanese, perhaps the best was saved for last, as Franco Baresi was named AC Milan's Player of the 20th Century, in 1999. A tough thing to claim, considering the two full-backs that have been mentioned already, but, no-one could say he hasn't earned it with his accomplishments.

6 league titles, 3 European Cups (including back-to-back in 1989 and 1990), 4 Supercoppa Italiana, 3 UEFA Super Cups for the club were a fair return for this lofty pedestal, and on the international stage he appeared in 2 World Cup finals, including the famous 1982 victory.

I know some other fine names deserve to be considered as the rock of all rocks in defense, but, Baresi wins it for me.

CB: Franz Beckenbauer (Der Kaiser)

Although his early fame and glory came from defensive midfield (aged 21 he became a World Cup finalist in 1966, and joint-third highest scorer of the tournament), Beckenbauer will go down, for me, as the finest defender who ever lived. Changing the entire mentality of defense as an art form, it is Beckenbauer who really invented the libero role, putting it to fine use for both club and country, as his playing torphies will attest.

4 German league titles and 3 European Cups (in a row, from 1976-1978!) for Bayern Munich should be enough for anyone, but, he topped it by also winning the World Cup for Germany in 1974, as well as the 1972 European Championships two years prior.

How to follow that? Well, as a manager he gave true testament to his fabulous footballing mind as he coached Germany to 2 World Cup finals, winning the second in 1990, and became the only player in history to have both captained and managed a World Cup victory.

Is there any question about his inclusion?

DM/CM: Sir Bobby Charlton

Manchester United's top scorer of all time is a high honour to hold, especially when the club has seen talents such as Best, Cantona, Beckham, Ronaldo, Giggs, Law and Rooney, but it's the central midfielder who survived the Munich air disaster who stands tallest in the history of Old Trafford. For United he scored 249 goals across 17 years, having come through the famous youth academy of Sir Matt Busby, Chalrton is also England's top goalscorer of all, with 49 goals from his amazing midfield captaincy.

A World Cup winning captain, a midfield engine beyond compare, Sir Bobby Charlton's career is made all the more impressive when laid against the backdrop of the terrible airplane crash which robbed United of a European semi-finalist's squad in 1968. Ten years later, having won 3 league titles along the way, Charlton also captained his club to a European Cup at last.

His goals were famous, and his manners impeccable, but its his work-rate, passion and determination which defined his play, and so he's there to protect the back four, and also be the ultimate tool to recycle possession, beginning the attack anew, from deep. And if he gets the chance for one of his trademark 30-yard wondergoals...?

Yeah.

RAM: Zinedine Zidane (Zizou)

What really needs to be said about Zidane, that anyone here doesn't know already? The absolute maestro of his decade, Zidane left a legacy across three leagues, stamped his name upon the international stage, and produced some of the most sublime moments ever seen in the sport.

2 World Cup finals (1 victorious) and a European Championship for his country, 3 Champions League victories, 3 league titles, 1 Ballon d'Or and 3 times the FIFA Player of the Year, Zizou's legacy somehow transcends even this haul of trophies, recognized by many as the most inspirational player of the 1990s. It's worth noting, also, that his accolades could have been even greater, had he not cost himself the Ballon d'Or in 2000 with a headbutt, or had he not got sent off in the 2006 World Cup final for another attack with his head.

A flawed genius, then, but a genius almost peerless throughout the history of the game.

LAM: Ferenc Puskas (The Galloping Major)

One of the truly greatest players of all time, the Hungarian at the centre of Real Madrid's historic team of the late 50s and early 60s, Ferenc Puskas deserves to have his earliest glories remembered too.

A World Cup finalist with his country in 1954, the undoubted jewel of the so-called Mighty Magyars won 5 Hungarian league titles in a row from 1951-1955, before he had to flee the country. Credited with originating the concepts which would inspire and become Total Football, and later tiki-taka, this Hungary side were legendary, and Puskas was the core of this revolutionary side.

But his career was far from done, and at Real Madrid he went on to win 5 Spanish league titles in a row from 1961-1965, and 3 European Cups with Los Blancos. Heralded by L'Equipe as the European Player of the 20th Century, it's hard to imagine a legacy more lasting than that of the incredible Puskas.

Hard, but not impossible, as we shall see...

RW: Lionel Messi

Barely anything needs to be said, but, I'll say it anyway. For me, Messi is the best player of all time; hands-down. First, let's talk about trophies. At Barcelona, he's won everything there is to win. Twice.

6 league titles, 3 Champions League victories, 2 Club World Cups and 2 UEFA Super Cups is what Barca can thank Messi for, and at 26 years old, the thought of what he might yet bring them is staggering. The holder of the all time record for goals-scored in a calender year, the 4-time winner of the Ballon d'Or, this man is simply exceptional in every department.

Defenses... tremble at the thought of Messi being fed by Zidane and Puskas....

LW: Johan Cruyff

If Messi is the best of all time, then much thanks does he owe to the godfather of FC Barcelona: the enigma that is Joyan Cruyff, and my personal choice as the greatest player and influence upon football the world has ever seen.

With a small, obscure Amsterdam club Cruyff and his team-mates managed to win the Dutch league 6 times in 8 years (2 more during his second spell), and the European Cup 3 years in a row; a feat unmatched by anyone except the Real Madrid of the 1950s and Beckenbauer's Munich, being awarded the Ballon d'Or 3 times in 4 years. He won a further league title in Spain, one more for Feyenoord in the Eredivisie, before he sunk his claws into management.

Revolutionizing Barcelona, first as a player, into a true challenge to Real Madrid, and then as a manager into the finest academy in the world, it is Cruyff who laid the foundations for Guardiola, Messi, Iniesta, Xavi and more to thrive. It was his ideas, descended from the genius of the Mighy Magyars of Ferenc Puskas, developed into Total Football, that defined and invented the modern era of football as we know it.

It all came from Cruyff. Bow down, mortals, because he's the greatest to ever live.

ST: Ronaldo (Il Fenomeno)

Simply put: the finest striker the world has ever seen. And I don't care what anyone says. Neener.

Seriously, though, this man was it. The perfect player. The total package. Everything you would want to say about a striker, you could say of Ronaldo, a player whose footballing genius was often overshadowed by both his physical prowess, and unfortunately by injury also. He will always be remembered as "the Phenomenon", or as "the REAL Ronaldo", because he was like nothing the world had seen before.

His first year at Barcelona, he became the league's top scorer, seemingly effortlessly (34 goals in 37 games, 1 Copa del Rey and 1 UEFA Cup Winner's Cup). His first year at Inter Milan saw him finish as the 2nd-top scorer -- no mean feat in the best league in the world at the time. In 1998 he destroyed his way through the World Cup, becoming the top scorer, and recognized as secondary only to Zidane himself in the tournament overall. Having suffered a seizure the day before the final, he was clearly unfit to play, and Brazil fell short to France.

Injury to his tendon the following season left Ronaldo all-but out of football for almost two years, including most of the season leading up to the 2002 World Cup. But, against all odds, he fought his way to full fitness, and led Brazil to a 3rd successive final in a row; this time scoring twice to win the trophy, become the leading goalscorer for two tournaments in a row, and finally reach the summit he was destined to reach.

More fitness issues plagued him following his move to Real Madrid, but he won the league with them, scoring 20+ goals for 3 seasons in a row, before age and weight took their toll. Nonetheless, when 2006 came, the World Cup was the stage where he reminded the world of what might have been -- scoring 3 more goals to become the record holder of most number of World Cup goals in history. More than Pele. More than Muller. More than Maradona.

Winning the Ballon d'Or 2 times (FIFA Player of the Year 3 times), holding the World Cup's all-time goalscoring record, and becoming the most recognizable sports personality of his generation in the world are just some of the things which make it incredible to think that there is so much more which Might Have Been, for history's most complete striker, had injury not ravaged his career.

Ronaldo, Il Femomeno, indeed.

You'll notice that neither Pele nor Maradona are there.

Discuss... ;)

maybe I'd put Lev Yashin in the net but, I agree with others.
damn I miss Brazil with these players.
btw. You nailed it with that Tottenham jersey :D

GEORGE BEST

No Willian? Really? Lodatz? :)) jk.. But seriously where is Jimmy Greaves? :)

Really no Pele or Maradona? I am no expert on legends but that is definitley interesting....

My choice would be this:

^ Falcao in CDM?

^ Not the same Falcao :).
Coach: Sir Alex Ferguson,
Gk: Lev Yashin,
Cb: Franz Beckenbauer (captain),
Cb: Paolo Maldini,
Cb: Cafu,
Rwb: Garrincha,
Lwb: Roberto Carlos (Long free kicks),
Cm: Zinedine Zidane (short free kicks),
Cm: Diego Maradona,
Cm: Johan Cruyff,
St: Pele,
St: Ronaldo 9 (penalties).

I would like to add Messi but it will give less freedom to other legends :).

^^ I have a feeling he means the Brazilian Falcao, of the 80s, and whom Radamael Falcao was named after. ;)

And rama, yep, no Pele or Maradona. The biggest reason why, is that my team selection has a huge emphasis on team-play, while both Pele and Maradona were exceptional individualists. Ronaldinho, too. Their inclusion would have to mean the team revolving around them or else they'd be wasted.

By contrast, I think each of the players I chose would be the most ideal, ever, to play alongside one another. Imagine, seriously, the best striker ever, with 4 of the most visionary, sublime playmakers of all time operating around him. And behind that, a defense and holding midfielder who are, to a man, the epitome of selflessness and drive to win.

I don't think either Pele or Maradona would improve that team, and their inclusion would imbalance it too much.