Who is the best male centre-back of the 21st century?
Is it Paolo Maldini? Many fans' pick for the greatest defender in history who won the Champions League in three different decades and amassed over 900 appearances for AC Milan.
Is it Nemanja Vidic? The two-time Premier League Player of the Season who became a legend at Manchester United for showing so much commitment that you'd think he'd head a brick if it meant keeping a clean sheet.
Is it Fabio Cannavaro? The last centre-half to win a Ballon d'Or who captained Italy to World Cup glory and showed that size needn't matter by dominating at Juventus and Real Madrid.
Or is it Sergio Ramos? The juggernaut who captained Los Blancos to three consecutive Champions League titles, scoring over 100 goals from defence and winning 180 senior Spain caps along the way.
The top 50 centre-backs of the 21st century
It's a tough question, there's no denying it, but the team at Copa90 have tried their very best to answer it by running through a fascinating top 50 that they've uploaded to their Instagram page over the past few days.
Their choices were made based on the following criteria: the art of defending, personal and club success, personality and cult status, loyalty, stand-out moments and performances this millennium.
Other than that, the list is - of course - subjective, so be sure to join us in debating who the best centre-back of the 21st century truly is by checking out Copa90's brilliant list and wondering what changes you'd make down below:
50. Bruno Alves
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Bruno Alves - FC Porto
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49. Gary Cahill
48. Cristian Chivu
47. Jan Vertonghen
46. Martin Demichelis
45. Aymeric Laporte
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44. Miranda
43. Nicolas Otamendi
42. Dante
41. Sami Hyypiä
40. Kolo Toure
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Kolo Toure - Arsenal
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39. Toby Alderweireld
38. Luisao
37. David Luiz
36. Raúl Albiol
35. Kalidou Koulibaly
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34. Jamie Carragher
33. Ledley King
32. Jerome Boateng
31. Andrea Barzagli
30. Javier Mascherano
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Barcelona's Javier Mascherano during training
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29. Marquinhos
28. Iván Córdoba
27. Rafael Marquez
26. Roberto Ayala
25. Mats Hummels
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24. Leonardo Bonucci
23. Marco Materazzi
22. Sol Campbell
21. Raphael Varane
20. Walter Samuel
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Walter Samuel - Inter Milan
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19. Vincent Kompany
18. Diego Godin
17. Jaap Stam
16. Lilian Thuram
15. Ricardo Carvalho
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Ricardo Carvalho - Chelsea
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14. Giorgio Chiellini
13. Pepe
12. Lucio
11. Virgil van Dijk
10. Nemanja Vidic
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9. Gerard Pique
8. Rio Ferdinand
7. John Terry
6. Thiago Silva
5. Sergio Ramos
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4. Fabio Cannavaro
3. Carles Puyol
2. Paolo Maldini
- Alessandro Nesta
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AC Milan's Alessandro Nesta
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Nesta named the greatest
Centre forwards the world over must be hyperventilating as they read through that.
By the time you get to the likes of Stam, Chiellini, Pepe and Varane only to see that they don't even make the top 10, then you know that the standard of defending has been through the roof since the turn of the century.
However, it's none other than Milan legend Nesta who takes the gold medal with Copa90 remarking: "Nesta made defending an art form. He turned slide tackles into ballet. If the ball was in his orbit, it was his. The classiest, most elegant centre-back of the 21st century."
As head-scratching as it might seem that Nesta gets the edge over Maldini at first glance, when the two main criteria are 'centre-backs' and '21st century', it's easy to see how the glass slipper fits the former just a little bit better.
Italy's Paolo Maldini (R) is substituted for Alessandro Nesta after an injury during their group B European Championship match against Sweden in Eindhoven June 19.
DS
Plus, there's no shame in second place because the quality within the list is absolutely extraordinary with Copa90 forced to settle plenty of tough debates along the way.
No doubt fans will have plenty to say about Van Dijk finishing below Vidic, Terry getting the better of Ferdinand, Puyol outdoing Ramos and Chiellini edging Carvalho, but that's the joy of the topic in the first place.
So, having read the list, which stars of the 2000s, 2010s and 2020s would you want shoring up your defence if your life depended on it? There's plenty of quality to choose from.
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