Every great team needs a great midfield, and these are the very best of the bunch.
Including duos, trios and diamonds (for the purposes of this list, we're treating wingers in four-man midfields as a separate entity), these are the finest midfield combinations of all time.
Let's get straight down to business!
We begin with a diamond midfield, and the one which won the 2003/04 Champions League for Jose Mourinho’s Porto.
The robust Costinha anchored the quarter, with Maniche and Pedro Mendes ahead of him and Deco – very much Porto’s main man throughout that memorable campaign – lining up in the number 10 role, from where he scored in the 3-0 final victory over Monaco.
From one Champions League-winning midfield foursome to another, and from a diamond to a box – deployed by Pep Guardiola in his fullback-less system en route to Manchester City’s 2022/23 treble triumph.
Featuring three world-class midfielders in pivot Rodri, box-to-box dynamo and captain Ilkay Gundogan; and creator supreme Kevin De Bruyne; and John Stones – an elite centre-back by trade – it worked a treat as City secured their first European crown.
Masterminded by the legendary Arrigo Sacchi, Milan won back-to-back European Cups in 1989 and 1990 while playing a good old-fashioned 4-4-2 (an elite formation if we do say so ourselves).
Crucial to its success was a seriously solid midfield core of Carlo Ancelotti and Frank Rijkaard – both of whom would go on to win the Champions League as managers.
In 2019/20, Liverpool finally got their hands on their first Premier League title, triumphing thanks to Jurgen Klopp’s customary, gegenpressing-based 4-3-3 set-up.
With the ever-composed Fabinho as the pivot, captain Jordan Henderson and especially Gini Wijnaldum combined to create one seriously powerful engine to spur the Reds on to glory (sadly in front of empty stands due to Covid).
Two players who didn’t win as many England caps as they ought to have done due to the perennial Gerrard-Lampard problem, Michael Carrick and Paul Scholes got to show how incredibly effective they could be together at Manchester United.
Carrick brought metronomic poise to the middle of the park for Sir Alex Ferguson’s side, giving Scholes licence to threaten going forward as he so often did so devastatingly. Together, they won five Premier League titles and the Champions League.
In 1972, under the stewardship of Helmut Schon, West Germany were crowned continental champions for the first time, sweeping aside the Soviet Union 3-0 in the final of the Euros.
Herbert Wimmer was the destroyer, with legendary duo Uli Hoeness and Gunter Netzer – one of the finest passers of a football there’s ever been – operating in the two more advanced roles in a midfield three.
Gilberto Silva and Patrick Vieira partnered each other in Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal midfield for a number of years, but it was during the 2003/04 season that they etched their names into the North London club’s folklore.
That was then the Gunners achieved the unthinkable by going through the entire Premier League campaign unbeaten, captained to the title by French all-time great Vieira – who was complemented by the man known in his native Brazil as ‘the invisible wall’, such was his knack for snuffing out attacks almost before they’d begun.
Coached by the inimitable Sir Matt Busby, Manchester United made history by becoming the first English club to lift the European Cup, defeating Benfica 4-1 in the 1968 final at Wembley.
They lined up in a flat 4-3-3, with main man Bobby Charlton pulling the strings, supported by Paddy Crerand and Nobby Stiles in feeding a front three of George Best, Brian Kidd and John Aston.
In 2008, Spain ended their 44-year wait for a major trophy by tikataka-ing their way to European Championship glory under Luis Aragones.
Cesc Fabregas and Xavi were already household names by that point, starring for Arsenal and Barcelona week in, week out – but the man behind them in La Roja’s midfield three was not: Brazilian-born Marcos Senna, who emerged as one of the stars of the tournament for his technically superb defensive midfield displays.
Undoubtedly two of the greatest midfielders of all time, Xabi Alonso and Steven Gerrard excelled in tandem for Rafael Benitez’s Liverpool.
Their finest hour, of course, came in the 2005 Champions League final – where Alonso actually started behind captain Gerrard in an intriguing midfield system. Not that you need reminding, but the Reds came from 3-0 down at half-time to beat Milan on penalties that night, Gerrard sparking the comeback and Alonso scoring the equaliser.
A midfield quartet that all England fans should be able to name, the indefatigable Alan Ball, sensational Bobby Charlton, exceptionally well-rounded Martin Peters and tough-tackling Nobby Stiles were at the heart of the Three Lions’ 1966 World Cup success.
Peters scored his country’s second goal in the final against West Germany, while Stiles iconically danced around the pitch in celebration as Alf Ramsey’s side proudly paraded the Jules Rimet trophy.
An Englishman and a Scotsman walk onto a football pitch; they usually win. That was the case for Liverpool in the late 70s and early 80s, when the midfield axis of Terry McDermott and skipper Graeme Souness underpinned their sustained success.
The duo helped the Reds to multiple First Division titles and European Cups, even finishing as joint top scorers (alongside Bayern Munich’s Karl-Heinz Rummenigge) in the 1980/81 edition of the latter.
Brazil won the 1970 World Cup in dominant fashion, making light work of a great Italy team in the final by triumphing 4-1.
At the heart of Mario Zagallo’s legendary side was the combative combo of Clodaldo and Gerson – the latter of whom was renowned as “the brain” of the team and scored the second goal of that historic victory which saw the South American giants become the first three-time world champions.
In 2004/05, Jose Mourinho guided Chelsea to their first Premier League title in some style, conceding a competition record-low 15 goals along the way.
Claude Makelele – a defensive midfielder so outstanding that he ended up with a whole role named after him – got stuck in and kept things ticking, which, complemented by the slightly more offensive-minded Tiago, allowed Frank Lampard to do what he did best: get forward and score (he bagged 13 league goals that season).
Johan Cruyff’s Barcelona ‘Dream Team’ made history by delivering the Catalan giants’ first European Cup victory in 1991/92, sealing success with a 1-0 win over Sampdoria in the final at Wembley.
Their midfield that night: a certain Pep Guardiola as the pivot behind goal-fond duo Jose Maria Bakero and Michael Laudrup. All in all, an extremely effective combination.
One Dutchman; two Argentines; three trophies: this was the midfield which took Jose Mourinho’s Inter to the treble in 2009/10.
Esteban Cambiasso and compatriot Javier Zanetti – the Nerazzurri’s long-serving skipper – formed an elite double pivot, with Wesley Sneijder proving why he’s regarded as one of the finest playmakers of all time.
Between 1998 and 2000, France dominated international football, lifting their first World Cup before winning their second European Championship.
And it was at the latter that Les Bleus showed off this exceptional midfield combination, which saw Zinedine Zidane dazzle in front of the delicious double pivot of skipper Didier Deschamps and Patrick Vieira.
Real Madrid dominated Europe once more in the latter half of the 2010s, winning three straight Champions Leagues under Zinedine Zidane.
Of course, Zidane was a pretty handy midfield himself, and that might have helped him assemble this elite combination: Brazilian destroyer extraordinaire Casemiro, German pass-master Toni Kroos, and Croatian wizard Luka Modric.
The Netherlands team of 1974 are widely considered one of the best sides not to win the World Cup and they came agonisingly close, losing 2-1 to hosts and arch-rivals West Germany after leading the final 2-1.
In manager Rinus Michels’ opposition-bamboozling Total Football system, everyone had to be able to play everywhere – but the ‘default’, three-pronged midfield comprised Wim Jansen (who national captain Johan Cruyff cited as one of the few men worth listening to about football) as the anchor behind box-to-box machine Johan Neeskens and pinpoint passer Willem van Hanegem.
The French squad which won the 2018 World Cup was veritably teeming with top talent – as was perfectly exemplified by this star-studded midfield trio.
N’Golo Kante reminded everyone why he was the finest destroyer on the planet at the time, covering an obscene amount of ground to win the ball back; Paul Pogba played some of the best football of his career, scoring in the final against Croatia; and Antoine Griezmann – who netted from the penalty spot in the final – produced a string of sublime performances in the number 10 role.
Gennaro Gattuso and Andrea Pirlo were teammates at Milan for a decade, but the iconic Italians worked together most effectively of all in the colours of the national team – playing a major part in the Azzurri’s 2006 World Cup triumph.
Gattuso’s bulldog-like defensive work and Pirlo’s mesmerising playmaking ability complemented each other superbly throughout the tournament – where both made FIFA’s All-Star Team.
Louis van Gaal’s young Ajax side sprung quite a surprise by beating reigning European champions Milan to lift the 1994/95 Champions League.
At the heart of that side was a midfield consisting of a teenage Clarence Seedorf, prime-approaching Edgar Davids and Jari Litmanen, and the hugely experienced Frank Rijkaard. It was immediately torn up, Seedorf leaving for Sampdoria and Rijkaard retiring, but what a treat it worked while it lasted.
Manchester City broke the record for the most goals in a Premier League season (102) as they won the 2013/14 title under Manuel Pellegrini, and instrumental to their free-scoring success was one of the all-time great Prem midfield duos: Fernandinho and Yaya Toure.
The no-nonsense Brazilian proved himself as one of the best defensive midfielders in world football, allowing his Ivorian colleague to enjoy a remarkable 20-goal league campaign. And they reprised their fantastic double act as City finished second the following year.
Claude Makelele had already revolutionised Chelsea’s midfield by the time Michael Essien arrived at Stamford Bridge in 2005 – but the Ghanaian star would bring yet another dimension.
Prime Essien was up there with the very best box-to-box midfielders around, and Frank Lampard went from strength to strength in this trio, scoring 20 goals in all competitions as Chelsea retained the Premier League title in 2005/06 – the highest total of his career at the time.
They didn’t win the World Cup, but Hungary’s immortal Magical Magyars were, for a while, just about the best team on the planet.
Ferenc Puskas is invariable the first name that springs to mind from that side, but the midfield pairing of Jozsef Bozsik – a tactically intelligent half-back turned deep-lying playmaker – and Nandor Hidegkuti – who, while playing as what we’d now call a false 9, hit a hat-trick in the (in)famous 6-3 victory over England at Wembley in 1953 (the Match of the Century) – were legends in their own right.
Two of the finest midfielders of the Premier League era, Roy Keane and Paul Scholes balanced each other out perfectly in the middle of the park for Sir Alex Ferguson’s serial trophy-winning Manchester United.
Captain Keane lived up to his hardman reputation, never showing an iota less than 100% commitment, and that meant Scholes could do his thing at the sharp end of the pitch. Their most memorable season together? The treble campaign of 1998/99, of course.
Brazil’s 1962 World Cup-winning side – the last team to retain football’s ultimate prize – was chock-full of dazzling offensive talent – including Didi, an attacking midfielder of incomparable brilliance and the inventor of the knuckleball free-kick technique.
But equally important to that success (and Brazil’s 1958 triumph, for that matter) was the commanding Zito, the more defensive foil in the middle of the park (although he did give his country the lead in the 1962 final against Czechoslovakia).
The first decade of the 21st century was a glittering one for Milan, as they won the Serie A title, Coppa Italia and two Champions League crowns under Carlo Ancelotti.
In 2003, they became kings of Europe for the first time in nine years, powered by a quality-oozing midfield quartet that would have been the envy of most other teams: human metronome Andrea Pirlo, Mr Tenacious Gennaro Gattuso, immense all-rounder Clarance Seedorf, and playmaking great Rui Costa.
Spain’s near-unstoppable team arguably peaked at Euro 2012, where they retained the trophy – becoming the first nation ever to do so – by thrashing Italy 4-0 in the final.
Throughout that tournament, Vicente del Bosque’s extraordinarily slick La Roja passed their way through everyone in their path – thanks in no small part to the shimmering diamond midfield of Sergio Busquets, Xavi, Xabi Alonso and Cesc Fabregas.
Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City arguably peaked not in their treble-winning season of 2022/23 but in 2017/18 – when they made history by becoming the first team in English top-flight history to hit the 100-point mark, also setting new Premier League records for goals scored (106) and wins (32) in winning the title, Guardiola’s first as City boss.
It’s no surprise, then, that they boasted one of the most sublime midfields of all time: Fernandinho, Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva, all absolute legends at the club.
We can debate this at length another time, but Spain’s 2010 World Cup-winning team was perhaps the best in the history of the competition.
Coached by moustachioed managerial maestro Vicente del Bosque, La Roja – after being stunned by Switzerland in their tournament opener – passed team after team into submission, their sheer monopolisation of possession driven by the midfield three of Xabi Alonso, Xavi – both indisputably world-class playmakers – and Sergio Busquets, one of the greatest defensive midfielders ever to grace the pitch.
And coming out on top we have… Well, it was never going to be anyone but the heart of Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering Barcelona side of the 2010s – the focal point of which was a certain Lionel Messi, but a side which wouldn’t have reached remotely the same heights without this elite midfield configuration.
Sergio Busquets provided the defensive nous, Xavi the pass-spraying prowess, and Andres Iniesta the “mastery of relationship between space and time” (Pep’s words, not ours, and who are we to disagree?).
Together, they won multiple LaLiga titles, Copa del Rey crowns and Champions Leagues – peaking with the treble in 2014/15 – but the best part was this: they all came through the ranks of Barca’s famed La Masia youth system.
