According to a site specializing in football statistics, the Spanish national team and former Barcelona star are the best footballers of the century.
Analysts only considered a player who played at least a hundred matches in his national team, played a decisive role in it, but performance was only one aspect in ranking.
In addition to world and two-time European champion Xavi, Squawka's list includes three Spaniards, goalkeeper Iker Casillas and midfielder Andrés Iniesta, and Real Madrid's midfielder Sergio Ramos. In addition to Casillas, another world champion goalkeeper, Italian Gianluigi Buffon, demanded a place on the list for himself.
In the top ten are Cristiano Ronaldo, a five-time gold ball who now legions in Juventus and has previously strengthened Real, leading the Portuguese to the European Championship title. At the same time, only "Team B" fit into Barcelona star footballer Lionel Messi, who has won the Golden Ball six times so far, who was less effective in the Argentine national team and had to reach the 2014 World Cup silver at the national level.
Also in the "second division" was classified by the portal in the colors of Egypt in 184 matches Ahmed Hassan, who is an absolute national team record holder in world football.
According to Squawka, the order of the top ten football looks like this:
1. Xavi (Spain, 133 matches / 2 goals)
2. Iker Casillas (Spain, goals scored 167 - 94)
3. Andrés Iniesta (Spanish, 131/13)
4. Sergio Ramos (Spanish, 170, / 21)
5. Philipp Lahm (German, 113/5)
6. Fabio Cannavaro (Italian, 136/2)
7. Bastian Schweinsteiger (German, 121/24)
8. Gianluigi Buffon (Italian, 176-146 goals scored)
9. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portuguese, 164/99)
10. Diego Forlán (Uruguayan, 112/36)
The portal also published two all-star selections, the composition of which is as follows:
First team:
Casillas - Ramos, Gerard Piqué (Spanish), Cannavaro, Lahm - David Beckham (English), Xavi, Schweinsteiger, Iniesta - Miroslav Klose (German), Ronaldo
Second team:
Claudio Bravo (Chiiei) - Kolo Touré (Ivory Coast), Rafa Marquez (Mexico), Lucio (Brazil) - Ahmed Hassan (Egyptian), Arturo Vidal (Chile), Yaya Touré (Ivory Coast), Andrés Guardado (Mexico) - Lionel Messi ( Argentina), Forlán, Alexis Sánchez (Chile)
(Source: Source: sportrajongo.hu, mti / Photo: pixabay)