Who is the coolest man in football? Have your say

Xabi Alonso rolled back the years to curl a sublime free kick into the back of net in Bayern Munich’s Champions League demolition of Porto last night.

His effortless strike caused an outpouring of social media messages hailing the former Liverpool and Real Madrid ace as the coolest man to grace the game and this set tongues wagging at Ladbrokes News so we’ve decided to settle it once and for all with our latest poll.

With apologies to the likes of Dimitar Berbatov, Eric Cantona, Thierry Henry and Lee Sharpe read on for our top six and have your say in the vote below.

Xabi Alonso

Is the beard, the ability to score form the half-way line, the unrivalled eye for a pass or the effortless swagger with which he pulls all of that off?

We don’t know but there is no denying that Alonso breezes through games with the coolness of The Fonz – just in a red and blue striped shirt.

Andra Pirlo

Another bearded wonder who achieves greatness in the game all while making it look like he’s already thinking about what wine to have with his dinner.

The Juve ace’s is spoilt for choice too as he makes his own wine in his own vineyard. And if that doesn’t make him cool in your eyes the best Panenka since the original Panenka will.

Zlatan

As a rule any man that refers to himself in the third person should be left to his own devices – probably taking endless selfies.

But for some reason the Swede gets away with it. It might be the fact that he scores goals other could only dream of and speaks his mind regardless of the consequences.

It might also be the fact that he spurned the chance of a trial at Arsenal as a teenager simply saying: “Zlatan doesn’t do auditions”. Or it could be the fact he’s a black belt at taekwondo so even if you didn’t think he was cool you wouldn’t tell him to his face.

David Beckham

Any man who can have people up and down the country rushing to the barbers to copy his hairstyle – no matter how barmy – clearly has something about him.

Becks may not have played with the same effortless grace as other on this list but his determination and hard work made him one of the best in the world.

A CV that takes in Manchester United, Real Madrid, PSG and AC Milan is one to be envied and he reignited the current trend for big named stars to ply their trade Stateside.

Pep Guardiola

Pep was much loved as a footballer but his popularity has sky rocketed since he stepped in to the dugout.

His love of a v-neck jumper and well-tailored suit makes him instantly seem cooler than the likes of Sam Allardyce, Steve Bruce and Tony Pulis but his apparent god-like touch as a boss is what gets him onto the list.

Three La Liga’s, two Copa del Rey’s, three Supercopas, TWO Champions Leagues, and a Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal double in his debut season at Bayern Munich have taken his trophy tally to 18 in just eight short years! What a man.

Leighton Baines

An unlikely choice perhaps but the Everton man earns a spot for shunning the stereotypical footballer lifestyle – with all it’s blinged up Bentleys, shiny Versace blazers and diamond earrings – in favour of a much cooler Mod look.

He’s like the Bradley Wiggins of football and counts Miles Kane and Alex Turner among his close friends. Need we say more?

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All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.

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