For years now, fans have debated about what are the greatest goals, the greatest matches and the greatest players to have played the beautiful game.
Total Football’s Simon Wright has decided to take the bull by the horns and do some analysis - starting with the top five greatest goalkeepers of all time.
As with any 'greatest' lists, some great keepers missed the cut - Lev Yashin, Edwin van der Sar, Peter Shilton and Claudio Taffarel included.
So, who makes our list of the top five goalkeepers of all time?
5. Dino Zoff
Clubs he played for: Udinese (1961-1963), Mantova (1963-1967), Napoli (1967-1972), Juventus (1972-1983)
International caps: 112 (Italy)
Total league appearances: 642
Honours: World Cup 1982, Euro 68, Serie A champion 1972-73, 1974-75, 1976-77, 1977-78, 1980-81, 1981-82, UEFA Cup 1977, Coppa Italia 1978-79, 1982-83
Aged 40 years, 4 months and 13 days, Dino Zoff (pictured) became the oldest player to ever win the World Cup, when he captained Italy to glory in the 1982 World Cup finals.
It was the standout of a glittering career, which he spent playing with four Italian clubs and achieving success on domestic, European and international level, mainly with Juventus.
He is the fourth most capped player for the Azzuri and also went onto achieve partial success as a manager, including leading his beloved Italy to the final of Euro 2000.
He was a commanding presence within the box and defenders always knew he was in charge. With age came more experience and actually, better displays.
As a Napoli player, he won Euro 68 with Italy, having only made four caps at the time for his country.
It was at Juventus where his career really took off, scooping up six Serie A titles, as the Turin side took a grip of the Italian national game. There were also two Coppa Italia triumphs and the UEFA Cup in 1977.
His career high was in 1982, where he remained calm and composed, especially when the Italian game was both embroiled in a match-fixing scandal and the team had made a slow start to the tournament.
He captained Italy to their third World Cup trophy, becoming only the second goalkeeper to captain the winning side at the finals.
Coaching didn’t provide the same success story but he did win the UEFA Cup for Juventus in 1990 when his team, which included Pierluigi Casiraghi and Salvatore Schillaci, beat Fiorentina in the final.
He was rewarded for that prize with the sack and fruitless spells with Lazio and Fiorentina followed but he did lead Italy to within seconds of European Championship glory in 2000, only to be denied by a star-studded French side.
Dino Zoff was an almighty presence in goal and one of the best that Italian football has ever produced.
4. Iker Casillas
Clubs he played for: Real Madrid (1999-PRESENT)
International caps: 138 (Spain)
Total league appearances: 458
Honours: World Cup 2010, Euro 2008 & Euro 2012, UEFA Champions League 2000 & 2002, La Liga 2000-01, 2002-03, 2006-07, 2007-08, 2011-12, Copa del Rey 2011, Spanish Supercup 2001, 2003, 2008, UEFA Super Cup 2002, Intercontinental Cup 2002, FIFA World Youth Championship 1999, UEFA Under-16 Championship 1997
Iker Casillas is a leader and had been the captain of Spain’s recent dominance in the international game.
He has captained them to glory in the last three major international tournaments and also enjoyed a vast degree of success with his sole club, Real Madrid.
It is a far cry for a player that in 2002 had lost all confidence in his form and his no.1 position for both club and country.
Everything started well for Casillas, breaking into Madrid’s first team in 1999 and at 19, became the youngest goalkeeper to win the UEFA Champions League, when Real Madrid beat Valencia 3-0 in Paris.
Two years later, he hit a horror run of form which cost him his place at Real to Cesar Sanchez and the Spanish no.1 jersey to Santiago Canizares.
Luck got him back to the top but he has earnt it, with some domineering performances. First, Cesar came off injured in the 2002 Champions League final and Casillas had to be on top form, to deny Bayer Leverkusen the trophy. He has been unchallenged at club level since.
Three weeks later, Canizares dropped a bottle of aftershave on his foot, ruling him out of World Cup 2002 and wrecking his international prospects.
Despite competition from Pepe Reina and Victor Valdes in recent years, Casillas is still head and shoulders above anyone in Spanish goalkeeping.
At Real Madrid, he has won three La Liga titles and in 2008, earnt himself a contract, to stay at the Bernabeau for life. He has had no intention of ever leaving, a one-club man if there ever was one.
One of his best performances came on English soil, when Liverpool ran rampant in the Champions League. The Reds won 4-0 but Casillas was in sensational form and had it not been for him, the scoreline could have reached double figures.
When Raul was left out of the Spanish squad for Euro 2008, Casillas was awarded the captain’s armband and he hasn’t looked back since, leading the new Spanish trilogy of international success.
He has won many individual awards, broken dozens of international records and become one of the greatest, with stunning reflexes and an excellent penalty saving record.
Iker Casillas has won everything possible in the game there is to win. If he isn’t in anyone’s top five of goalkeepers, then your knowledge is severely limited.
3. Peter Schmeichel
Clubs he played for: Gladsaxe-Hero (1981-1984), Hvidovre (1984-1987), Brondby (1987-1991), Manchester United (1991-1999), Sporting Lisbon (1999-2001), Aston Villa (2001-2002, Manchester City (2002-2003)
International caps: 129 (Denmark)
Total league appearances: 648
Honours: Euro 92, UEFA Champions League 1999, FA Premier League 1992-93, 1993-94, 1995-96, 1996-97, 1998-99, FA Cup 1994, 1996, 1999, Portuguese Superliga 1999-2000, Danish Superliga 1991, Danish First Division 1987, 1988, 1990, UEFA Super Cup 1991, English Football League Cup 1992, UEFA Intertoto Cup 2001, FA Charity Shield 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, UEFA Goalkeeper of the Year 1992, 1993, 1997, 1998
Flamboyant, intimidating, very vocal and a winner – that was Peter Schmeichel in the nutshell.
The Danish goalkeeper became the best shot stopper in the 1990s, winning clutches of individual and team awards and has been part of both dramatic and unlikely successes.
He is the most capped player of all-time for Denmark, skippered Manchester United to the Champions League in 1999 and won major honours in three countries, something that isn’t very common nowadays for a player.
After beginning out as a semi-pro, Schmeichel turned professional when he joined Brondby, winning four championships in five years and establishing himself as the number one for his country at Euro 88.
Four years later, he was part of the Danish international squad that came off the beach, replaced banned Yugoslavia and walked away with the Euro 92 trophy. Schmeichel saved a Marco van Basten penalty in the semi-finals and played a starring role in the Scandinavians triumph over Germany in the final.
He also featured in three other major international competitions, captaining Denmark on 30 occasions, including a run to the quarter-finals of France 98.
At club level, Manchester United bought him for £505,000, which Sir Alex Ferguson called as the ‘bargain of the century’ in 2000.
That was after winning five Premier League titles, three FA Cups, a League Cup and in 1999, helping the Red Devils to that unique treble in Barcelona, as they overcame Bayern Munich in incredible fashion to win the Champions League.
During his time at the Theatre of Dreams, Peter was voted as UEFA’s Best Goalkeeper of the Year three times and was awarded the ‘Best Save’ award by global fans at the 10 Seasons Premier League awards, for magnificent reflexes to deny John Barnes in a Premier League game in December 1997.
Schmeichel also had an uncanny knack for scoring goals, mainly from penalties or corners. He scored in Europe for Manchester United, in the Premier League for Aston Villa and at international level for Denmark. He ended up with ten goals in total.
Moving into Portuguese football, another league trophy followed with Sporting Lisbon, before finishing his career in England with Villa and lastly, Manchester City.
His son, Kasper is also a goalkeeper and currently plays for Leicester City and alongside some television punditry and charity matches, Schmeichel has recently returned to Old Trafford, as an ambassador for the club.
Peter Schmeichel’s presence on the goalkeeping fraternity will never be forgotten. He remains as one of the best goalies to have ever graced the Danish and English leagues.
2. Gianluigi Buffon
Clubs he played for: Parma (1995-2001), Juventus (2001-PRESENT)
International caps: 120 (Italy)
Total league appearances: 493
Honours: World Cup 2006, Serie A 2001-02, 2002-03, 2011-12, UEFA Cup 1999, Coppa Italia 1999, Serie B 2006-07, Supercoppa Italiana 2002, 2003, 2012, UEFA Under-21 European Championship 1996, UEFA Goalkeeper of the Year 2003, UEFA Club Footballer of the Year 2003
Widely considered as one of the most consistent and enigmatic goalkeepers of his generation, Gianluigi Buffon is one of the greatest to have ever worn the gloves.
Although he might not have some of the honours that the likes of Casillas and Schmeichel have, this is more down to Juventus lack of progress, rather than an individual issue.
He still holds the record, for being the most expensive goalkeeper in transfer history, won the World Cup in 2006 and achieved five Serie A titles, although two were stripped after Juve were found guilty of match-fixing in 2006.
Buffon started his career at Parma and kept a clean sheet on his Serie A debut, a 0-0 draw with the mighty AC Milan in November 1995.
He went onto play over 200 times for Parma, at a time where they were a consistent major player in Italian football.
He won the UEFA Cup in 1999, which is remarkably, the only European team honour that Buffon has won.
In the summer of 2001, Juventus splashed out an astonishing fee of £32.6m for Buffon, breaking the world record for the acquisition of a goalkeeper in the game.
It was money well spent, as Gianluigi won his maiden Serie A title in his first season with the Bianconeri, only conceding 22 goals in 34 matches.
That feat was repeated in 2003 but despite saving two penalties in the shootout; it was heartbreak for Italy’s no.1, as Juve lost the Champions League final to Milan in 2003.
He stuck by the club after their relegation to Serie B, off the back of the Italian football scandal and that faith was rewarded, with a title and a new contract with the club. He also was voted Serie A’s goalkeeper of the Year eight times in eleven years between 1997 and 2009.
Serie A title number three followed last season and this summer, he assumed the club captaincy, following Alessandro Del Piero’s departure.
At international level, Buffon made his debut in 1997 and went to World Cup 1998, although he didn’t play. A broken hand ruled him out of Euro 2000 but since then, he has become the regular no.1 choice for his country.
In 2006, he was in world class form, keeping five clean sheets and only conceding two goals, which were an own goal and a penalty. He won the World Cup and came second to team-mate Fabio Cannavaro in the Ballon d’Or of 2006.
He assumed the Italian captaincy, when Cannavaro retired after the disastrous 2010 World Cup campaign and skippered the Azzuri to the final of Euro 2012 this summer.
Gianluigi Buffon is one of the best shot stoppers to have graced the game and an integral presence of any changing room.
I’m looking forward to Juventus return to the Champions League this season, as it is another opportunity to see this work of genius in action, in the best European club competition around.
1. Gordon Banks
Clubs he played for: Chesterfield (1955-1959), Leicester City (1959-1967), Stoke City (1967-1972), LOAN SPELLS at Cleveland Stokers, Hellenic, Fort Lauderdale Strikers & St. Patrick’s Athletic
International caps: 73 (England)
Total league appearances: 565
Honours: World Cup 1966, Football League Cup 1964, 1972
My number one choice is an individual who featured in England’s finest hour and still has the feat of producing the world’s greatest save of all-time.
Honours might be thin on the ground for Gordon Banks but he is a legend within both English and world football and he served Leicester City and Stoke City with loyal distinction.
Starting his career with Chesterfield in the youth team, he progressed into the first-team ranks in 1958, before being sold for £7,000 the following year to Leicester City.
In the Midlands, he reached an FA Cup final in 1961 but suffered defeat, to runaway league champions Tottenham.
He made his international debut two years later and Alf Ramsay liked what he saw, making him England’s first choice, ahead of the 1966 World Cup.
His first of only two domestic honours came in 1964, when Leicester defeated Chelsea over two legs, to win the League Cup.
In the World Cup, he was in the form of his life, only conceding a Eusebio penalty before the final and developing a fantastic skill, for being able to read the movements and abilities of the opposing attackers.
His performance in the final wasn’t the best but that didn’t matter as England became champions of the world, in a final that isn’t forgotten and is fondly remembered. Banks had reached the pinnacle.
A club move to Stoke City in 1967 brought little joy and it was on the international stage, where he would go onto make his name.
Before the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, Banks was awarded an OBE for services to football. He might have deserved a knighthood after producing the greatest save in history, during the tournament.
In the tenth minute of an eagerly anticipated clash with Brazil, Jairzinho got a dangerous ball into the box, which reached the head of Pele. Pele met the ball with a downward, powerful header which looked destined for the goal.
Somehow, Banks hurled himself across the goal and managed to palm the ball away for a corner, showing fantastic agility. Pele would later call it the greatest save ever.
He was at his peak in Mexico but Gordon went down with a bout of food poisoning on the eve of the quarter-final with West Germany and it cost England, as they lost 3-2 and their world crown.
There was another League Cup triumph in 1972, with Chelsea once again being the victims but an unfortunate car accident later that year, saw him lose sight in his right eye and force an early retirement from playing.
Some scouting and a brief management career didn’t reap success but Gordon Banks is a hero with many English fans worldwide.
He is the greatest goalkeeper to have ever played football and it will be difficult to topple him from this honour.
NEXT TIME ON THE GREATEST SERIES: From FA Cup to World Cup, we celebrate the giantklling acts, with the 25 greatest upsets in football history.
By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88
Comments
Post a Comment