Roy Keane and Jamie Carragher have named their top three players of all time, with Diego Maradona and Zinedine Zidane featuring for both.
The pair thrashed out their list of greatest players in the latest instalment of Monday Night Football on Sky Sports, with Manchester United legend Keane joining regular pundit Carragher on the panel.
While the duo spent time analysing Liverpool’s defeat to Arsenal on Sunday and Bruno Guimaraes’ impact at Newcastle United, one of the most intriguing segments of the show was when the pair decided to engage in something that has football fans the world over debating: their favourite players ever.
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Keane initially named Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Thierry Henry as his top three of the Premier League era. But when he realised that he could branch out from just the English game, Keane replied: “Obviously Maradona would have to be up there.”
The next player the Irishman selected was his former teammate and current Manchester United attacker Cristiano Ronaldo, who grabbed his 700th club career goal in Sunday’s victory over Everton at Goodison Park.
His list was finalised with French midfielder Zidane, as Keane said: “I’d probably say Zidane, for me. He has to be up there. I was lucky enough to play against him. Brilliant player. Nasty, scored a goal, won the big prizes. Hard to beat that.”
When Carragher’s turn came to list his three icons, the player he named first was Ronaldo’s long-time rival Lionel Messi. He said: “Number one, for me, would be Messi. “I said last week, if Argentina won the World Cup it would cement him, in a lot of people's eyes, as the number one.”
The former Liverpool defender then agreed with his guest in naming Maradona and Zidane as the two final components of his list, adding: “Maradona, just what he did in 1986. I was a young kid and couldn’t believe what I was watching.
“And I’d agree with Roy, I’d go with Zidane from the modern generation. I just think Zidane for what he did in the biggest moments. You think of the [1998] World Cup final, the goal at Hampden in the [2002] Champions League final, his performances at Euro 2000. He was special.”
