10 most magically gifted players of all time

#2 Diego Armando Maradona

Before we start, just watch this –

That’s a man who is one with the football.

This happened in the UEFA Cup when Napoli traveled to Munich. The Germans had hired a ball juggler for some pre-match entertainment and El Diego saw that and went, wait a minute – let me show them what entertainment really is. German, Italian, Argentine.. to a man they couldn’t help but applaud as arguably the greatest to ever lace up a pair of boots showed them one eternal truth of life - Football is Maradona. Maradona is Football.

Also, Read: War, Football, and Maradona – the tale of the sport’s two most famous goals

He won World Cups on his own, he rescued clubs and restored pride to entire cities. There has never been a footballer whose passion and pure magical ability gelled together quite like this.

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#1 Ronaldinho

Oh, Ronaldinho. The Greatest Player of All Time!

Wait now – down, boy - he wasn’t the Greatest by any conventional definition of the term. He hasn’t won as many trophies as Diego Maradona or Pele, he has never been as consistent as Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo and he hasn’t defined an era like Johan Cruyff and Franz Beckenbauer did.

But he did do one thing.

He made us smile, and forget everything else.

You never knew what to expect when he touched the ball, he could score from anywhere – and anyhow (some of his inventive bicycle kicks were otherworldly, and remember that toe punt against Chelsea?) and he could pick you out in any crowd. If he ever played “Where’s Waldo”, the game wouldn’t last longer than a minute. Hell, he could make you go “wow” just by killing a ball dead (sample this –)

He was, in short, the most magically gifted footballer to grace a football pitch and the barometer by which we compiled this list.

Do let us know your personal favourites, though, in the comments section right below.