Ronaldo, Messi, Neymar, Ronaldinho: The best XIs of the 21st century as voted by fans | OneFootball

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have both been voted in the best male XI of the 21st century by football fans this week.

With 12 Ballon d’Or titles apiece over the last 14 years, the two superstars are by far and away the greatest footballers to call the men’s game their profession since the turn of the millennium.

Diego Maradona and Pele both have extremely valid claims to being the GOAT in all of football history, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a football fan who would argue that anybody other than Messi or Ronaldo has been the top dog over the past 22 years.

Who did fans name in the best XI of the 21st century?

As such, it should come as no surprise to learn that the Portugal and Argentina skippers led the way in the aforementioned vote for the best players of the 21st century.

Run by popular Twitter account @avisualgame, the poll of more than 2,000 football fans collated who the people felt were the century’s finest players based solely on their performances since 1999 and not considering any of their achievements beforehand.

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And while, yes, every supporter with so much as a grain of knowledge would similarly have picked Messi and Ronaldo, things become a little more complicated when you look at the entire XI.

Based on 21st century performances alone, do you pick Cafu or Dani Alves? Does Marcelo get the nod or Roberto Carlos? Do Ronaldo Nazario, Paolo Maldini and Zinedine Zidane still get called up?

Well, hold that thought for a second because the people have indeed spoken and you can check out how their XI shaped up based on the number of votes as opposed to tactical practicalities down below:

Image: Best XI of the 21st century

Manager: Pep Guardiola

To be fair to the voters, they seem to have been pretty strict to the rules that were outlined.

Had the premise not been so clearly laid out, you’d have to imagine that Brazilian Ronaldo would have been chosen over Suarez, but is there an argument that the Uruguayan has the edge post-1999? Yes, yes there is.

Meanwhile, it’s interesting to note that Pep Guardiola has been given the nod in the dugout over Sir Alex Ferguson, which was a particularly tasty head-to-head in the votes.

Who made the 2nd, 3rd and 4th teams?

However, the fun doesn’t stop there because the Twitter user in question scrolled further down the votes and proceeded to collate the second, third and fourth-string XIs which help to give even more insight on the 21st century ballers who charmed the voters more than others.

Image: 3rd best XI of the 21st century

Manager: Jose Mourinho

Image: 4th best XI of the 21st century

Manager: Jurgen Klopp

While there’s certainly an argument to be made that Maldini – though quite possibly the greatest defender to ever live – shouldn’t have made the first-string XI, it’s a little hard to stomach that he’s all the way down in the fourth squad.

With all due respect to Virgil van Dijk and John Terry, even a late-in-the-day Maldini was captaining AC Milan to Champions League titles with warrior-like performances, so we’ll have to agree to disagree.

Neymar ranking higher than Ronaldinho, Kevin De Bruyne placing above Steven Gerrard and Gerard Pique not even making so much as an appearance are also results that will leave some fans scratching their heads.

But that, ladies and gentlemen, is the joy of football and the debates that it inspires, so be sure to let us know how a best male XI of the 21st century would stack up in your eyes.

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