The greatest players to wear each shirt number in football, including Lionel Messi no.10 and Cristiano Ronaldo no.7

The greatest players to wear each shirt number in football, including Lionel Messi no.10 and Cristiano Ronaldo no.7
Shirt numbers are a big thing in football.Lionel Messi has made history wearing no.10 for Barcelona, while Cristiano Ronaldo is often referred to by his legions of fans as ‘CR7’ – wearing the number for Manchester United, Real Madrid and now Juventus.26

Messi has become just as known for the number 10 as Diego Maradona was before him

Steven Gerrard, meanwhile, became a Liverpool icon in the no.8 jersey during a glittering career that saw him win the Champions League in 2005 among his many other honours.At the start of the season, Naby Keitainherited Gerrard’s old number– but he’s done nowhere near enough to live up to the iconic shirt. Another big change before the start of the season was Mesut Ozil beinggiven Arsenal’s iconic no.10 following Jack Wilshere’s exit. This has been worn by Dennis Bergkamp, meaning Ozil has big shoes to fill after a rather mixed Gunners career to date.But who are the best players to don each squad number in football?Here, talkSPORT.com has taken a look at the greatest players to wear each shirt number, starting from 1 to 45.

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1. Iker Casillas, Oliver Khan and Gianluigi Buffon

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2. Cafu, Gary Neville and Ivan Cordoba

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3. Roberto Carlos, Ashley Cole and Paolo Maldini

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4. Jurgen Kohler, Patrick Vieira and Sergio Ramos

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5. Carlos Puyol, Fabio Cannavaro and Franz Beckenbauer

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6. Franco Baresi, Aldair, Xavi and Bobby Moore

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7. Eric Cantona, Raul, Luis Figo, Cristiano Ronaldo, David Beckham and Kenny Dalglish

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8. Steven Gerrard, Dunga, Andres Iniesta, Socrates and Frank Lampard

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9. Alfredo Di Stefano, Marco van Basten, Ronaldo, Alan Shearer and Hugo Sanchez

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10. Alessandro Del Piero, Zico, Dennis Bergkamp, Zinedine Zidane, Lothar Matthaus and Ronaldinho (Part 1)

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10. Lionel Messi, Pele, Diego Maradona, Francesco Totti, Roberto Baggio and Rivaldo (Part 2)

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11. Ryan Giggs, Didier Drogba, Romario and Francisco Gento

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13. Michael Ballack and Maicon

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14. Johan Cruyff and Thierry Henry

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15. Nemanja Vidic

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16. Roy Keane

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17. Pedro, Alexis Sanchez and David Trezeguet

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18. Paul Scholes

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19. Mario Gotze and Dwight Yorke

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20. Gonzalo Higuain

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21. David Silva and Philipp Lahm

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23. Jamie Carragher

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26. John Terry

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42. Yaya Toure

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45. Mario Balotelli

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