10. Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi not at the top of a list? It’s almost as alien as he is.
While the 2010s were owned by the little genius, the 2000s were his origin story. After breaking through as a prodigy in the mid-2000s and being taken under Ronaldinho’s wing, Messi glittered for Barcelona, enthusing everyone about what he might become. Expectations were realised in 2008.
It took Pep Guardiola becoming manager of Barcelona, casting aside Deco and Ronaldinho in favour of giving Messi the no.10 shirt. Not only that, Pep sent the youngster to the Olympics for the experience: he came back with a gold medal, before helping to fire Barca to an historic treble in 2009. The rest, as they say, is history.
9. Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Watching compilations of Zlatan’s greatest goals might be the best way to spend a rainy afternoon. The big Swede regularly humiliated opponents during his Malmo and Ajax days, dancing through defences with the balance and close control of a player half his size.
He could also smash them, head them, chip them, volley them, slot them; he scored an outrageous variety and number of goals wherever he went, from Amsterdam and Turin to Barcelona and Milan. More than 150 goals were plundered in the noughties – well before his peak years at Milan and PSG. Difficult to manage? Sure. Worth it? Absolutely.
8. Andres Iniesta
Andres Iniesta has fewer career goals than John Terry. In each of his last three title-winning seasons at Barcelona, he registered one, two and one assist.
And yet El Ilusionista’s influence defies pure numbers. He could turn tides - like in the 2006 Champions League final to inspire Barca back from behind. He could weave his way through defences, create space for others and provide the final or penultimate pass. Iniesta won everything there was to win - most of it in 2009 - and he did so with the deftness of a painter, rather than the sledgehammer style of so many other midfielders. His legacy is as ageless and elegant as he is.
7. Ronaldo
Ronaldo ended the 90s shrouded in mystery over what really happened that night in Saint-Denis. He ended the noughties regarded by some as the greatest striker to ever play that game.
That pace; that ferocity. R9 was unstoppable at his peak, bulldozing through defences. He even though he slowed down considerably, he was still a force of nature; see his virtuoso hat-trick at Old Trafford or the whirlwind World Cup final of 2002. Ronaldo was more than a footballer in the end. He’s a moment in history when the bar for strikers was raised: he’s still the archetypal no.9 of the modern age. They called him El Fenomeno for a reason.
6. Xavi
The man Pep Guardiola claimed “will retire me" when the managerial great was still a Barcelona midfielder. Xavi came to embody an entire footballing philosophy in Catalonia: pass and move, pass and move, pass and move, ad infinitum. Nobody in a team packed with superstars performed that simple task better than he did. Maybe nobody ever will again.
The Spaniard’s composed leadership and metronomic retention skills formed the bedrock for Barcelona’s successes under Frank Rijkaard and, later, Pep, and were key as Spain tiki-taka’d their way to Euro 2008 glory. Perhaps the greatest midfield schemer the world will ever know.
5. Cristiano Ronaldo
The roasting a spotty young Ronaldo gave John O’Shea in a 2003 friendly between Sporting and Manchester United remains the stuff of legend. The teenager’s performance that afternoon ensured a show pony with braces on his teeth was plucked from obscurity and rewired into an all-time great at Old Trafford.
From blubbering into the turf after the Euro 2004 final to the towering header against Chelsea in Moscow (one of 42 across the 2007/08 season), Ronaldo came to life before our very eyes, with Sir Alex Ferguson his adoring, cosseting Geppetto. CR7's final three seasons in England saw him bag 91 goals in all competitions – astonishing stats for a winger – before he set sail for greater things at Real Madrid; the record-breaking £80m man.
4. Thierry Henry
Thierry Henry was a footballer of juxtapositions. Well, for a start, he defined the noughties for strikers - yet he would’ve thrived in any era of the game, in any side.
Arguably no one has had such a combination of grace and brute force: he could destroy you with a slalom run or a backheel. No one would score and assist at quite such a rate: no one was quite so dangerous both in and out of the box. A man of class with a devilish streak. A striker with a winger’s brain and a midfielder’s influence.
Henry was not just the king: he was the entire courtroom. And few footballers have ever put the fear of god into so many.
3. Kaka
“I belong to Jesus” the Brazilian proclaimed (through the medium of a white vest) following Milan’s triumph over Liverpool in the 2007 Champions League final. Those who witnessed Kaka in his pomp will agree that few players have ever channeled the divine quite like him.
The playmaker was the perfect blend of balance, speed, power and god given genius. For a two-year spell between 2005 and 2007, he was the best player on the planet; bewitching fans with his effortless supremacy. The sumptuous pass for Hernan Crespo’s opening goal in the 2005 Champions League final; the surging run and cool finish for Brazil against Argentina at the Emirates in 2006; the nonchalant bullying of Manchester United’s entire defence in 2007. It was just all too easy for the boy from Gama.
2. Zinedine Zidane
The closer you marked him, the easier he shackled free. The more space you gave him, the easier he cut you open. Any ball from any angle, speed and weight, Zinedine Zidane would control it like it was made of glass. There has perhaps never been a footballer so mystical, magical and downright majestic.
And Zizou punctuated his talent with moments of marvel that would stand the test of time. Moments like his pirouettes against Portugal and spins against Spain (both at Euro 2000). His swivel-thunderbolt volley to win the Champions League. His one-man demolition of Brazil (2006). Moments that need only a description to conjure Kodak-like colour in your mind.
What he won almost became irrelevant to how he could hold your wonder in the palm of his hand. Zidane was a celestial being among men: how could you not adore him?
1. Ronaldinho
Some footballers are said to play the game with a smile on their face… Ronaldinho literally did. Even in the heat of battle, the Brazilian could be found grinning from ear to ear, delighted to be on a football pitch.
English football fans were first introduced to the playmaker at the 2002 World Cup, when the Selecao’s no.11 sent a freekick swirling over the head of David Seaman in Fukuroi City. Throughout the tournament, his feints, stepovers, no-look passes, ball juggling, nutmegs and samba magic embodied everything Brazilian football should be, as the nation’s fifth title was secured in Tokyo.
A move to Barcelona in 2003 ushered in a new era for the fallen giants. Ronaldinho’s mastery inspired Frank Rijkaard’s side to their first La Liga titles in six years, before Champions League glory in 2006. "The greatest compliment I could give him is that he's given Barcelona our spirit back,” said captain Carles Puyol. “He has made us smile again.”
Through it all, Ronaldinho played with the carefree abandon of a kid in the park; that smile was there for all to see, and we couldn’t help but smile back.
Honorable mention: Adriano
While his prime years fizzled out much too early to earn a place on this list, Adriano was considered based on his form between 2003 and 2006. The Brazilian was virtually unplayable in his pomp at Inter Milan, bossing games with his pace, strength and thunderous left foot. Were it not for the mental health issues he suffered as a result of losing his father at a young age, he may have even have been a consideration for the top five of this list.
He doesn't make the cut. But what a player…
