For me Materazzi is better because he makes some really nice tackles and he always lets the ball and goes to stop the player...

Lol.

Nesta, cause he knows how to kick a ball.

Edit: In all seriousness though, this topic is a disgrace. It's like comparing Gatusso to Kaka.

well..it depends

to brake the opponent's leg or to get shevchenko castrated...materazzi is your man

but when it comes to defending in the classic way(kicking the ball instead of the player)nesta wins by a mile

anyway..nesta may be a world class defender but materazzi is just so much more enjoyable to watch

Whos better out of Pascal Cygan and Maldini?

Nest without a doubut. I think that was sproved last night when Materattzi injured himself making a stupid tacke which he often does. Nest is far more composed and has better reading of the game and a better overall ability

I have to agree with this...

What do you mean "castrated"? Sheva headbutted him...
Also, Nesta is better.

This topic is funny.

Nesta obviously. Materazzi is funny to watch because you can sit there and laugh at him every time he moves. That is, until he makes some retarded tackle that ends some poor guy's career.

You can't. They are two different players and this has nothing to do with the topic we are on. sooo moving on.....


Nesta.. of course, I am not even going to explain myself fully because everyone here agrees with me, I am sure.

Actually I think Nesta has played with reputation for a while.. He was much better 2 seasons ago. And now he is fading very much that's why Milan got no trophies last year.

And Materazzi always like that... he's not better than Nesta but we don't talk about best defender in Italy right ?

Nesta obviously... There is a reason why nesta and cannavaro forms one fo the best defensive partnership in the world for the NT...

Materazzi ofcourse!
He's the best, he can brake legs, thump skulls, hes so great...
Oh where talking about defending?

LOL ...

Sandro is Better

I'd easily go with Nesta as he has been solid his whole career.

Is this some kind of joke?lol NESTA IS MILLLLLLLLLESSSSS BETTER THAN MATERAZZI.

Nesta all the way. Much more consistent, better vision, technique. Materazzi's career has been full of downs.

Gosh .,,,,

After today's 0-3 lost to Holland with Materazzi was the showman ... This thread should be CLOSED by now!

Without Nesta + Cana , Italy were a different team at the back .... they made Ruud and Sneijder looking like Ronaldo (R9) + Zidane .... hahha

Hate to admit it, but it true.

Not to take away anything from Ronaldo and Zidane but you make Ruud and Sneijder sound like pub players...

compared to the real ronaldo and zidane, ruud and sneijder are pub players

???? materazzi had one good world cup and became famous because of the zidane head butt, and suddenly he can be compared to nesta?

nesta is miles ahead of materazzi, no comparision.

nesta by a mile one of the best and most consistent defenders ive seen in my life

It's ridiculous this thread. Should be closed and shown Materazzi Maybe then he would wake up

materazzi was the best defender in serie A the season following the world cup, but to be fair nesta was and is still miles better. Utter class

yeah, this is why I am having difficulty understanding that a topic like this exists in all honesty!

no comp.. nesta by far

Nesta is far superior to Materazzi. Of course he is let’s get real now. Nesta has turned into a complete injury prone joke of a defender. He is simply still seen as good because of his old WC rep. Hell someone said the same thing in this thread 3 years back! While Materazzi and Cannavaro reached their peak at his age, he absolutely has not and dropped down well down the years. Yes once he was pure class and that is 5-3 years back! Not anywhere near world class anymore. Materazzi is winning Serie A titles while Nesta can only keep watching him do so. Might I add if Nesta did not pick up an injury Italy would have probably not won the World Cup, Materazzi was a decisive part, defensive brilliant and he scored 2 goals overall, one in the final. Oh and he provoked the best player of France at that moment brilliantly to get him send off in the final.

Materazzi has been ridiculously underrated for years. A legendary CB - CWP with unique technical ability for a defender. Apart from being a deadly defender, Materazzi has scored great goals down the years, nice free kicks, deadly headers, excellent penalties and even an overhead kick. Still has the record for most goals scored in Serie A in a season by a defender! The man was pure world class and still at age 35 I would like to see defenders putting up better performances than the man still can. Materazzi’s recent display in defence against Juventus this season should be a lesson for all defenders how to defend, read the game second to none and build up attacks with excellent fluent passes. Had so many decisive interceptions and was aerially extremely dominated. Owned Del Piero and Amauri. An absolute legend at 35 he looked back in his prime form of 2 years ago. Pure world class decisive world champion for a reason. Serie A defender of the year in recent years. There will not be a lot of defenders in the world at 35 still get regular action for a club as big as Internazionale.

The only ‘’down side’’ of Materazzi game is going in too hard at times with deadly tackles (tbf I love watching him do so). However that part of his game gets extremely overrated as he rarely does so, certainly in recent years. His yellow and red card record in Serie A is below normal for a defender.

Nesta of course, is Materazzi even a defender? form is temporary, class is permanent.

↑↑↑ I have absolutely nothing to add, So I’ll go on the Nesta bandwagon and even add an extremely lame cliché on the way!

The only thing that Materazzi did that Nesta could not do is ... to humiliatel Zidane .... hahhaa

Haha, still puking from that amazing piece half-arsed backside-kissing of Materazzi by you.

Then again, those black and blue glasses are so tight bolted to your face, if you were asked you'd even give an even lamer explanation why Recoba is "in fact" better than Kaka.

"An absolute legend at 35 he looked back in his prime form of 2 years ago"

Obviously you've never heard of Facchetti. Cause of Materazzi is an "absolute legend", then I'm very curious what Inter's greatest full-back of all-time is to you.

"There will not be a lot of defenders in the world at 35 still get regular action for a club as big as Internazionale"

That says more about Inter than anything else. A certain Maldini over at Milan is 5 yrs older.

This topic should've not even been around in the first place.

You can't compare a rought and tough manmarker with an elegant defender. It just doesn't work.

I do think the world underrates Materazzi at times but to be fair, he didn't have a really good season last year and never really found the form of that one year. He's good but not worldclass.

Uhm, I am not an Inter fan nor will I ever be one. It’s a great club but I never will support them or Milan. I have no real reason to do so. I’ll only cheer on my own club. In the end I simply don’t care if Inter lose or not.

How does it say more about Inter? Do you even know what their record Serie A is defensively?
Inter have 4 of the better defenders in the world in their team Chivu, Samuel, Cordoba and Yes Marco Materazzi. The fact that he still gets regular action at his age at Inter says something about his unique qualities as a defender not Inter, a club that is waking away with the Serie A title yet again this season with an incredible backline. The fact that Maldini still plays for Milan a club that will not challenge for Serie A anytime soon mainly because of their backline, makes your comment even more dumb.



A spot on comment as he totally owned Del Piero, Amauri and in fact every Juventus player moving up in that massive game. His display in that game should be a lesson for all defenders in the world.

Oh and Materazzi is seen as a club icon and legend by ultras in Milan. Have you ever been to Milan? There is no doubt about that. Facchetti is a much bigger legend, especially to the older generation. What is so hard to understand about that?

I’ll say it again Materazzi a world class world cup winning Inter legend. Say anything you like its remains true.

Okay, then it's not the black & blue glasses but the over the top love obsession of Materazzi, pardon me on that one.

Yes Inter have a solid backline, but the real stand-outs so far this season have been Samuel and Julio Ceaser(who's becoming a great keeper).
Materazzi had a great game vs Juve, I agree on that, but he isns't structurally playing a great game one after the other. That's why he isn't an undisputable first choice for Mourinho. When everyone is fit Materazzi wouldn't be in the starting line-up.



It still doesn't explain why Materazzi is an “absolute legend” though. His charisma and mean look have made him into an unforgettable icon but he isn't legend in the sense we'd usually typify a player with. Such as Facchetti. How according to you isn't an aboslute legend, but a bigger absolute legend. Ok



You're the dumb one cause I'm pretty sure you don't own a crystal ball that accurately tells the future which means you're merely talking out of your rear-end.

Milan are only 6 points behind Inter, we're not even half-way the season yet, plus Milan beat Inter in the first derby della madonnina of the season. So how the hell would you know if Milan won't win the league. Besides, Maldini doesn't even play every game anymore cause of his knees physically he can't.



That might be all fine and dandy and I couldn't care less if he was. The point though is, who is better between him and Nesta, and I'd say Nesta. And btw, he also won the World Cup.

Yeah Nesta won the world cup because Materazzi went playing for him and ending up being decisive in the progress.




Materazzi was good - great in every game he played this season. CL wise and in the league. The only reason he is not playing ever game now is his age. He was a key part 2 years ago with the same defenders except chivu. Went on winning Serie A defender of the year title scoring 10 plus goals in the league too. Yes I think he is better than Nesta. Certainly in recent years. I would say Materazzi has been overall the best defender of Inter in all games they played thi season. Close second Samuel who still needs to play half the games Marco did. Yeah I agree J.Cesar is superb.

Materazzi is an absolute legend because of his World Cup display and incredible games he played for Inter down the years. Where did I say Facchetti is not an absolute legend? It’s quite clear he is a bigger one than Marco.

Oh and I’m quite sure Milan will not challenge for Serie A. They have not changed a lot from last year. Especially at the back. Too inconstant. I don’t need a crystal ball for it. I actually see them play. Juve is the only challenger

Please, let's not compare those two ....

Nesta is one of the best defenders i've ever seen, clinical precision in tackles, total reading of the game, faster, and has a victorious career ... Materazzi is only better than him in scoring goals ....

By the way, Materazzi should be a kickboxer or something like that ....

Unless you're stupid, you know why Materazzi has been better in the last 2 years. He's enjoyed a surprising lease of live in what was up till then ordinary career, while Nesta has been constantly plagued by injuries. Not once during this time has he had the chance to build up any kind of consistent form.

But the Nesta before his injuries, which you choose to blatantly ignore, was the best central defender in the world along with Cannavaro during his Juve period. As the person above said, Nesta possesses not only those qualities, but better than any other central defender.

He's the epitome of what a great Italian defender should stand for, and not that butcher Materazzi. If you'd wanna make a compilation of all the totally disgusting tackles he's made in his career, not even two 10 min YouTube clips would be enough.

And stop being such a pathetic ignoranus. Nesta won a World Cup medal cause of his contribution in the first game and then cause of the efforts of the whole team.

Ordinary career? You know nothing about Materazzi. It’s funny that you are talking about youtube videos because that is all you will ever know about him. Nesta reads the game second to none. What do you think Materazzi’s natural position is? SWEEPER and he is an excellent one at that. He thus reads the game excellently, has deadly precise tackles too mostly, great movement of the ball, he is aerially extremely dominated and as a sweeper his fluent passing ability builds up attacks from the back constantly. Like said Materazzi has been ridiculously underrated for years by people. Final after the world cup he can been seen as the incredible defender he is. Materazzi was already known as one of the best defenders of Italy in Italy. Making the Italian team regularly and now he has over 40 caps for Italy.

I have already made clear that Nesta indeed has turned into a complete injury prone joke of a defender and that is a joke to compare him to the legend like Marco Materazzi in recent years. He has been the better defender when both fit too. I feel. I have made that clear. I’m not taking away that Nesta was great, Materazzi is however better and at Nesta’s age reached his peak, a level Nesta will never show constantly let alone score goals like Marco did.

Ah yes the same Cannavaro who couldn’t hack it and even was sold to a league rival at Inter, wonder why Materazzi was never sold back then to fucking Juventus? You wanna know why? With his ordinary career his was playing great constantly, especially in 02/03 that year Inter just lost the title on the last day. I wonder why Inter, Milan, Juve all wanted Materazzi back in the day? Biding above 10 million euros for him while at Perugia? It must be because he is a horrible defender and can only kick players regularly.


Materazzi is hard. Deal with it. He has indeed made hard unfair challenges down the years but you simply cant make a video of 20 minutes of him tackling like that constantly. Most of those videos on youtube show the same challenges over and over. Like said that part of his game gets extremely overrated in the media. He rarely does so, certainly in recent years. I don’t really care tbf I love watching him do so.


Yeah and Materazzi replaced him and went on being decisive in defence and attacking form for Italy. Like said with Nesta not getting injured Italy still winning the world cup? I would have love to seen that.

If you serious don’t even think Materazzi is a great defender, you should better just stop watching the game. Like said there will not be many defenders in the world still playing regularly at his age at a club with one of the best, if not the best defence in the world and in a league where defending is an art. He is a uniquely talented defender.

It's now become clearly evident there's no reasoning with someone who's so madly and obsessively in love with a has-been defender it doesn't matter what I say, cause in your eyes Inter's bogeyman could kick Superman, Spiderman, and Batman's ass at all once with one hand while eating a cream doughnut with the other.

Nevertheless...



I'd love to say you'd know just as much about Nesta, but I'm not that dim-witted. I'm sure you've seen a lot of Nesta, and you'd be able to give a reasonable description of him as a player, just as long as he's not compared to the butcher. How convenient for you though that I mentioned youtube, right.



I wonder why you participated in this discussion then if you think they're play at different positions. Why didn't you mention it right from the start? That we're comparing apples with pears. You're in too deep now and you're clearly f*cked. Nesta kicks the ass of the butcher as a defender.



Those are exclusively your words and your words only.



Two things stood out most for me. Another typical mistimed challenge, which earned him red vs Australia(red was a little too harsh though) and doing what he does best – talking about family members' of another player. Chapeau though, for bringing out the bad side in one the greatest and most respected players of all-time.



But Nesta and Cannavaro have always and will always be rated higher.



35 yrs old, 41 caps in 7 years, impressive

Playing bit parts in the 02 WC and Euro 04 only becoming a starter in 06 through pure luck and then again when Nesta decided to retire after the WC 06. Played such a piss poor game vs Holland in Euro 08 that he was subbed during the game and didn't feature in the tournament again. And with Chiellini's impressive rise into ranks, the butcher's spell as a first-choice starter seems to be over.



Perhaps somebody should make it clear to you we're comparing them on their achievements over their whole career and their abilities, and not what they've done over the past 2 years.

Nesta stood at the heart of the defence of two Champions League winning teams. Milan in 03 and 07. Nesta was in the all-star squad for EURO 2000. Italy lost the Final at the depth, but Nesta was arguably the best defender of that tournament.

Materazzi was so impressive in the 06 WC, that he wasn't even selected in the 23-man FIFA all-star squad.



Why don't we look at what Canna's done recently too shall we.

1) Winner Ballon D'or 06
2) FIFA World Player of the Year 06
3) Voted 2nd best player of WC 06
4) World Cup 06 Team of the Tournament
5) Serie A Footballer of the year 06
6) Italian Footballer of the year 06
7) UEFA Team of the Year 06

Among other accolades and achievements

I think it's advisable for every defender to fail Inter, cause it means it's the first step to becoming the best player in the world



10 million Euros, you really know how to break the bank don't you.



I could ask you to do some googling on YT but you're prob too afraid to be confronted w/ the cold hard facts. And some vids were made by Inter fans so I don't see why'd they put the same tackle at different moments of the clips. He's made more tackles than you can throw a stick at that simply don't belong in football and I sometimes even wonder why he hasn't had a long ban yet. Premeditated and dirty fouls w/ absolutely no intention of playing the ball. Fouls that a gentleman with class that Nesta is wouldn't do. If he ever committed serious fouls, they'd be isolated incidents.



Anyone who's aware of Nesta's abilities and experience and who can also reason would come to the conclusion it's very much possible Italy would've also won the WC had Nesta played every game instead of just one.



A recidivist, merciless butcher of a player that he is will never even remotely make defending look like art. Leave that to a virtuoso like Nesta, who oozes style and grace, and will always demonstrate a high level of sportsmanship.

Of course Nesta, Nesta could be considered up there with the best of all time but Materazzi is also a great defender and should be labeled rubbish.

the only guy you can compare nesta with is maldini