Who is the best opposing player you’ve seen in the flesh?

Riquielme and Mendieta for me. Riquelme absolutely blew me away, thought he was going to go on to be one of the best players in the world. It shows how unbelievably clever Walter Smith was that he found a way to shut out that incredible Barcelona team. I came away being disappointed in Messi. Seeing these superstars play in the flesh is a privilege but he got absolute no change out of us that night.
 
Lucky enough to have caught a Real v Barca game a few years back...Probably the best players on the planet all on the pitch that day...Even though Barca were beaten its still got to be Messi.
 
If it's just performances v us that count, as opposed to seeing great players, then Riquelme or Kempes, I can't split them.
A nod to people like Attilio Lombardo, Abedi Pele, Darko Pančev & Del Piero.

I'm still amazed that I watched us beat a PSG team with Ronaldinho in it and barely noticed him.
 
Diego Maradona. Even saw him score.

For Argentina vs Scotland, at Hampden, in a 1979 friendly.

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Striker - Zinidine Zidane & Mario Kempes
Midfield - Johan Cruyff & Gaizka Mendietta
Defenders - Paolo Maldini & Franz Beckenbauer
Goalkeeper - Dino Zoff & Gianluigi Buffon

That’s my picks, but there are so many more I could’ve chosen. Out of that lot I’d have to say Cruyff was the greatest player I’ve ever seen. UEFA Super Cup v Ajax 15/1/1973 a night I’ll never forget seeing the great man. Total Football was born.
Striker - Zidane?
 
Cruyff in 1973. What a player! Mario Kempes was another who gave one of the greatest individual performances at Ibrox that I have ever seen from an opposition player. When he scored Valencia's third goal he was appiauded all the way back to the halfway line by the Rangers supporters.
 
Most of the names mentioned I couldn’t pick from as their performances were amazing
A couple of other memorable performers for me
Mario Kempes for valencia
Lilian Thuram - he almost single handedly kept us at bay as some of his defence went missing seemed to clear everything - best defender I have seen at Ibrox
Abdi pele
Jugovic for sampdoria

This might not be popular I remember Gordon strachan for Leeds in the battle of Britian and he was stand out for them that night when other wilted under the atmosphere
 
Riquelme in 2006 was unbelievable with Villarreal. Made it look so easy in midfield, absolutely bossed the game.
He did. He was superb. Apart from Gullit for Feyenoord the best I’ve seen at Ibrox. That said, I thought Barry more than matched him in the return leg.
 
For me it's always Riquelme that comes to mind.

After seeing him absolutely boss the midfield I bought him in every champ manager game and he constantly let me down!

Mendieta was also fantastic and Jude Bellingham really impressed me recently.

Seen Van Nistelrooy, Messi and Ronaldinho and clearly they all lacked the mentality to play at Ibrox.
Good shout on Bellingham. I thought thst was the best away performance at Ibrox since Riquelme.
 
Gotta agree with all the older (likewise) cvnts here, Del Pierro. We had a cracking team in the 90's and he ripped the absolute pish out of them.
 
Best performance was Benzema but it’s amazing how many people misremember that game and think he got a hat trick.
Ialso used to think that,was at that game,think i was mesmerised by him that night,but Requelleme and way back Mario Kempes both were outstanding at Ibrox,(a very old bear)
 
Paul Scholes in 2003 and 2010 have to be up there. Very classy performances in both games. The former more than the second as we didn’t really put any pressure on Man Utd in 2010.

Benzema is a decent shout from the OP for his two goals, granted I thought Davie Weir looked very much an old man when we played in the CL.
That's who I came on to say, he was absolutely brilliant.

I think we saw both sides of his career between the two matches. By 2010 he had become a central midfielder running the game rather than the breaking attacking MF of earlier in his career.
 
Most of the names mentioned I couldn’t pick from as their performances were amazing
A couple of other memorable performers for me
Mario Kempes for valencia
Lilian Thuram - he almost single handedly kept us at bay as some of his defence went missing seemed to clear everything - best defender I have seen at Ibrox
Abdi pele
Jugovic for sampdoria

This might not be popular I remember Gordon strachan for Leeds in the battle of Britian and he was stand out for them that night when other wilted under the atmosphere
Old bear here starting to recall Kempes,Requelme,benzema ,mendietta forgot Abede Pele,was that the night,he brought a high ball,down out on the touch line balanced on his foot and didnt break stride? Oh and Del Piero simply awesome
 
Old bear here starting to recall Kempes,Requelme,benzema ,mendietta forgot Abede Pele,was that the night,he brought a high ball,down out on the touch line balanced on his foot and didnt break stride? Oh and Del Piero simply awesome
We played Marseille in a friendly and right in front of the EE A.Pele got the ball played into his feet at pace. He leaned one way leaving his foot planted and the ball spun over his head, over big Nisbetts head who spun about having no clue where the ball went whilst Pele charged towards the bye line. :))
 
We played Marseille in a friendly and right in front of the EE A.Pele got the ball played into his feet at pace. He leaned one way leaving his foot planted and the ball spun over his head, over big Nisbetts head who spun about having no clue where the ball went whilst Pele charged towards the bye line. :))
I Remember that ,wonder if im thinking of a different incident, i so clearly remember it was a high ball and he kilked it stone dead on top of his boot,a d carried on along the touchline,i actually think the ball came behind him!fk getting old
 
Seen Mendieta, prosinecki, riquelme and scholes who all stood out among some of the many great players ive seen. Would say when i saw ronaldinho, messi and henry they didnt have particularly great games. I would have to say the greatest individual performance ive seen was Del Piero away in turin. Simply unplayable.
 
Riquelme in 2006 was unbelievable with Villarreal. Made it look so easy in midfield, absolutely bossed the game.
Like many others, I absolutely agree.
As usual, when this one crops up, I like to remind everybody how he was strictly second best to Ferguson in the second leg.
 
Riquelme in 2006 was unbelievable with Villarreal. Made it look so easy in midfield, absolutely bossed the game.
It was his first game back after months out injured too. Just did whatever he wanted, looked like he had all the time in the world.
 
This one comes up every so often and the top three to five remain the same.
Mendietta for Valencia, Riquelme for Villarreal and Prosinecki for Red Star.
I usually add in Benzema for Lyon.
One more I’d throw in would be Arteta for a very star studded PSG side.
The first time I’d seen Ferguson, yes I’m a fanboy, outplayed in a European game.
Another outstanding performance against us was by Kiriakov, the Bulgarian who later went to the sheep.
That was for Famagusta, I think, and he didn’t give Gascoigne a kick of the ball.
 
Riquelme in 2006 was unbelievable with Villarreal. Made it look so easy in midfield, absolutely bossed the game.
For me he was as good as anyone I ever saw. I was at both games but it was at Ibrox where he bossed the game.
Saw Messi saw Benzema and Riquelme did more than either of them.
 
Johan Cruyff
Mario Kempes

Toss up

Honorable mention for Tommy McLean in his Kilmarnock days
 
Seen Messi and Ronaldinho who could be considered to be amongst the very best to ever play the game but neither really impressed at Ibrox. I thought Benzema was sensational when we faced him with Lyon,
Andy Cole or Mo Salah
 
Old bear here starting to recall Kempes,Requelme,benzema ,mendietta forgot Abede Pele,was that the night,he brought a high ball,down out on the touch line balanced on his foot and didnt break stride? Oh and Del Piero simply awesome
Yeah incredible and almost looked like he could do it anytime he wanted
I don’t know where to start with the red star team that hammered us so many great players
 
Seen Messi and Ronaldinho who could be considered to be amongst the very best to ever play the game but neither really impressed at Ibrox. I thought Benzema was sensational when we faced him with Lyon,
Jude Bellingham when Dortmund came over to Ibrox last year. Oozed class and could tell at that moment that he is on his way to achieving great things in the game.
 
Not against us but I saw Cafu play for Roma and he strolled it. Fabulous stuff. Not the best player but maybe the best performance was Mendieta. Absolutely magnificent shift. Would have been great if they’d won the final.
 
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