I came up with this article by football.co.uk asking who the third best player in the world was. Obviously placing Messi and Ronaldo in the first two spots.

Luis Suarez
Manuel Neuer
Eden Hazard
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Sergio Aguero
Robert Lewandowski
Gareth Bale
Neymar
Thomas Muller

???

Make your pick.

In my opinion this third best player varis very often, maybe even from week to week. But Im sure Bayern has to have that player. It's probably Muller or Lewandowski for me.

http://www.football.co.uk/chelsea/if-messi-and-ronaldo-are-the-top-two-who-is-the-worlds-thi/6911554#Pfue2gXtEMJOYfEk.97

Last year Hazard for sure. This year he's nowhere close to the top 5. I'll probably pick Lewandowski, Aguero or Modric..

I perosnally think there are so many thing wrong with our recent voting, including the Ballon 'Or (which is obvious).Midfielder or defender are not appreciated enough. Look at our debating :(...

Take away Modric or James, the whole Madrid attacking force with chock badly against leveling teams. In Madrid I watched their games, and I have to say I rate him even higher than Ronaldo in a lot of games... Ronaldo is a brilliant scoring machine, but a lot of his games in which he score 2 goals, he played like absolute crap the whole game. Modric was the running engine..

Same goes to Aguero and Neymar, Neymar is great but very wasteful at times.

Dont get me wrong, Messi and ROnaldo deserve their places up there. But I think it's time we must be fair to those non-scorers

Ok, first off @tuanis, could you please tell us whether this is for this season, or this generation (2002-present).
Many players are amazing, but if it was this generation, it would be really difficult cause it's got to be Robben, Zlatan, Modric or even Ozil.

@tuan Yeps correct :-P ppl also tend to forget that football is a teamgame. We also rarely praise or blame team, it always seems to be about individual.

Aside from Diego Godin, maaaaybe Thiago Silva, and pre-ankle break Boateng, there isn't a single defender on the planet I'd call world class.

The rule changes and emphasis of getting good distribution from the back have made it almost impossible for a defender to dominate the way Nesta/Maldini/Terry/Vidic/Carragher did.

Definitely Hazard. few bad matches doesn't take it away from you. Hell, even Ronaldo and Messi underperform often but no one put them out of top 10.

Agüero or Suarez

Completely agree with @Tuan. In the last two seasons, Modric has replaced Ronaldo as our most important player. I'd say the importance of players in our squad go in this order...

1. Modric/Kroos
2. James
3. Ronaldo/Casemiro

@dynastian I've just seen 2 (atleti & don't remember the other one) games from Casemiro this season - on both games he was immense, but has he impressed you on every game? I REALLY hope that he'll become important for Real Madrid.
He'd be Real Madrid's Coquelin, I know RMA like to attack like headless chickens which I really enjoy, but on big games like in Clasico, UCL semi finals & vs Atleti you need some1 who sits in front of the center backs, and Casemiro can do just that. Not just that, but he's technically superb.

Btw 4:42 almost screamed so loud while everyone was sleeping after that pass... !

^Wut...

Why is everyone forgetting Lord Bendtner? :P

I'd agree with the assessment on Modric. But Real can survive with out him as they still have Kroos. Pleople don't realize how valuable Kroos is for that team. I'd persoanally pick Aguero. I don't think City would have won a single title with any other striker they would have signed. But a Wazza in form is the 3rd best player. And infact, he is the only complete player I know. Ronnie and Messi are amazing. But they are not complete. They do not defend. For me, they are complete wing forwards. Zlatan is the best striker.

@DecentK

Yes, Casemiro has been terrific in every game he's played for us this season. His willingness to go in for the rough tackle and clean up mistakes by our forwards and midfielders is inspiring. He is happy to do the 'dirty job' that Alonso and Khedira used to share for us under Mourinho, and has extremely good distribution for a defensive midfielder (obviously nowhere near Alonso's, but definitely much better than Khedira's).

I disagree with @Ashwin's opinion on Kroos and Modric though. Modric is almost twice the player Kroos is. No disrespect to Toni Kroos, he is still one of the top 3 midfielders in the world for me, but Modric's ability to control the game is far ahead of Kroos'. Luka's quick movement, his intelligent, perfectly weighted, and timed passes, and his incredible vision makes him much more elusive and capable than the slightly more sluggish Kroos. Kroos is more of a destructive midfielder (sharp and incisive passes, ridiculously powerful shots, extremely direct and goal-minded), whereas Modric is a silent and elegant maestro (agile movement, more patient build-up play, perfectly-weighted passes).

tl;dr Kroos is excellent, but has not even once proven that he has the skill sets or ability required to perform half the job Modric does.

This is obviously for current form. We are just trying to get the final trio of the Ballon D' Or list.

Players who could have been considered 3rd best: Robben, Neuer, Ribery, Iniesta, Neymar, Hazard...

Modric has been doing well but I dont think he could make it in the top 5 just because of how much he provides for RM.

Defenders now a days are in a general no so good form. Before it was debatable that a CB could end up in the top 5 or even top 3 players in the world but currently I see no defender at that level.

@Dynast: Real doesn't really play around Kroos when Modric's playing. But, the point is Kroos can play like Luka. He won't be effective from the get go, but with a few games, you can replace Luka with Kroos.

@ashwin You maybe right about kroos, but man We had Kroos all season last year and he couldn't fill the gap Modric did, Isco and kroos pair was very good last season and these two were by far alongside Marcelo who were actually trying. But he just couldn't do well against teams that counter-attack and teams that add tons of pressure. Trust me, if mourinho was coaching us, kroos would be in the bench 90% of the season.

Modric alone can make any midfield of any team look strong. Simple as that. He can support the defense and offence.

@Tuanis I would disagree with all your points, Putting Ribery, Iniesta, Neymar ahead of Modric is ludicrous. He can do wonders for Madrid and croatia. I know it may be old but just look at Modric vs Spain in the Euro 12.
He outplayed spain completely and it was spain with the best trio midfield. At their prime ffs!

At the moment, I'd go for Agüero or Lewandowski.

3 rd place looks pretty oppen, many players could pretend to it, Modric is Footbalistic choice, Football used to award players not on how much followers they have, or how cute they are...

if its this year lewandowski he might even be first