European football has produced some legendary players over the years. The great Sir Stanley Matthews, Alfredo di Stefano, Lev Yashin, the great Russian goalkeeper are all players who lit up the European stage. In the 1960s we had the great Manchester United trio of Denis Law, Bobby Charlton and George Best. The 1970s gave us Gerd Muller Johan Cruyff and Franz Beckenbauer. In the modern era, there are names such as Michel Platini, Marco van Basten, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Kaka, all players at the top of their game.
The latest addition to the list is Christiano Ronaldo of Manchester United and Portugal. Ronaldo scored a total of forty two goals in a season as Manchester United claimed the Champions League and the Premier League. Since joining Manchester United in 2003, Ronaldo has developed into a world class player. He added to the European Footballer if the Year award in December 2008 with thw FIFA World Footballer of the Year award.
Beaten into second place in the European award was Lionel Messi of Barcelona. Messi, an Argentinian has often been described as the successor to Maradonna. After making his debut in the Barcelona first team at the age of seventeen, Messi was at that time the youngest player ever to play in La Liga, and at the age of seventeen years, ten months and seven days, the youngest player ever to score in La Liga. He inherited the number ten jersey from Ronaldinho when he left Barcelona, and with some superb performances earned second place in the European Footballer of the Year awards. Messi has also represented his country Argentina at both the World Cup and the Olympics.
Fernando Torres of Liverpool and Spain came third in the European awards. He made his debut for Liverpool in August 2007 and became the first Liverpool player for fifty two years to score hat tricks in two successive matches. In the final game of the 2007-2008 season he scored his twenty fourth goal of the season to become the highest scoring foreign player in a season in the Premiership. Torres was part of the Spanish team which won the Euro 2008 competition and was also short listed for the World Player of the Year award.
Kaka was the 2007 European and World Footballer of the Year and has been the subject of a proposed one hundred million pounds plus bid from Manchester City. Kaka joined AC Milan from Sao Paolo in 2003. The Brazilian international plays in midfield or attack, and Sir Alex Ferguson has named him, along with Christiano Ronaldo as one of the two best players in the world.
Xavi Hernandez was named Best Player by UEFA at the Euro 2008 competition. Capped more than sixty times for Spain he has taken part in the 2002 and 2006 World Cup, Euro 2004 and Euro 2008 and the 2000 Olympics. A central or defensive midfielder, Hernandez is vice captain of Barcelona. You can find more football news at football blog
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