Greatest Footballing Trios of All Time

as an individual deco never reached messi level. as a group ronaldinho and messi understood each other better than ronaldinho and deco

2004-2006 Deco was better than 18-19 y.o. Messi.

18-19 years old messi

billionmillion wrote:18-19 years old messi

Deco wasn't a dribbler. He was a playmaker, you can't make comparasions, his passing, vision were better, and he was an experienced player. He's no way better than 2007-2008 Messi, he was better than a 18 y.o messi.

the dinho, ronaldo and rivaldo group really should be in there, they are probably in my top 3.

for me it goes-

mvb, gullit, rijkaard
messi xavi iniesta
ronaldo rivaldo dinho

Cruyff, Neeskens and Krol
Jari Litmanem, Kluivert and de Boer

The most successful, most talented and most cohesive trio, the holy triangle. Second would have to be the dutch trio and third the Madrid trio.

jiopsi wrote:The most successful, most talented and most cohesive trio, the holy triangle. Second would have to be the dutch trio and third the Madrid trio.

Who is you describe? Surely not Messi, Xavi and Iniesta? Neeskens, Cruyff and Krol achieved more, also remmeber they all got to the world cup final together. Messi has failed all the way for the national team.

Clockwork Orange wrote:

jiopsi wrote:The most successful, most talented and most cohesive trio, the holy triangle. Second would have to be the dutch trio and third the Madrid trio.

Who is you describe? Surely not Messi, Xavi and Iniesta? Neeskens, Cruyff and Krol achieved more, also remmeber they all got to the world cup final together. Messi has failed all the way for the national team.

That trio have only 12 titles together, holy triangle has 19. And for me Uefa Champions League > European Cup.

The holy trinity is Charlton, Best, Law. At least that's what Manchester has taught me lol.

You also need to put the midfield of Giresse, Tigana and Platini for France NT from 1982-1986. They won the Euro and lost in the semis of the WC twice in that span. They dominated the midfield similarly to Spain today. Their problem was that the forwards were meh... Platini dominated the goalscoring and still holds the Euro record with 9 goals in 5 matches in Euro 1984.

shame that Gre-No-Li doesn't even get a mention in the poll... it is an all time list.

limited spots for poll.. dont hate the poll maker just put down who you think is best and stop nit picking who barely didnt make the list.

besides the list is just an idea for those who needed a reminder of some different groups.

hahahaha, but it is a shame that they were left out... they have an acronym and everything!

Besides, Gunnar Gren is still the 2nd top scorer in Serie A to date.

Van Basten, Gullit & Rijkaard got my vote... they were a massive part of the best team of my lifetime, AC Milan late 80s-early 90s, they worked brilliantly together as a team & in their positions are up there with anyone in history.

There are some that seem to have been forgotten about. I think the trio of sivori, maschio, and angellilo are worth a mention. Known as the "angels with dirty faces" and if iirc the "trio of death", they won the 1957 copa america for argentina beating a didi inspired brazil team.






Also, george best, bobby charlton, and dennis law. From 1964 to 1968, all 3 of them won the ballon dor....

The Franchise wrote:I assume Pele, Jairzinho, Tostão are there to have a Brazil 70's rep but I dont think thats the best 3. Tostao I believe only scored 1 goal in that tourny and by all accounts he wasnt a special player.

sorry but this is false. Gerson-Pele-Jairzinho were a great trio in actual sense unlike some in the list, given the mazy interpassing, team work and telepathic chemistry.
And about Tostao not being a special player? Well that is quite big statement, Tostao was on his way to become the second best Brazilian ever, skillwise he was very talented, very intelligent and was having really great career with Cruzeiro and than joined Vasco for a huge sum, but he had retinal problems and hence never fulfilled his potential. So him not being a special player is wrong.

What definition of trio are we going with there? Is it "The three best players of X club/country at a certain point in time" or "three players who combined on the field far better than anyone else" ?

CrazyBoy wrote:

The Franchise wrote:I assume Pele, Jairzinho, Tostão are there to have a Brazil 70's rep but I dont think thats the best 3. Tostao I believe only scored 1 goal in that tourny and by all accounts he wasnt a special player.

sorry but this is false. Gerson-Pele-Jairzinho were a great trio in actual sense unlike some in the list, given the mazy interpassing, team work and telepathic chemistry.
And about Tostao not being a special player? Well that is quite big statement, Tostao was on his way to become the second best Brazilian ever, skillwise he was very talented, very intelligent and was having really great career with Cruzeiro and than joined Vasco for a huge sum, but he had retinal problems and hence never fulfilled his potential. So him not being a special player is wrong.

When did I say those 3 were not a great trio?

I said Pele, Jairzinho, Tostão are NOT a great 3.

And no, I dont agree on Tostao. If he didnt have eye trouble, well thats great but irrelevant...the player I saw didnt appear special and certaintly didnt play special.

No love for:
Romario, Bebeto, Rai??

or

Dunga, Rai, Branco.

or
Aldair, Marcio Santos, Jorginho

Anyway that 94 Brazilian team was stacked with "trio" combos, won't call the the best ever since they didn't play for the same clubs, but surely deserves to mentioned.

The Franchise wrote:When did I say those 3 were not a great trio?

sorry for misunderstanding your words, the words "they are because of 1970 reputation" made me confused about it. Gosh I can a be a dumb fuсk. Apologies again.

I said Pele, Jairzinho, Tostão are NOT a great 3.

not great in what context? Well all three of them are among the greatest 20 Brazilian players of all time.

And no, I dont agree on Tostao. If he didnt have eye trouble, well thats great but irrelevant...

well I dint mentioned his eye problem as a reason hindering his legend as he had an impressive career regardless of the ratinal defect.

the player I saw didnt appear special and certaintly didnt play special.

I understand where is this coming from. Sorry if I am wrong. But I think you are basing your opinion on games of 1970 World cup. Well he dint had a great individual world cup but he was not playing his prefered position, which was occupied by Pele. His orignal position was ponta-de-lanca(a Brazilian defined position which is kind of mix of SS and AM), the position that Pele played for the Brazilian team. Thus his game was effected in that World Cup, still he did a good job, had a ready telepathic link-up with Pele and co, we can see some of those moments like him realising Carlos's run in the final, and he telling Pele to lay off for Carlos for that absolute beauty of a goal. We can see his game for Cruzeiro, where he played as the Ponta-de-lanca, where he was absolutely fantastic, an extremely skilled footballer with great vision and passing ability coupled by great goal scoring eye, although it is difficult to find videos, I do have some old tapes of that time of Brazilian leagues but quality has gone really horrible(thanks to my stupid servant who exposed it to sun rays, sorry for going OT), was among the best players of the Brazil and the world. And mind you during that time Brazilian leagues(since the national league dint existed at that time, late sixties I mean) were really big and arguably the best and were able to hold most of their best players. Sadly for Tostao, he suffered from eye defect and could nbot carry on longer. He was easily on the way t become the best player Brazilian after Pele.

Zizinho, Ademir and Jair also deserve a mention here. Not the best ever not even the greatest brazilian trio but that was a great trio, three of the best Brazilian attackers of that time stacked in a same team. Lite the 1950 World Cup, only to fal short vs Uruguay in that legendary final defeated by a team by legends like Schiaffino and football's first Captain marvelous Varela

When there was a trio of Brehme-Matthaus-Klinsmann in Inter but none ever mentions those players , because of Milan's Rijkaard-Gullit-MVB who stole all the fame , i think it says a lot about the historic value and their impact on football.

The Inter trio of Brehme-Matthaus-Klinsmann under Trappatoni , was
actually success material , however , all the talk about that period is about Milan's trio and while this could be described a bit unfair , it also proves how strong and significant was the Dutch trio . Under any other circumstances , this Inter would have kicked (more) ass. Having said that , their last year together at Inter wasn't what you call success either..

Now, Barcelona's Messi-Xaviesta trio , must be with no shred of a doubt high up the list , however i can't think of any other strong trio of this era to "compare them with" . Real's last great trio i think it was Zidane-Figo-Raul and it was before them .

Perhaps if C.Ronaldo and Tevez had stayed at United , then Rooney-Ronaldo-Tevez would be a fair counterpart , but i really can't think of any other who could stand up to them.

Milan's trio in midfield between 2003-2007 , consisting of Pirlo-Seedorf-Kaka was simply outstanding too , certainly deserves a mention .

My best triole ist , should be likes this , however i must confess i am a bit biased on this , so take this with a grain of salt.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:What definition of trio are we going with there? Is it "The three best players of X club/country at a certain point in time" or "three players who combined on the field far better than anyone else" ?

if it were me id say the latter "three players who combined on the field far better than anyone else"

which is why i would choose rijkaard gullit and mvb (maybe not the most talented trio but how they played together with milan and for national team is un matched imo.

but its up to who ever thinks the best trio is whether its how they combined or basing it purely off of quality.

For posters who just give names,

Do state why they should be in or out of the topic/discussion. This is a debate section not the RB section.

You all been warned.

for the bundesliga connaissseurs

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elber - balakov - bobic