UltimateEuropeForums.net

After much deliberation we have the top three teams from each group. It was far from easy to do. Part of the beauty of football, is that it's all about opinions, and this process highlighted this. We asked for the thoughts of others in a number of places, they were unexpected and varied. We've tried to taken them all on board.

We have removed the manager names in the hope that all teams are judged on their merits. Feel free to discuss which team is best, as well as voting. But even if you know, or the team is yours, do not mention who picked any of the teams.

The 3rd placed team will get one UE point.

The 2nd placed team will get two UE points.

The 3rd team will get three, and will be entered into a further poll to decide the winner (who will get another 2 UE points).

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The voice of Ultimate Europe...

TEAM 1

1. Gordon Banks
2 Guiseppe Bergomi
3 Andreas Brehme
4. Fernando Hierro
5 Billy Wright
6 John Charles
7 Mario Kempes
8. Paul Gascoigne
9. Ferenc Puskas
10 Diego Maradona
11. Zico​


1. Gordon Banks - World Cup Winner who made 628 appearances during a 15-year career in the Football League, and won 73 caps for his country. Regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, was named FWA Footballer of the Year in 1972, and was named FIFA Goalkeeper of the Year on six occasions, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971. Made one of the most famous saves of all time!!

2 Guiseppe Bergomi - Also a World Cup winner, 81 Italian caps, appearing in 4 world cups, winning in 1982. He was equally at ease as a RB or a CB and regarded as one of the best defenders of all time. In 2004 was elected by Pele as one of the greatest 125 footballers of all time. Not to mention his fantastic moustache.

3 Andreas Brehme - Another World Cup winner in 1990, "Andy" was considered to be one of the greatest free-kick takers and crossers of all time, equally capable with both feet. Was one of the three best players in the world in 1990 finishing 3rd in the Ballon d'Or. Remembered by England fans for the goal he scored that deflected over Peter Shilton

4. Fernando Hierro - More than 500 games for the great Real Madrid and 90 spanish caps appearing at 6 major tournaments. Equally at east as a defensive midfielder central midfielder or centre back with near unlimited passing range and accuracy and a pretty damn good eye for goal. 5 la liga titles and three Champions League titles over the course of 15 years. He was voted Uefa Club best defender in the 97-98 season and the Fifa World 11 on three occasions, 1996,97 and 98.

5 Billy Wright - What can I say, what a player. A one club player with Wolves, 3 league titles with his club. The first ever footballer to win 100 caps for his country (105), he also holds a record for the longest unbroken run in International football and captained England a record 90 times that includes 3 world cup campaigns. In 1957 he was voted the 2nd best player in the world coming 2nd in the Ballon d'Or. Also all the stories that my Dad told me about him (Dad was a Wolves fan) mean that he must have been the best defender ever!

6 John Charles - Rated by many as the greatest all round player ever to grace our British shores, he was a centre back who was an equally capable centre forward and excelled in the air and scored plenty of goals with his feet. , technically gifted and fast, all for a big guy, 6"2. Never cautioned or sent off, a true gentleman of the game. Serie A Top Goal-scorer: 1958 and Ballon d'Or – Third place: 1959.

7. Mario Kempes - Another World Cup winner is 1978 scoring twice in the final and receiving the golden boot award. Also won the golden ball aware for the best player in the tournament and is only one of 3 players to ever achieve all 3 in a single world cup. Pele also voted Kempes as one of the best 125 players ever in 2004. Argentina legend.

8. Paul Gascoigne - The clown prince. I'm so glad I got to see this guy play live. Spurs legend, one of the greatest football geniuses ever. 57 England caps, 10 goals but should have been many many more caps. Honours include: PFA Young Player of the Year: 1987–88, PFA Team of the Year: 1987–88, 1990–91, FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 1990, PFA Scotland Players' Player of the Year: 1995–96, SFWA Footballer of the Year: 1995–96, UEFA European Football Championship Teams of the Tournament: 1996. Also one of my favourite Spurs players of all time, so much so I'm having Gazza tattooed on my arm shortly!

9. Ferenc Puskas - One of the greatest strikers of all time, 84 international goals in 85 games is incredible. My grandad,s favourite player of all time. Olympic champ in 52, final of the world cup with HUNGARY in 54, voted the best player of the tournament. 514 goals in 529 games for his clubs in Hungary and Spain. 3 European Cups and a whole host of personal achievements, including as highlights (too many to mention) Ballon d'Or silver award, multiple years Hungarian and Spanish top scorer, world player of the year 53, European player of the year 53, multiple golden balls and golden boots as well as nominations for best player ever in several different articles over the many many years.

10 Diego Maradona - Of this list he is probably the best of the lot, he has more individual honours, achievements, awards than the other 10 put together He has won World player of the year, European player of the year, golden boots, golden shoes, Onze d'Or's, top scorers, player of the century, Argentine footballer of the year, I could literally write a book on his achievements. Absolutely legend in every sense of the word. Cheating b*stard though

11. Zico -"The White Pele" Another fantastic player and Brazil had many but he was one of the very best, top 3 in my opinion. Pele even suggested that the only player that came close to him was Zico, that's quite the compliment. 48 goals in 71 games for Brazil, representing them in 3 world cups, playmaker and freekick expert who is considered by some as the best player never to have won a fifa world cup. Another who's honours list is longer than my partners shopping list and so far too many to mention, basically he did it all and won it all except for the Jules Rimet.

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The voice of Ultimate Europe...

Team 2

Here is my case summary for my legends team. I have wrote a small piece on each player I carefully selected for my legends side just to give you even more of an insight of why I picked him. I have added references where required and spent hours on reading, copying pieces not only to explain how good they were but to help my case to win the points. I have spent a lot of time but learned a hell of a lot about the history of football as a result and hope you vote for my side to be the best legends side. Please enjoy the write up.

I went for a 4-1-3-1-1 System with the following line up.

GK - Schmeichel.
RB - Neal.
CB - Kompany.
CB - Passarella (c)
LB - Facchetti.
DM - Neeskens.
RW - Best.
CM - Tardelli.
LW - Cruyff.
FR - Bale.
F - Eusabio.

My Summary.

Peter Schmeichel

In my eyes the greatest GK of all time. I went and made sure I chose Schmeichel very early, in fact I think it was my second or third pick. He was integral for Man United throughout his time picking up a massive 5 Premier League titles, 3 x FA Cup’s, 1 x League Cup, 4 x Charity Shield, 1 x UEFA Super Cup and of course a champions league winners medal in the famous treble winning year. In addition to this he was voted the IFFHS Worlds Best Goal Keeper in years 92 and 93. Also winning the Euro’s with Denmark in a shock to all of football. Amazingly enough he also scored 11 goals in his career and remains most capped player for Denmark with 129. According to his Wikipedia he is regarded by IFFHS as the greatest Goal Keeper of all time. In addition to that according to a public vote done by Reuters the majority voted Schmeichel as the greatest Keeper ever ahead of Lev Yashin and Gordon Banks. In 2003 he was inducted to the English Hall of Fame in recognition for his impact on the English game which is an amazing achievement. Another huge compliment to the Great Dane was in fact a Great Dane dog was named after him in Manchester based soap Coronation Street. Certainly a legend.

Phil Neal

Neal is actually one of the most successful English players of all time. Not the most popular, but the fact he's won 8 first division titles, 4 league cup’s, 5 charity shields, an amazing 4 european cups and an UEFA and super cup on 1 occasion each shows how good he was. I always had Neal down to be my Right Back and glad I got him despite it being later on. His nickname according to his Wiki was ‘Zico’ to so many at Liverpool in reference to the Brazilian playmaker for scoring important goals throughout the club’s history which included a penalty in the 1977 champions league cup final and then again in the 1984. He was the ONLY Liverpool player to partake in all 4 of their Champions League wins throughout the 70’s and 80’s. In addition, to those incredible feats he managed to chalk up over 700 Liverpool games and 50 caps for England. A truly special player.

Vincent Kompany

In all honesty Kompany was one of my last picks, not because he didn’t have the quality as he does. you only have to look how mediocre City's back line are without him. Kompany was included in the premier league team of the year in 2011 and 2012 as well as being in the 2014 team. According to a statement made on his page he was voted in the top 23 best footballers in the world today which when you look around and see the quality out there that is some achievement. I also read that he made PFA team of the year and Mancini referred to him as ‘incredible’ and at that point the best defender in Europe. In addition to winning the above he also chalked up City’s player of the year on a couple of occasions and now captains his country earned 70 caps up to date. According to a piece describing his style of play he is currently recognized as one of the best defenders in the world again according to his Wikipedia. Man City are not half the team when he’s missing. A 2-time Premier League winner along with 2 x league cups an FA Cup and Community shield winner. Alongside Passarella I can’t see any CB partnership being as formidable as these.

Daniel Passarella

To start off when someone is nicknamed ‘El Gran Captain’ by their whole nation I think we all know you have a true legend on your hands. Passarella is described as one of the greatest defenders of all time and one of almost prolific defenders of all time according to the net. He was once footballs top scoring defender with 134 goals in 451 matches which nowadays is unheard of. It has now been passed, so he lies in second. Pele had him in his top 125 best living footballers of today. He also went on to Captain and to win the 1978 World Cup as well as being ranked at 36th in the hardest footballers in history. According to his Wikipedia Passarella is considered the best defender in South American history and when you think of the names that involves it isn’t hard to see why I picked him in my second pick. He was the first Argentine to hold the world cup having winning it in 78. His honors include 2 x World Cups in 78 and 86, Argentine footballer of the year in 76, FIFA World Cup all-star team in 78, Golden Foot Legends award in 2004 and named in the world soccer list of greatest footballers of all time. Named as Captain of my legends side. What a player.

Giacinto Facchetti

The one club man, also a true Legend part of the great Inter side nicknamed ‘Grande Inter’ that won 4 Serie A titles, 2 champions league titles, 2 x Intercontinental cup and a Coppa Italia cup. He went on to play 634 games for Inter scoring 75 goals as well as 94 caps. He also played in World Cup’s and winning 3 x World Cups and earning a runners up medal in 1970 to where he was also elected in the all-star team of the tournament. He was Captain of Italy in their first ever European championship which they won on home soil in 1968 to where he made it in the all-star team there as well. He also won a Ballon Di’or in 1965 which is a true testament of how good he was. While I was reading his site it mentioned that he was also named in Pele’s top 125 greatest footballers in 2004 as well as being part of the FIFA 100th anniversary celebrations. Following his death in 2006 he was named as one of the years Golden Foot Football Legends and was also inducted to the Italian Hall of Fame. According to the Gazzetaworld.com Facchetti’s 59 goals make him the most prolific defenders in Serie A history and regarded as one of the greatest fullbacks of all time. In my opinion the 2 most honorable credits to him is the fact Inter have retired the number 3 shift in his honour but in addition to that they have renamed a square in Cesano Maderno in Milan in honour of him. There will never be a Facchetti again. Another true legend.

Johan Neeskens

‘Johan the second’ is the well-known nickname for Nesskens. As a player, he was an important member of the Dutch national team that finished as runners-up in both the 1974 and 1978 FIFA World Cups and is considered to be one of the greatest ever Dutch midfielders. Former England manager Alf Ramsey said Neeskens was "as good as any player" in the tournament which in itself is a huge compliment given the class that partook in the event at that point. Like other Legends Neeskens was named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004. One description I loved was that Neeskens has been described on the UEFA website as having the "steel-hard midfielder was a tireless runner yet also had nice technique and scored goals, helping to set the stage for Johan Cruyff to shine" so I'm glad I got both in my team here. One of the first ever box-to-box midfielders, he was great at pressuring opponents to regain possession too. "He was worth two men in midfield," said team-mate Sjaak Swart which is another huge compliment. As you can see he was a very under-rated player and with Cruyff also in my team it would make Neeskens and Cruyff ever better. He went on to win Eredivisie in both 72 and 73 the KNVB Cup in 71 and 72. Most importantly of all the European Cup now known as the Champions League on 3 occasions in years 71, 72 and 73 along with the UEFA Super Cup in 72 and 73. The rest were the Intercontinental Cup in 72, Copa del Rey in 78, the UEFA Cup Winners Cup in 79 all at club level. But with Holland he won the Tournament International of Paris in 78. Personal awards matched up to the elite with 1974 FIFA World Cup Silver Boot, 1974 FIFA World Cup All-Star Team and best of all the Don Balón Award (La Liga Foreign Player of the Year) in the 75–76 season. A very under-rated legend.

Marco Tardelli

Regarded as one of Italy's greatest ever midfielders and one of the best players of his generation he is one of my favorite midfielders ever, Tardelli was named 37th in the UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll. He was inducted into the Italian Football Hall of Fame in 2015. With Juventus he won five league titles, as well as multiple Coppa Italia titles, and four major UEFA competitions (European Cup, Cup Winner's Cup, UEFA Cup and UEFA Super Cup), becoming one of the first three players ever to win all three major UEFA club competitions. Also a FIFA World Cup winner, Tardelli achieved immense success with the Italian national team because he represented his nation at three FIFA World Cups in 78, 82 and 86 winning the 1982 tournament, He is particularly remembered for his famous goal celebration in the final with tears in his eyes, apparently he sprinted towards the Italian bench, fists clenched in front of his chest, screaming "Gol Gol" as he shook his head wildly. This celebration would become known as the "Tardelli cry", and was one of the defining images of Italy's 1982 World Cup triumph. In 2014, his iconic 1982 World Cup Final goal celebration was named the fourth greatest World Cup moment of all time by the BBC. Which in all fairness is a great achievement I was always going to pick Tardelli as my DM simply because of the class he possesses backed up by the above. Alongside Neeskens I don’t see many if any breaking them down in the heart of my side. Along with being a legend, he is a true warrior.

George Best

I don’t think anyone can argue when it’s said that Best was the greatest British player of all time. He was also known as one of the greatest dribblers of all time according to various sites. A bit about Best, well before he died he was voted 8th in the World Soccer 100 greatest football players of the 20th century election in 1999 and was voted 16th in the IFFHS World Player of the Century election in 1999. He was one of the inaugural 22 inductees into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002. In 2004 he was voted 19th in the public UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll and was named in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players. Former Brazilian footballer Pelé stated and I quote “George Best was the greatest player in the world". Best was once quoted as saying I reply to Pele, “Pelé called me the greatest footballer in the world. That is the ultimate salute to my life.” And I as a football fan have to agree. There will never be another George Best. It also amazed me that Belfast City Airport was renamed the ‘George Best Belfast City Airport’ and also there is a life-size bronze sculpture of Best in Northern Ireland which is a rare commodity for footballers. Both of these are 2 testaments of this true genius of the game. Always was going to be my first pick. Certainly a legend.

Gareth Bale

Always been a huge fan of Bale and even though he is still only 28 he has far more to give in the game. He was incredible for Wales in the recent Euro’s where they got to the Semi-finals. He was the top goal scorer for Wales in their qualifying campaign for UEFA Euro 2016 scoring seven goals. Since Bale left Spurs he has gone on to become one of the best players on the planet on his day and has been described by Harry Redknapp as the same class as Messi and Ronaldo. I have to agree. Up till last week he was the most expensive footballer ever. He has proved that he is the real deal by the fact he has scored 50 goals in 90 games in all competitions for the Spanish Giants and as a result has won 2 x Champions League titles, Copa Del Ray, FIFA World Club Cup and the UEFA Super Cup. His individual awards are second to none and far too many to list. So I’ve wrote the noticeable one’s, he was chosen in many best teams of the year including ESM’s team, UEFA Champions League team and FM team which are 3 of the 14 individual awards he has won. One of his most noticeable and rare achievements was him scoring the perfect hat trick (Head, Right foot and Left Foot) for Madrid versus Rayo last year. He currently stands at the youngest player to play for Wales and is the first Welsh player to score in a major tournament since 1958. He has been described as one of the fastest players in world football today and also a testament of his quality is after a Champions League group stage match against Internazionale, teammate Rafael van der Vaart said, "Everyone is scared of Bale. Maicon is one of the best defenders in the world at the time, and Bale killed him." As regard to the same match a Spanish newspaper El Mundo said ‘Bale combines the height and build of an 800-metre runner like Steve Ovett with the acceleration and directness of a rugby winger like Bryan Habana and when he gets to the byline, he delivers curling crosses like a Brazilian. Big words? Yes, but that's what Bale is like – easily the greatest sensation in the opening month and a half of the Champions League. Ask Maicon what he thinks after the two exhibitions Bale turned in against Inter. Yesterday he left Maicon for great and then a wily old fox like Lúcio was left in his wake like someone trying to follow the vapour trail of an aeroplane. Three goals and two assists — against the European champions. His performances have been stunning". That is some compliment to Bale and I couldn’t believe it when I came to my 8th pick and he hadn’t been chosen. So at that point there was never any doubt I would be picking him. If he isn't a legend yet, he will certainly will be in the not to distant future.

Johan Cruyff

Possibly the best choice of my side, I chose Cruyff as my first pick with Best as I don't believe there have been 2 better wingers in the history of the game. He has been mentioned by a many as the greatest footballer ever lived. He won the Ballon d'Or three times, in 71, 73 and 74. Cruyff was one of the most famous exponents of the football philosophy known as Total Football and is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in football history according to his Wikipedia, soccer magazine and Eric Cantona. Ajax defender Barry Hulshoff, who played with Cruyff, explained how the team that won the European Cup in 71, 72 and 73 worked Cruyff to their advantage stating "We discussed space the whole time. Cruyff always talked about where people should run, where they should stand, where they should not be moving. It was all about making space and coming into space. It is a kind of architecture on the field. We always talked about speed of ball, space and time. Where is the most space? Where is the player who has the most time? That is where we have to play the ball. Every player had to understand the whole geometry of the whole pitch and the system as a whole. I mean that statement just epitomises not only how good Cruyff was on the field but how clever and intelligent he was as a footballer off it. A few top names in the history of the sport went on to say various things of Cruyff, I couldn’t possibly list them all but will add some of which to give an idea of how good he was. The following had this to say, Cantona stated, "I loved the Dutch in the '70s, they excited me and Cruyff was the best. He was at the heart of a revolution with his football. Ajax changed football and he was the leader of it all. If he wanted he could be the best player in any position on the pitch. Sports writer David Miller believed Cruyff superior to any previous player in his ability to extract the most from others. He dubbed him "Pythagoras in boots" for the complexity and precision of his passes and wrote, "Few have been able to exact, both physically and mentally, such mesmeric control on a match from one penalty area to another. Then according to England's 1966 World Cup-winning striker Bobby Charlton, ‘’Cruyff was pretty intelligent, a real football brain. He had superb control, he was inventive and he could perform magic with a ball to get himself out of trouble instinctively. He got a lot of goals, and although he was so skilful, he didn't show off – he played to the strengths of the players around him. This side would really keep hold of the ball." I don’t think I need to say much more about the greatest player to graced the football field also in my opinion.

Eusabio

And finally, Eusabio who was nicknamed either ‘The Black Panther’ ‘Black Pearl’ or ‘Rei’ which means ‘the king’ which is a huge compliment. His goal scoring record is the greatest of all time surpassing Pele with 698 goals in 721 matches. Also for Portugal he gained 120 caps scoring 110 goals. He won the Ballon d'Or award for European footballer of the year in 1965 and was runner-up in 1962 and 1966. Eusébio's name often appears in best player of all time lists and polls by football critics and fans. He was elected the ninth-best footballer of the 20th century in a poll by the IFFHS and the tenth-best footballer of the 20th century in a poll by the World Soccer magazine. Pelé named Eusébio as one of the 125 best living footballers in his 2004 FIFA 100 list. He was seventh in the online poll for UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll. In November 2003, to celebrate UEFA's Jubilee, he was selected as the Golden Player of Portugal by the Portuguese Football Federation as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years. He has been called "Africa's first great footballer" and "Africa's greatest-ever player" Which all speaks for itself. I couldn’t possibly praise this legend enough. He won 28 individual records with most notably being IFFHS' World Player of the Century, Ballon d'Or in 65 and the first European golden boot winner. Portugal have even gone as far as to name their own nations cup The ‘Eusabio cup’ which is a huge compliment to the striker. Eusabio went on to win 11 Portugal league titles, the champions league on one occasion and various cup wins. There was only going to be a hand full of strikers I was going to choose and im glad I managed to get one of 2 I really wanted up top. What a devastating goal scoring legend. I’ll end this whole summary of my legends chosen with a compliment from Alfredo Di Stefano about Eusabio, he said ‘For me Eusabio will always be the best player of all time’ and that compliment can not be bettered. A true legend.

So that's it, looking around I believe my side is the best assembled there. The fact it contains 9 players out of 11 who have won the champions league (The other 2, Passarella never competed and Kompany yet to win it) Also 4 players have won the World Cup with no fewer than 5 earning runners up medals. In addition to that multiple players have won the Ballon D 'Or, European championships and a lot of domestic league titles, cups and shields also backs this up. I hope I have done enough to convince you to choose my legends side as the competition winner.

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The voice of Ultimate Europe...

TEAM 3

1. Frantisek Planicka GK
2. Berti Vogts RB
3. Bixente Lizarazu LB
4. Lothar Mathaus CM
5. Gaetano Scirea CB
6. Fabio Cannavaro CB
7. JAIRZINHO RM
8. Edgar Davids CM
9. Kenny Dalglish IF
10. RONALDO CF
11. GARRINCHA LM

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The voice of Ultimate Europe...

Three decent teams, having read the write ups I've opted for the third. Only virgins could have had the time to write the first two and I don't trust virgins over the age of 25

Offer a gloryhole next time and whoever gives the best suck gets 5 points

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Getafe 117
Juventus 118
Macclesfield 120
Manchester City 121

Wow. The voting here is a shock

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Active Teams

Game 123 (EFG) - Bayern Munich
Game 123 (EFG) - Notts County
Game 124 (HFG) - Al Nassr

Maybe people don't like Virgins mate, entirely possible they get creeped out by them

Maybe, but isn't that prejudice? Who are we to question a virginist. I mean no matter your social status or powerful you think you are, we are all equal. We all came here via birth and we all leave via death

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Active Teams

Game 123 (EFG) - Bayern Munich
Game 123 (EFG) - Notts County
Game 124 (HFG) - Al Nassr

Are you one of the virgins that wrote this?

I thought you were, given that your chosen name is a mixture of presumably what is your idols Mourinho and Bond along with your current status. But don't worry, we are not prejudice here. I remember when I used to do things like that.

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Active Teams

Game 123 (EFG) - Bayern Munich
Game 123 (EFG) - Notts County
Game 124 (HFG) - Al Nassr

So what you're saying is you thought I posted one of the teams then proceeded to slag it off? I'll answer that question for you, no you didn't.

As for Mourinho, wrong

Keep munching the bait nom nom nom

And there is the old cliche.

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Active Teams

Game 123 (EFG) - Bayern Munich
Game 123 (EFG) - Notts County
Game 124 (HFG) - Al Nassr

Banter claus