Top 10 attacking trios of the 21st century
Neymar, Cavani and Mbappe look set to destroy all challengers in the Ligue 1, but how does PSG's feared attacking trio when compared to other attacking trios in football in the 21st century?
Ranking of the best offensive trio of the 21st century:
10. Pedro, Diego Costa, Eden Hazard (Chelsea 2016-2017)
Many people praise (rightly) N'Golo Kante’s performance in midfield when Chelsea won the Premier League title last season, but Antonio Contes influence on the resurrected offensive trio should not be ignored. Chelsea's trio has suffered in fit before last season, but things went well with Conte’s arrival.
Eden Hazard regained the best form, Pedro turned to the player we knew from the days of Barcelona and Diego Costa was ... well, typical Diego Costa. The technique and speed of Hazard and Pedro, combined with Diego Costa’s physical approach in the middle, made this a combination that few teams have managed to stop.
9. Lorenzo Insigne, Dries Mertens, Jose Callejon (Napoli 2016 – on-going)
Napoli has become one of the most goalscoring team in the history of Serie A, since Juventus 1959-1960, by scoring 94 goals last season. Out of this total, Italian Insigne, Belgian Mertens and Spaniard Callejon contributed to 60 of them. Despite the fantastic form, the Nepolitans have not yet been able to win their first title after three decades.
This season they are hoping for things to be different. Starting from where they left behind, the trio of Napoli has scored 34 goals in all competitions as their team stands at the top of the Serie A with 1 point more than Juventus with 15 remaining games. Bellisimo.
8. Hulk, Radamel Falcao, Silvester Varela (Porto 2009-2011)
A combination that no one welcomed coming from different angles of the world. The Colombian Falcao arrived from Argentina, Brazilian Hulk came from Japan, while Varela didn’t have to leave Portugal. Despite the differences from where they came from, they made a fantastic trio which led Porto from 2009 to 2011.
In their second season together, they scored 86 goals together. This made Porto and new coach Andre Villas-Boas a winner of a triplet (Primera Liga, Taca de Portugal and Europa League), and this team spent the entire season without a single loss. Power, merciless finalization and speed from left to right made Porto’s trio very frightening.
7. Mario Gotze, Robert Lewandowski, Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund 2012-2013)
The Bundesliga and Champions League runners up just couldn’t make because of the weak defence. In a season where they "almost" did everything, the positive thing was the attacking trio who destroyed the defences in Germany and throughout Europe.
Klopp's ruthless trio managed to produce the most impressive and energetic football ever seen in Europe and the most famous is Real Madrid's 4-1 defeat in the Champions League quarter-finals, where Lewandowski scored four goals.
6. Kylian Mbappe, Edinson Cavani, Neymar (PSG, 2017 – on-going)
I’m talking about the most expensive ensemble the history of football that costed to PSG about 400 million euros. So far it seems that this money has been well spent.
Unai Emery's team was defeated in Monaco's Ligue 1 race last season, but the new trio formed in the attack is on the right track to return the title to Paris. Not only MCN has scored 69 goals already this season, but they have managed to produce 30 assists as well.
There have been misunderstandings outside the field (between Neymar and the Cavani), but their understanding on the field can easily lead the Parisians to a Champions League triumph.
5. Carlos Tevez, Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United 2007-2009)
Referred to as the second Holy Trinity (with the original being Best-Law-Charlton) - Ronaldo, Rooney and Tevez were undoubtedly the most talented and most frightening attack on English football history. They didn’t have the lifespan of their predecessors Denis Law, George Best and Bobby Charlton at Old Trafford, but they obviously won many trophies in two years together.
Each player was young, hungry, quick and “deadly” in front of the goal. As a result, Sir Alex Ferguson's superstrike managed to win two Premier League titles, just as a Cup League trophy is undergoing and the main achievement: the Champions League in 2008. Ronaldo finished the season with 26 goals, Rooney with 20, while Tevez and Dimitar Berbatov added 29 more goals together.
4. Thierry Henry, Samuel Eto’o, Lionel Messi (Barcelona, 2007-2009)
Barcelona's most successful attack ever: Henry, Eto'o and Messi, proved to be the unstoppable strength of Guardiola’s team, especially in the 2008/2009 season. This trio scored 100 goals as Barca won La Liga, the Champions League and Copa del Rey - until that time an unprecedented achievement in Spanish football.
Big wins were sealed by this team. Among the victims of course is Real Madrid (6:2 “wound” in the Bernabeu), Sevilla (in third place that season, but defeated 4:0 from Barca) and Atletico Madrid (which were demolished 6:0). Frightening! Weren’t they!
3. Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid 2013 – on-going)
Since the arrival of Gareth Bale at the Bernabeu in the summer of 2013, the Welshman's combination with Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema has been phenomenal or at least phenomenal for the first three seasons. They scored 400 goals together and won three Champions League trophies.
Despite these achievements, the trio of Real Madrid is not escaping critics. The injuries have left behind Bale, the number of goals of Benzema has been criticized, and even Ronaldo has been booed. Their time together is heading towards the end, with all three players likely joining other clubs. But when the BBC gets scratched, it will be these demanding fans of Real Madrid who will understand what they had in the team.
2. Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Rivaldo (Brazil 2002)
Brazil succeeded in triumphing in the 2002 World Cup, but the way Selecao did it was the most impressive ever. Luiz Felipe Scolari's team managed to win the tournament by destroying their opponents with a total goal difference of 18:4 to win for the fifth time the most important trophy in football.
"Triple R" scored 15 of these 18 goals, with at least one of them being on the list of scorers in each match. This made them one of the most powerful forces in national football history.
1. Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Neymar (Barcelona 2014-2017)
Three players. Three seasons. Seven trophies. A total of 173 assist and 364 goals scored. Football has never seen anything like the combination of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar - and will hardly see it again in the near future.
During their time together, the Latin American trio were three of the four best strikers in the world - and they played together.
With Lionel Messi on the right side, an elusive finalizer like Luis Suarez in the middle and a brilliant Neymar on the left, this trio enjoyed a symbiosis that was fantastic to watch.