Following his world-class display against Borussia Dortmund mid-week where he almost single handedly kept the German Champions at bay, is Joe Hart the greatest goalkeeper in the world?
Rewind two years and to the first game of the 2010-11 season and Roberto Mancini had a dilemma on his hands, does he field the experienced Shay Given or the fledgling Joe Hart. Mancini went with the latter, and it’s fair to say Hart and Manchester City haven’t looked back since! Hart also currently precides over the England number one jersey, and will do for many years to come. All this goes someway to proving Wayne Rooney is right in stating Hart is the best in the world.
There are some incredible goalkeepers in world-football at the moment and here are three others who can realistically claim the be the number one!
Gianluigi Buffon
Juventus’ shot stopper has been a class act for some time now and played a huge part in the Old Lady’s incredible unbeaten run, especially in the 1-1 draw away to A.C Milan last year. In 2001 Juve shelled out £32.6million for Buffon, which is still the highest fee ever paid for a goalkeeper. It appears Buffon has put his injury problems behind him and if anything over the last two seasons has got better.
Iker Casillas
Still only 31, Casillas has been Real Madrid’s number one since he earned a recall in 2002. He made his debut in 1999 and was the youngest ever goalkeeper to play in a Champions League final at just 19 years and four days in the 3-0 win over Valencia in 2000. 140 Spanish caps is an incredible haul, keeping out top goalkeepers in Victor Valdes and Pepe Reina for a good eight years now.
Manuel Neuer
The German goalkeeper has a huge stature and when a striker is one on one or facing the giant with a penalty, Neuer’s presence is massive and enough to make the forward miss alone. He was superb for Schalke when they faced Manchester United in the 2010-11 Champions League semi-final and if it wasn’t for him would’ve literally been double figures.
In truth there isn’t really much between these four at the moment, and as they all play in different league’s the only chance we really get to compare is the Champions League and so far in this current campaign no’one has been busier then Joe Hart!
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