TOP FIVE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TEAMS OF THIS CENTURY

The history of the beautiful game has seen several great teams light up European Club Football's greatest stage: The Champions League. However, there are few teams in particular that have stood out. Let's take a look at five of those teams from the current century, with each club being represented by only one team in case of multiple victories:

5. Manchester United (2007-2008)

Manchester United has reached the zenith of European football three times, the latest victory coming in 2008. Boasting a sturdy defence and capable midfield, United quickly became the team to beat as they boasted a marauding front line of Carlos Tevez, Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo, who was emerging as the world's best player. Filled with fast, hungry and energetic youngsters, as well as experienced players of the previous triumph in 1999, United ripped apart opposition on their road to glory, finding a way to win even during hopeless cases.

4. AC Milan (2006-2007)

Defeated by Liverpool in 2005, 'That Night in Istanbul' must have inflicted a deep scar in the minds of anyone associated with Milan. However, they stood strong and from tears came joy, as the Rossoneri lifted the trophy in 2007, which had so painfully eluded them in 2005. From the veteran Maldini to the maestro Pirlo, Milan oozed talent in every position. A resounding victory over Manchester United in the semi-finals left no doubt as to who was Europe's top team that year. With a vastly improved and dangerous Kaká leading the way, the memories of Istanbul were buried at last.

3. Barcelona (2014-2015)

The sides of 2009 and 2011, widely regarded as the greatest teams of all time, do not make the list. The team of 2015 does. Unlike the previous sides which had to ride their luck at times on the way to the final, this Barcelona needed no such thing. With a forward line of Messi, Suarez and Neymar, I need not explain myself further. Throw in a dash of midfield experience through Iniesta and Busquets and defensive solidity thanks to Pique and Dani Alves, this Barcelona team was the one to beat. 

2015 > 2009, 2011 (when it comes to the Champions League).

2. Bayern Munich (2012-2013)

Bayern in 2010 and 2012 were so close, yet so far. However in 2013, they formed one of the most dominant teams in European history. Perhaps the greatest team to have won just a single European title in a given period with the same squad, Bayern shocked the world by defeating Barcelona 7-0 in the semi-finals. With Robben and Ribery on the wings, Bayern was perhaps the first major team to depict the use of two top-quality inverted wingers on the flanks. Couple that with their sturdy defence, controlling midfield and their keeper Manuel Neuer's unique 'sweeping' talents, this Bayern team could beat any other team. Except the next one.

1. Real Madrid (2017-2018) 

Obviously. The only team to have won two consecutive titles, let alone three, since the complete revival of the competition as the Champions League, Real Madrid of 2018 are undoubtedly the greatest Champions League team of this century. Despite riding their luck a bit during the two previous campaigns in 2016 and 2017, in 2018 it was pure class and domination.

Defeating the French, Italian and German champions en route to the final, where they beat the most successful English team in Europe, Real Madrid's third consecutive title was undoubtedly the one where they stamped their authority on the competition. With the world's best players at every position, and a re-modelled Ronaldo, Real Madrid were the masters of the European game.

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Other brilliant teams include the Barcelona teams of 2009 and 2011, the Real Madrid side of 2014, Inter Milan in 2010 and Liverpool in 2019. The Barcelona teams rode their luck way too often in crucial stages in the competition, most notably in both their semi-finals in 2009 and 2011 against Chelsea and Real Madrid, where bad decisions favoured them. As for Real Madrid in 2014, they were a minute away from losing the final, and narrowly beat Dortmund in the last eight, despite crushing Bayern in the penultimate round. Inter is debatable, but they relied heavily on Mourinho's brilliant tactics, and as for Liverpool, they were great, but they faced teams that were a shadow of their former selves.

The 'Biased Basis' of the GOAT Debate- Part 3

In my previous posts, Part 1 and Part 2, I had brought up the topic of how defenders and midfielders weren't given as much credit as strikers or forwards on an individual basis. One of the reasons for this could be that defence is a collective responsibility of the entire team. So what value does a single high quality defender or defensive minded midfielder add to a team?

Before we get into that, let us first look at how teams defend. There are several defensive strategies followed by teams. From possession based football that follows the ideology 'if we have the ball, the opposition can't score' to the age-old 'catennacio' style of football that relies on solid defending by soaking up the pressure and then counter-attacking swiftly, the possibilities are endless. 

However, three principles are followed irrespective of what defensive strategy is used.

The first one is maintaining formation or team structure, whether as an entire team or in certain sections of the pitch, and this has to be followed. If players are randomly organised without any particular arrangement, confusion arises which leads to chaos. Second is marking, whether it is man-to-man marking or zonal marking, and it is a must. Teams generally prefer the former for set-pieces and the latter for open play. The third is pressing, or anything similar which is used to win the ball back. 

Now, the defenders and midfielders have to be the most cautious about maintaining and sticking to their positions as they form the backbone of the team's structure. Attacking midfielders, strikers and modern wingers typically have a much more free role, and are allowed to roam anywhere along the front line. This is because their 'roaming' causes problems for the opposition defence. However, defensive players need to maintain their shape and structure in order to prevent gaps from opening up. Hence, a large portion of a team's defensive capabilities depends on how well they are organised. 

Hence, defensive players have to be highly aware of how their fellow teammates are positioned, as well as where their opponents are. Defenders play 'an intelligent game', not a beautiful one. Maldini himself famously said that if he had to make a tackle, it meant that he had already made a mistake. Someone else, either a fellow defender or even a forward could also have given the ball away, and hence a defender has to position himself thinking about all those aspects as well. 

Therefore, although a striker or forward's contribution can be measured in terms of dribbles, key passes, chances created, assists and goals, a defenders contribution cannot be measured in terms of tackles, interceptions and duels won. This is merely because a defender would have positioned himself in such a manner that there would be no need for the tackle or other things to be made in the first place.

Another important thing, which is often not talked about enough in my opinion, is how great defenders have an invisible effect on teams as well as on other individuals within the team, and if you look into any forward who has won an individual award, I am sure that it was only because of those behind them. Literally those behind them. 

Let us take some examples from this very decade to prove this point. Liverpool until the 2017-18 season were a shadow of their former self. Enter Virgil van Dijk. A tall imposing central defender who completely changed the way they played. Yes, they did have an already impressive trio of Salah, Mane and Firmino up front, but the Dutchman's introduction completely changed the way Liverpool played. They no longer had to worry about their defence because van Dijk's imposing presence and dominance at the back, not to mention prodigious defensive skill, was like using a titanium lock on an otherwise open door.

Although Virgil van Dijk was awarded the UEFA Best Men's Player in 2019, he was
beaten by Lionel Messi for both the FIFA Best Player as well as the Ballon d'Or.
Credits: Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images

Another example from recent times, Real Madrid. In this case I want to talk about two very important positions that were critical for their team. One is Sergio Ramos at the heart of their defence. Now one of the reasons Madrid was very successful in European competitions, aside from the fact that they had incredibly talented and experienced players, was their system. Apart from being able to retain possession and dominate the midfield area, they had two of the best players at full-back, Marcelo and Carvajal. Marcelo was the more attack-minded of the two, and he was often the most advanced player on the left flank (he even stood at the halfway-line during kick-off), which meant that there was huge gap in Madrid's defensive line. Nothing to worry about though, because Sergio Ramos covered that entire side all alone, and his domineering presence was so good that Marcelo could literally live in the opposition's half. Ramos' effect is perhaps more noticed when he's absent, as Madrid leaked goals faster than Usain Bolt running a sprint, such as in the second legs against Ajax in the 2018-19 season and Juventus in 2017-18, and when he is present, Madrid flood their opposition's box and you get 'goals, more goals and even more goals'.

The second player is Casemiro. A Central Defensive Midfielder (CDM), he was perhaps the most crucial piece of the team. Casemiro is like the engine of an expensive car. No one looking at the car can see the engine. They all look at how it looks, how the seats feel etc. If the car doesn't start, only then they look at the engine. Real Madrid won the Champions League in 2013-2014. The next season, they upgraded their midfield by acquiring both Toni Kroos as well as James Rodriguez. However, they failed to defend their title as they played with three midfielders who were terrible at CDM, which Xabi Alonso (who had moved to Bayern) played with such finesse for them the previous year. Next season, enter Casemiro, and they win three consecutive Champions Leagues.

From the above examples and the various explanations across all three posts, it is obvious that while forwards play the beautiful game, defenders play an intelligent one, and the human tendency is to focus on beauty. Not until you spend enough time with a person, will you realize how intelligent they are, Similarly, even several experts may be biased towards what they see, over what has to be understood and thought out.

Defensive contributions to the game, such as maintaining formations, playing a forward offside, positioning yourself perfectly to block the angles for a pass or a shot, controlling the tempo of the game, all these involve the mind more than the body. It is therefore no surprise that the most revered managers who were also brilliant players, such as Guardiola, Zidane and Beckenbauer, were midfielders or defenders. It takes a lot more than prodigious skill on the ball to be a great manager, and perhaps that's the reason why Maradona failed as a manager for Argentina. There are exceptions however, as Cruyff was a forward and yet was perhaps the most influential manager in terms of how the modern game is played.

To conclude, you cannot actually decide on who is the best player. You can perhaps debate on who the greatest forward, midfielder, defender and goalkeeper are, but never on the best overall player. Even among those positions, variations in playing style exist. For example, an inverted winger will most certainly have a higher goal contribution than a traditional one, so how again do we divide them?

In my opinion, there needs to be a separate award for each position. Currently however, there are only awards that distinguish between goalkeepers and all outfield players.

As for deciding who the GOAT is, we can perhaps imagine a virtual tournament in our head where each team is composed of 11 identical copies of the same player. The winner of that tournament could certainly be considered the greatest player of all time. Imagine 11 Lionel Messi's against 11 Cristiano Ronaldo's. If we held a tournament like that considering every single player to have ever played the game at their prime, who would win? I'm backing Beckenbauer or Zidane. What about you?