Love him or hate him, Lothar Matthaus is one of the best German players in the recent 20 years. He has played almost 14 years for the German giant Bayern Munich.

In his early days, he was a fine playmaker with great vision, great passing ability and possessed a thunderous shot. As he aged and lost some of his pace, he stepped back and became a sweeper which he had performed equally well for both his club and Germany.

Maradona openly declared in his book that Matthaus was the best rival he ever had.

Also the all-time German player with the most international caps (150), Matthaus retired at an age of 39 and became a manager, but without much notable success.

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One of the best leftback in the last 20 years, Maldini has won everything in club honours with AC Milan, his one and only club. That includes 7 Scudetto and 5 Champions League trophies! At 41 years old, Maldini also makes the most appearances for AC Milan and in the Serie A. Also well known for his professionalism, loyalty and leadership, Maldini's biggest regret is perhaps the failure to clinch the biggest prizes in the international level. Italy finished as runnerups in both World Cup '94 and European Championship 2000. When Italy finally won the World Cup again in 2006, Maldini has already retired from the national team, having amassed an Italy record of 126 caps.

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Marco van Basten was one of the best striker ever graced the game.

Signed by Milan in 1987 together with comrades Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard, they terrorised the Serie A and won the Scudetto 3 times and the Champions League trophies twice in his 6 years stay, plundering 90 goals in 147 games (goal ratio of 1 goal in 1.6 game). However, his career was cut short by an ankle injury caused by the rugged defending of the opponents, who were determined to stop him at all cost.

Van Basten's most memorable strike was the incredible first time volley at a very tight angle against the USSR in the European Championship 1988 final. His strike won Holland their one and only international glory.

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Many raised their eyebrows when Juventus sold the great Zidane to Real Madrid and bought Nedved from Lazio for replacement in 2001. However, Nedved proved his worth by leading Juventus to Scudetto again in 2002 and 2003 (the Scudetto of 2005 and 2006 were striped from Juventus). Even after Juventus was relegated to Serie B after the match-fixing case, Nedved chose to stick with them and help them to win the Serie B title and gain promotion back to Serie A.

Blessed with great dribbling skills and a powerful shot with either foot, Nedved's playmaking ability made him one of the finest in the world. But sadly, he was unable to lead his nation Czech Republic to win any international glories.

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Famous for his thunderbolt freekicks, Roberto Carlos' explosive pace and his willingness to join in the attacks made him one of the best left backs around.

A permanent fixture in the Galacticos Team of Real Madrid and the Brazilian national squad, Roberto Carlos has won everytihing in soccer, including 4 Spanish La Liga titles, 3 Champions League and the World Cup in 2002.

However there are criticisms that Roberto Carlos is sometimes too eager in the attacking that he often neglected his defending and this led to some goals by the opponents.

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It caused an uproar among the Barcelona fans when Real Madrid bought Figo from their bitter rival for a then world record in 2000. Figo is one of the very few players to have crossed over between the 2 giants in Spain.

Blessed with superb dribbling skills and crossing technique, Figo is an excellent right winger which every teams dream of. As a natural leader on the field, his teammates can also find him for inspirations.

A member of Portugal's golden generation, Figo almost led Portugal to European glory in 2004, only to lose in a shock defeat by underdog Greece in the final.

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