From 80 to today because the football was to different before, and even in the 80s the manner of defending was different, the defender could do more fouls before taking a yellow card or a red card, but were more space beacuse most of the teams use 1 on 1 marking and not the zone defense. After Sacchi the rules changed, attackers have begun to be more protected by ref and the defenders more punished. This to promote the show and raise the average goals per game(in the serie of 80 was something like 1, now is more than 2). besides the fact that the goalkeeper coulden't catch the ball with their hands after a back pass and were considered offside even in the line. Once you could do this:

however my ranking:

1 Maradona and Messi, a draw for me. the question is: in terms of dribbling  could do Messi what did Maradona in 80s?probably yes, because in term of first touch and ball control they are in the same level, but Messi is quicker and faster than Maradona post-injury perhaps also of that of pre-injury but i'm not sure. However Maradona has more tricks, fantasy and creativity so I think that because of this, that Maradona between in their athletic phase waning, was probably a better dribbler.
2Roberto Baggio, close in terms of skills but not as fast and quick as them.
3R9  tonnage disadvantage. He was fast, agile and quick as well as technically outstanding, but  high, with long levers, and with a higher center of gravity, so less balance, less agility and even less acceleration.
4Zico
5Ribery

this is my top 5.

what about Ronaldinho ? Better dribbler than Ribéry imo. I never saw Zico or Baggio so I won't talk about them, I'd take your word for it.

I will just name some players : Messi, R9, Maradonna, Ronaldinho, Neymar, Marcelo, Iniesta ( even if the style is different )...

For just dribbling, Bruno Conti.

Aside the top 5, the rest are in no particular order. While number 11 is a classic.

1. Maradonna

2. Messi

3. Ronaldo (brazil)

4. Okocha

5. Pele

6. Ortega

7. Neymar

8. Ronaldinho

9. Iniesta

10. Cruyff

11. Denilson (for the lolz)

Messi and R9 from what I've seen. The latter was scary before his injury. Most dangerous player I've ever seen

Ronaldo was on another real tho.. Truth be told. Only God knew why he brought those injuries upon him, the domination would have been inhumanly filthy

Main man Denilson...

Had no final product though, and would often not even get past his man, he would just fool him with trickery but remain guarded.

denilson the brickwall expert. That guy was even worse than robinho and hazard put together in terms of brickwalling

You perfectly sum him up in the best way I ever read.

robinho wasn't that bad a dribbler to be honest. But besides the more popular ones that have been mentioned....figo's a good addition; even though he didn't have the speed of the more popular dribblers,  austin okocha's definitely a good mention; he also had fun beating players who would kick him all the time.

i thought ginola was a fantastic dribbler- maybe not as eye-catching in terms of power, but slick and great to watch. obviously zidane, and that roulette he did over and over again. thierry henry too....denilson should NEVER be mentioned; u actually have to get past your man (betis must still be kicking themselves over that transfer)....romario was fantastic in tight spaces, he was doing things in holland that fans would just go crazy about

i know we're talking 80s. but some recognition for garrincha and rivelino - i never saw either but as far as being inventive in their era, and rivelino popularizing the elastico or flip flap, i had to show them some respect

so besides the more popular ones mentioned in previous posts; okocha, figo, romario, henry, zidane, ginola, george weah , edgar davids (Especially his younger days)- a defensive mid who could beat his opponent, i think he was too disciplined in italy and hardly showed the slick skills he had on the dribble at juve. ruud gullit (not as eye catching as many others, but that was one of my favorite players)

Figo and Ortega was better dribbler than Ribery and Ronaldinho. and Recoba was not a dribbler
messi maradona r9 neymar are different level dribblers to others. they can take the ball from their own half and score a goal after dribbling 5 players. others cant. south americans always been monster at dribbling and finishing. europeans love passing and tactics..if you make passing poll europeans will win it

Zidane was much better dribbler than iniesta.

Rivaldo was a diver..the true greats dont need to dive.

Okay, I've edited my post as u guys make some absolute valid points.

@titto yeah, okocha was definitely a top top quality dribbler his style reminds me of neymar tbh and oh my head, how did I not. Put orgeta

Rivelino invented the elastico but I don't think he was the brilliant of a dribbler tho I didn't watch him much except some documentaries and excerpts.

Romario was good but wasn't an otherwordly dribbler yeah I know u like romario but I'll prefare it when u say he had a very good ball control the others tbh.
Zidane has insane control but it was nothing more than insane control, technique and the occasional sliding past players

@

Statistical comparison:

Messi beat 243 players to score 369 open play goals, or 0,66 players per open play goal.
Maradona beat 50 players to score 109 opg, or 0,46 players popg.
Ronaldo beat 140 players to score 353 opg, or 0,40 players popg.

That's a big difference.

@titto I edited my list, but there's something u said, u mentioned thierry henry, yeah he was pretty good ibut u got to admit that he wasn't really entertaining, ala neymar dinho or other wordly ala messi, maradonna, ronaldo he sort of reminded me of cruyff (even if cruyff was better at it) they were efficient but not really mind blowing.

@adit zidane was more skillful tbh and u wouldn't be wrong if u pick zidane over iniesta but zidane was more of close control than dribbling. Yeah, iniesta is boring I admit.

@bankz, i mentioned guys who were not necessarily "dribble past 5 players" on the run dribblers. if that were the case neither figo- who could beat his man but won't take five guys on the go would have made my list. i had to put henry there; the goals against, i think tottenham and liverpool...its one thing to dribble, but dribble and score- things that messi and el phenomeno did is why they're up there. and henry had some goals like that with arsenal...i think he was also very tricky, but only showed glimpses of it.

romario was like a zidane - in terms of, 'one swift move dribbles' to beat your man. the elastico, and cruyff turn were a few moves romario would do that would leave the defender reconsidering his career as a footballer and contemplate going into the ballroom dancing profession....he wasn't a step-over artist, but he had some tricks

Top 10 most players beaten by dribble (Opta, since WC66, EU12 and CA15)

53 Maradona WC86
47 Jairzinho WC70
46 Messi WC14
43 Messi CA15
43 Kempes WC78
35 Eusebio WC66
34 Messi WC10
34 Donadoni WC94
34 Cruyff WC74
34 Robben WC14

Iniesta is a better dribbler than Zidane imo. Both are great at dribbling but Iniesta in tight spaces is mirific. On long distances Zidane was better due to his superior physique though.

Ribery a better dribbler than Ronaldinho ?

Kaka also deserves a mention as he was an absolute monster in his prime.

At the moment, I think that Lucas Moura is often overlooked. He's an elite talent and if he improved his decision making he would be a top top player.

Lol, lucas is a chronic brickwall merchant. He's even worse than hazard. He's a poor mans hazard imo. Only good on yt clips. I've watched him in brazil so many times. I even remember him being hyped up back in brazil some even said he was better than nerman .

Until nerman gave him series of wet dreams

The hate towards Hazard is funny tbh. He's an elite player, best in EPL probably. A few months of bad form don't change that

Valkyrja wrote:Iniesta is a better dribbler than Zidane imo. Both are great at dribbling but Iniesta in tight spaces is mirific. On long distances Zidane was better due to his superior physique though.

Ribery a better dribbler than Ronaldinho ?

Kaka also deserves a mention as he was an absolute monster in his prime.

At the moment, I think that Lucas Moura is often overlooked. He's an elite talent and if he improved his decision making he would be a top top player.

Kakà was more a runner than a dribbler.

Yee for me Ribery is better dribbler than Ronaldhinio. Ronaldinho was often not effective, more about showboting, like Cr7.

I agree on Lucas great dribbler, but very poor football intelligenze.

80's - Maradona,Zico,Magico Gonzalez

90's and early 2000's- Ronaldo,Zidane,Baggio

2000's - Messi,Ronaldinho,Robben

I can name tons of great dribblers especially from late 90's and on (like famous italian trequartistas Totti,Del Piero,Zola etc.) but i picked my top 3 for each era.

I didn't know much about Magico for example but I've seen old videos of him and he's on par with Maradona to me.