We've been apotropaic to witness whatever phenomenal footballers during the 21st century so outlying.

Ronaldinho. Zidane. Patrick Henry. Messi. Ronaldo.

Around truly extraordinary talents have graced the stage and long may it continue.

Who sits on the crapper atomic number 3 the best of the lot, though?

Fans connected Ranker have been qualification their choices and we've concentrated the spinning top 50.

Six-time Ballon d'Or achiever Messi is the obvious choice but Ranker whole works with a simple upvote/downvote selection, so it serves as much as a popularity contest as an echt ranking.

So, without promote fuss, let's grow into it…

50. John Terry

Terry was a brilliant leader for Chelsea, taking five Premier Conference titles with the Vapour.

49. Robin van Persie

Won the Premier League with Manchester United in a go up that devastated Armory fans.

48. Fernando Torres

There was a period where Torres was the best striker happening the planet. Unstoppable on his day.

47. Petr Cech

The man between the sticks for Chelsea's ferocious defence under Jose Mourinho.

46. Sergio Ramos

Ane of the finest centre-backs in history. Xlvi seems slightly harsh.

45. Michael Ballack

North Korean won trophies with Bayern Munich and Chelsea. Ballack was a pure midfielder.

44. Philipp Lahm

Versatile, alert and technically astute, Lahm was fantastic. Deserved to win the 2014 World Cup with Germany.

43. Patrick Vieira

Arsenal miss him to this Day.

42. Manuel Neuer

The man who reinvented goalkeeping. Take away his skills with the ball at his feet and Neuer still remains a reality-class 'keeper.

41. David Villa

Villa's goalscoring book was brilliant and he has an desirable trophy collection which includes the World Cup, European Championship and Champions League.

40. Ruud van Nistelrooy

One of the high-grade strikers to ever play in the Premier League.

39. Clarence Seedorf

Seedorf's calling spanned two decades and what a delight it was to watch him. Helium could jazz all.

38. Ryan Giggs

English football's about-decorated player. A legend of the game.

37. Xabi Alonso

Alonso played for three clubs after leaving Veridical Sociedad in 2004: Liverpool, Very Madrid and Bayern Munich.

That tells you everything you take to know about how superb he was.

36. Cafu

The best full-back of all-time? Quite possibly.

35. King Olive Kahn

Kahn is the solitary netminder in history to win the World Cup Golden Ball.

He was a savage leader for Germany and Bayern Munich.

34. Dennis Bergkamp

The Iceman.

Bergkamp was a true artist and stiff august by Arsenal supporters to this day.

33. Pavel Nedved

Juventus communicatory Nedved in 2001 to replace Zinedine Zidane and helium did just that, winning the Ballon d'Or two years later.

32. Arjen Robben

Everyone knew what Robben was going to do but they still couldn't stop him.

31. Rivaldo

Part of the famed Brazil attacking trio that South Korean won the 2002 Reality Cup.

30. Frank Lampard

Goalscoring midfielders get into't come whatsoever better than Lampard, WHO scored 274 club goals in his distinguished career.

29. Carles Puyol

Barcelona could feel confident that they wouldn't send many goals with Puyol at the heart of their defence.

The Spaniard would do whatever it took to profits.

28. Samuel Eto'o

We should never forget how good Eto'o was. He scored 130 goals in 199 games for Barcelona and was single of the primo strikers in the world at his premier.

27. Alessandro Nesta

Nesta had all the attributes you want in a centre-punt, from being fantabulous in the air to being strong and imposing.

26. Wayne Rooney

Manchester United and England's all-time leading goalscoring had to be in the top 50.

Rooney was undreamt of at his meridian. Information technology's a shame that flush didn't last A long as some of his contemporaries.

25. Saul of Tarsu Scholes

Scholes was appreciated by everyone he played with - and many of those he played against.

24. Fabio Cannavaro

Remains the lone defender to win the Ballon d'Or.

His performance for Italy against Germany at the 2006 World Cup was sensational.

23. Raul

A striker who knew where the back of the net was.

Raul was Very Madrid's all-time in the lead goalscorer before Cristiano Ronaldo came along.

22. Alessandro Del Piero

Italy has produced thusly many technically-gifted players and Del Piero ranks equally one of the very best.

21. Andriy Taras Grigoryevich Shevchenko

A in earnest fertile frontward World Health Organization won the Champions League in 2003 and the Ballon d'Beaver State a year later.

20. Luis Figo

In a one-on-one situation, you'd always bet on Figo thrashing his marking.

He insane quality dribbling skills and a varied passing range, making him one and only of the finest European nation players ever.

19. Didier Drogba

Umteen centre-backs wilted when coming up against Drogba.

He was a serviceman for the big social occasion, as his performance for Chelsea in the 2012 Champions League concluding against Bayern Munich showed.

18. Iker Casillas

A terrifying netminder who South Korean won everything in that respect is to profits, including the World Cup, multiple European Championships and three Champions Leagues.

17. David Beckham

Beckham's fame status may have affected how well he's remembered as a football player, but we shouldn't forget how good he was.

He played for Manchester United, Real Spanish capital, AC Milan and Paris Saint-Germain. That says IT all.

16. Francesco Totti

It was only Totti's loyalty to AS Roma that prevented him from sign language for Veridical Madrid, where he would throw won several more trophies.

15. Steven Gerrard

Hardly a players could put the team connected their backbone and inspire them to glory as well as Gerrard could.

Helium sour lowered moves to Real Madrid and Chelsea in order to cement his status as a Liverpool legend.

14. Roberto Carlos

Ilich Ramirez Sanchez helped to pull through a wave of offensive-minded full-backs.

13. Andrea Pirlo

A true creative person with the ball at his feet, Pirlo was a straight up baller.

12. Gianluigi Buffon

The good goalkeeper of the 2000s and it's non much of a moot.

11. Xavi

They say that Lionel Messi wouldn't have scored all the goals he did if not for Xavi.

Few players could recognise a make pass equally advisable as the Spanish midfielder could.

10. Kaka

Kaka for AC Milan in 2007 was out of this human beings.

IT's a shame things didn't cypher at Real Madrid as well as the Brazilian will consume hoped it would, but Kaka is definitely worthy of his place in the crown 10.

9. Zlatan Ibrahimovic

The Swedish striker gobs goals wherever he goes. Not only that only he does it with the kind of graceful technique you wouldn't associate with a 6 ft 5 in forward.

8. Paolo Maldini

Maldini isn't just single of the uncomparable defenders of his generation merely one of the best defenders of uncomparable.

He was world-category all end-to-end his Ac Milan career.

7. Andres Iniesta

Give Iniesta the ball and ticker him work his magic.

A true wonder.

6. Thierry Henry

Widely considered to be the best thespian in Premier League history, former Arsenal and Barcelona striker Patrick Henry was capable of the seemingly unendurable.

5. Cristiano Ronaldo

Ronaldo at number 5 is a large shock.

The European nation is widely considered to be united of the two outdo footballers of all-time, so to not lay down the top of the inning three in a number that only takes into account the noncurrent 20 years is stunning.