Top 5 Serie A Players in the 21st Century
Serie A houses a lot of heavyweights. Juventus, Inter Milan, AC Milan, Roma, Napoli being the major ones. However, recent forms of clubs like Atalanta, Lazio and Sassuolo have added more intensity to the Italian domestic league.
The Serie A powerhouse shifted from Milan to Turin in the recent past as Juventus swept consecutive nine title victories. However, under Antonio Conte's (who was also the man behind Juventus's success) guidance, Inter Milan won the Scudetto after 11-years and seem determined to continue their form.
The competition at the top is set to get intense in the coming season with all the top-tier teams equally in contention.
In addition, Serie A has produced a handful of quality stars, with a few of them turning out to be global icons.
On the same note, let's take a look at the Top five Serie A Players in the 21st Century.
#5 Fabio Cannavaro
We begin our list with the only defender to have won the prestigious Ballon d'Or award — Fabio Cannavaro.
The former Los Blancos centre-back made his mark while playing in Serie A. He won the 2006 FIFA player of the year and became the only defender in history to have collected the accolade.
That same year, Fabio Cannavaro also won the Ballon d'Or award. And became only the third defender to win the trophy behind Franz Beckenbauer and Matthias Sammer.
The former Juventus defender also got himself inducted into the FIFA World XI, a couple of times. The 2006 World Cup winning captain is regarded as a complete defender with unmatchable game reading skills.
Despite his relatively small stature as a centre-back, Cannavaro's aerial abilities took his opponents by surprise.
#4 Gianluigi Buffon
Italian shot-stopper Gianluigi Buffon's achievements are difficult for anyone to match. Despite having an empty slot in his Champions League trophy cabinet, Gigi Buffon has won a mammoth number of team and individual trophies over the course of his career.
The 43-year-old is lauded as one of the best ever goalkeepers of all time. Some even consider him to simply be the best.
With over 1100 professional career appearances, Buffon holds the record for the longest streak without conceding a goal in Serie A history. He achieved that feat in the 2015-16 Serie A season.
The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHH) named Buffon as the best goalkeeper of 21st century.