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Trying to rank the greatest midfielders of the 21st century is no easy task. We've seen far too many midfield maestros since the turn of the millennium and despite occupying similar areas on the pitch, they have come in all styles, shapes and sizes.
Whether it be the bombing box-to-box midfielder or the regista (deep-lying playmaker) or the trequartista, they are all tagged midfielders at the end of the day. On a match day, having a good midfield is half the job done and though it's the strikers that walk away with the goals, it's the midfielders that capture our imaginations.
Without further ado, let's take a look at the 10 greatest midfielders of the 21st century.
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#10 Xabi Alonso
Xabi Alonso was one of those unique and versatile midfielders who was as astute in a creative sense as he was defensively. A vital cog in the Spanish team that dominated world football in the first decade of the 21st century, Xabi Alonso had an illustrious career playing for the likes of Liverpool, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.
Xabi Alonso could telegraph passes from an entire district away and still find his target. He has also scored some incredible halfway line goals in his career. He has won the UEFA Champions League with Liverpool and Real Madrid and has won the league with Los Blancos and Bayern Munich.
Xabi Alonso also played a big role in Spain's 2010 World Cup triumph and is easily one of the best midfielders of his generation.
#9 Luka Modric
Luka Modric is one of those rare midfielders who has earned a Ballon d'Or. Even better, he did that by upsetting the Ronaldo-Messi duopoly. Modric had arrived at Real Madrid from Tottenham and after struggling in his initial days, he was even voted as the worst signing of the season.
The Croatian kept his head down and went about his ways and silenced his critics by cementing his status as one of the greatest midfielders of his generation. The diminutive midfield maestro is a treat to watch on the football pitch with his twists and turns and incredible passing range.
Modric was one of the main factors behind Real Madrid's domination in the UEFA Champions League which saw them win Europe's elite competition on three successive occasions.
#8 Frank Lampard
Perhaps the greatest goalscoring midfielder of his time, Frank Lampard is the one of the most decorated English players. He scored a whopping 211 goals for Chelsea while playing in midfield.
The Englishman has won three Premier League titles, one Champions League, one Europe League, five FA Cups and three League Cups. Lampard's versatility allowed him to be fielded anywhere in midfield. But he worked best as a attack-minded box-to-box midfielder who had an eye for goal like no one else.
Lampard was also excellent at shooting from range and like Xabi Alonso and most of his contemporaries, he was also incredible from set-pieces. Lampard packed great vision and passing ability and his capacity to score from anywhere couple with those late runs into the box made him a ridiculously good goalscorer.
#7 Steven Gerrard
Stevie G could have had even more stellar a career had he found himself in a more star-studded setup. However, Gerrard chose to stay loyal to Liverpool and fought the hard fight and is now widely regarded as one of the finest midfielders of the 21st century.
Gerrard was a marauding box-to-box midfielder with an insatiable appetite for the game in his heyday and evolved from a ball winner to a deep-lying playmaker during his early years at Liverpool.
Gerrard is also widely hailed for his propensity for scoring absolute scorchers and he has scored more than his fair share of worldies in his playing career.
One of the most distinct memories associated with the Englishman is his rallying Liverpool to the UEFA Champions League title on that fated night in Istanbul after the Merseysiders were 3-0 down at half-time to AC Milan.
For all his efforts though, Gerrard never won the Premier League. He has, however, won the UEFA Champions League once in addition to two FA Cups and three League Cups.
#6 Kaka
There was a period of time in the later stages of the first decade of the 21st century when this Brazilian midfielder was virtually unstoppable. The last footballer to win the Ballon d'Or before Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi decided to make it a two-horse race, Kaka was a beast at AC Milan.
Though you could say that his big money move to Real Madrid did not exactly work out as well as anyone would have wanted, the Brazilian was one heck of a player for the Rossoneri.
Between 2006 and 2009, the years when he peaked, Kaka was named in the FIFA World XI and the UEFA Team of the Year three times. The Brazilian was a unique proposition to oppositions because despite being over 6 ft tall, his swift turns and ability to accelerate over short distances were similar to that of diminutive players.
Kaka has scored a bucketload of solo goals, just motoring into the final third and through defences like knife through hot butter. Like most of his elite contemporaries, Kaka was also versatile and also packed an unreal shot from range.
He has won the World Cup with Brazil in 2002 and the UEFA Champions League with AC Milan in the 2006-07 season. He has also won the Serie A and La Liga and though his injury-riddled time in Spain led to a rapid decline in ability, Kaka did enough in the first decade of the 21st century to leave behind an enviable legacy.
#5 Paul Scholes
"He is good enough to play for Brazil. I love to watch Scholes, to see him pass, the boy with the red hair and the red shirt." - Socrates (The Doctor)
"Without any doubt the best player in the Premiership has to be Scholes ... He knows how to do everything." - Thierry Henry
"A role model. For me, and I really mean this, he's the best central midfielder I've seen in the last 15, 20 years. He's spectacular, he has it all, the last pass, goals, he's strong, he doesn't lose the ball, vision. If he'd been Spanish he might have been rated more highly. Players love him." - Xavi
Need I say more? Paul Scholes was the glue that held together the machine that Alex Ferguson built at Old Trafford. Manchester United's dominance faded with Fergie's retirement but what many fail to acknowledge is that they struggled also because they could never replace their little magician at the centre of the pitch.
Paul Scholes is one of the most decorated English players and has won a whopping 11 Premier League titles in addition to two UEFA Champions League titles, four FA Cups and two League cups.
Scholes' vision and passing range were astounding. He was a calm and composed campaigner who has also scored some incredible goals from midfield. Some of his volleys from outside the box are a treat to watch to this day.
#4 Andrea Pirlo
The coolest of them all, Andrea Pirlo needs no introduction. The man who feels no pressure, Pirlo was one of the finest technicians on the ball and an absolute artist beavering away from a deep midfield position.
Pirlo's vision, passing range and technical ability were all astounding. One of the distinguished players who have been fortunate enough to have played for Inter Milan, AC Milan and Juventus, Pirlo also tasted World Cup success with Italy in 2006.
Also one of the greatest free-kick takers in modern day football, Andrea Pirlo understood the game in a way that's seldom done. His composure and technical ability helped him carve out spaces where there would initially be none and convert cul-de-sacs into open highways.
He has won the Serie A six times- twice with AC Milan and on four occasions with Juventus. He also won the UEFA Champions League twice with the Rossoneri. Pirlo was also the man of the match in the 2006 World Cup final that Italy won.
#3 Zinedine Zidane
Zinedine Zidane could have topped this list had a greater share of his exploits not come towards the end of the 20th century. Zinedine Zidane is a pure artist and when he had the ball at his feet, he could make football look like the simplest game on the planet.
The recipient of the FIFA Player of the Year in 1998, 2000 and 2003, Zizou was perhaps the most important player of Les Bleus during the time he served for them in the international circuit, guiding them to World Cup triumph in 1998 before following it up with a triumphant campaign in the European Championship in 2000.
Zizou also got on the scoresheet for the French side in their epic 2006 World Cup final but ended the night on a forgettable note getting red-carded for a headbutting Materazzi and losing the game on penalties.
Zinedine Zidane could beat a defender in his sleep and used to glide past opponents with the grace of a gazelle. He packed everything- incredible vision, immaculate passing and an unparalleled understanding of the beautiful game in addition to his obvious athletic abilities.
#2 Xavi
Xavier Hernandez or Xavi is one of the greatest players to have been produced by the famed La Masia. The undisputed master of passing, Xavi was the engine that kept the Barcelona and Spain teams ticking and was also one of the key components that made both those teams the most dominant forces in football at the time.
Xavi has won the lot at Barcelona and with Spain and he is one of the best technicians of all time. He was part of the Barcelona setup that perfected the tiki-taka style popularized by none other than Johan Cruyff.
As a deep-lying playmaker, there was perhaps no one better than Xavi in the history of the game. He knew how to upend entire defences and send defenders guessing with so much as a simple drop of the shoulder and his well-weighted throw balls have helped Barcelona carve oppositions out like is seldom seen on a football pitch.
He made up for his lack of physical ability by using his slender physique and low centre of gravity to wriggle out of tight spaces without getting so much as a scratch on him. Xavi has won the La Liga eight times. He also won the UEFA Champions League on four occasions during Barcelona's golden era.
His World Cup triumph with Spain was bookended by two UEFA European Championship titles in 2008 and 2012.
#1 Andres Iniesta
Xavi's partner in crime in midfield, Andres Iniesta is the most decorated Spanish player in history with nine La Ligas and four UEFA Champions League titles in addition to the 2010 World Cup and the UEFA European Championship titles in 2008 and 2012.
Andres Iniesta is one of the finest dribblers in modern football and his agility in addition to his impeccable close control made him a treat to watch on the football field. He is also one of the most inventive footballers of all time and his versatility enabled him to be deployed anywhere in midfield and continue come up trumps irrespective of his position.
Iniesta dances out of tight spaces like a dream and popularized the La Croqueta where he shifts the ball from one feet to the other and back in a split second often enabling him to drift past multiple defenders in one swift move.
His precise and intelligent passing coupled with his amazing ability to win the ball back despite his fragile frame makes him a complete midfielder. Alongside Xavi, and Sergio Busquets, Iniesta formed perhaps the greatest midfield trio in modern football and could dictate the play like no other.
In addition to scoring Spain's World Cup winning goal in 2010, he has assisted a goal each in the 2009, 2011 and the 2015 Champions League final and is one of the most reliable big game players of all time.
