Five Years Ago Some Reddit Users Predicted Who The World's Best Players Would Be

Five years ago, a load of people on reddit attempted to predict who would become the best players in world football.

Now, that five year period has passed and we have had the pleasure of looking back at some of the picks those on the /r/soccer thread threw up at the time.

There were 797 comments in total and there's a wide range of players who feature. Looking back some are pretty sensible, such as Neymar, Eden Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne and Paul Pogba but generally we can say the users weren't too handy at looking into the future.

It would be fair to say the the likes of Oscar, Lewis Holtby, Julian Draxler, Jack Wilshere, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Jack Rodwell, Aaron Ramsey, Adnan Januzaj, Mario Balotelli, Viktor Fischer, Juan Iturbe and Jese Rodriguez - all names thrown into the mix - haven't been able to live up to expectations.

The thread, which makes for very fascinating reading, is largely split on whether Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo would be able to maintain their sensational form - though one user in particular got it horribly wrong.

Image: PA

"A 31 year old Messi and a 33 year old Ronaldo being the best players in the world??" 'josh_is_alive_ wrote.

"I don't think there's any way possible they are both able to maintain their current level of play for that long."

That comment prompted a big discussion then and though we can't be too hard on Josh for his prediction, it looks very silly now as the pair of five-time Ballon d'Or winners are still the best two players in world football by quite some distance.

And the duo proved that this week by both scoring stunning hat-tricks for their clubs.

Messi's trio of glorious goals in the 4-1 win over Real Betis on Sunday night means he now has 51 hat-tricks for club and country, one behind Ronaldo.

The 34-year old against showed his elite mentality against Atletico Madrid in Tuesday night's Champions League round of 16 by doing exactly what he told his family he would do prior to the game and his stunning big-game performance was praised by Messi.

Topics: Paul Pogba, Football News, Eden Hazard, FC Barcelona, Football, Neymar, Lionel Messi, Ballon d'Or, Kevin de Bruyne, Cristiano Ronaldo

Josh Lawless

Josh is a sports journalist who specialises in football and wrestling. He has been published by Curzon Ashton FC, Late Tackle, Manchester City FC, The Mirror, Read Man City and Manchester Evening News. He provides coverage of professional wrestling and has interviewed some of the biggest names in the field - including the first UK interview with The Hardy Boyz after their return to WWE. He has never sported a pair of Lonsdale Slip-ons, contrary to reports.

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