FIFA Ultimate Team's evolution over the past few years has actually been quite sad to see.

From an exciting new game mode which saw players graft in-game to earn the best cards to a micro-transaction littered cash cow, Ultimate Team just isn't what it used to be.

The excessive amount of promos and special cards EA Sports churn out renders most normal gold cards irrelevant.

But back in the day, you had to earn that highly-rated player or if you didn't fancy that, opt for the overpowered 81 who felt like an ICON.

To commemorate the good ol' days, we've decided to remember some of the most legendary trios from the game mode down the years.

The fact there's only one nomination from a game later than FIFA 17 really says it all...

Gervinho, Seydou Doumbia, Victor Ibarbo (FIFA 15)

Let's start with the greatest trio ever assembled in FIFA history.

Forget ratings, these guys were unplayable. FIFA 15 was dominated by fast players and these three roadrunners tore teams to shreds daily.

We will never see the like again!

Neymar, Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi (FIFA 17)

The greatest attacking trio ever seen in real-life and just look at those beautiful cards from FIFA 17.

Those who were lucky enough to have all three up top will never forget just how good they were. For the first time ever, playing FIFA felt easy.

It's never felt like that since...

Gervinho, Lukas Podolski, Theo Walcott (FIFA 13)

Gervinho just loves it, doesn't he?!

Here he is again in a trio that was absolutely elite on FIFA 13. Podolski's thunderous shots, Walcott and Gervinho's pace, the Arsenal boys were out there ending virtual careers.

Those were the days.

Thierry Henry, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Lionel Messi (FIFA 10)

Avid fans of the Ultimate Team game mode will remember these three gods.

Zlatan with pace was a joke, while Henry and Messi made every opposing full-back look like Emmanuel Eboue versus Wigan.

FIFA 10 was also just a bloody brilliant game, a far cry from what we have available these days.

Marco Reus, Robert Lewandowski, Jakub Blaszczykowski (FIFA 14)

The Bundesliga has always been renowned for producing cheap beasts and these chaps were testament to that fact.

Reus was a little pricey, but a bit of saving allowed you to create the perfect attacking trident with all that beautiful chemistry.

Jurgen Klopp's Borussia Dortmund were just so fun.

Robinho, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Alexandre Pato (FIFA 11)

We miss Zlatan with pace.

The fact Robinho AND Pato had both five-star skills and a five-star weak foot made Milan's attacking unit a must-have on FIFA 11.

If you weren't feeling Robinho, you could always have opted for 83-rated Ronaldinho on the left. Ah memories!

David Villa, Lionel Messi, Alexis Sanchez (FIFA 12)

Messi in a central position, yes please!

This was Villa at his FIFA peak as well, while Sanchez's five-star skills at the time from the right were an absolute god send.

It's not quite the MSN, but it wasn't far off.

Arturo Vidal, Paul Pogba, Claudio Marchisio (FIFA 15)

Imagine being able to build an entire three-man midfield with not a single base rating out of 18 under 70.

The days when building a Serie A team was just so fun and if you had Carlos Tevez ahead of these guys, you were doing FIFA 15 right.

Failing that, Gervinho, Doumbia and Ibarbo being fed by Juve's dynamic midfield wasn't bad...

Arturo Vidal, Jerome Boateng, David Alaba (FIFA 17)

Vidal really has been one of the go-to men on FIFA down the years.

The Chilean, Boateng and Alaba all received their highest ever base ratings on FIFA 17 and linking them altogether on the left of your team was an absolute must.

Possibly the greatest trio to hail from the Bundesliga in Ultimate Team history.

Sergio Ramos, Raphael Varane, Thibaut Courtois (FIFA 19)

If you didn't choose the dark side and get these three defensive monsters in your team, then you were likely tearing you hair out at the sight of them in the loading screen.

Ramos and Varane were like Paolo Maldini and Franco Baresi in their pomps, while Courtois evolved into a morph of Gordon Banks and Lev Yashin in-game.

Scoring a goal against that trio felt like a win in itself.

Eden Hazard, Oscar, Ramires (FIFA 15)

Okay, this trio is basically here so we can wax lyrical about Ramires.

The Brazilian's card on FIFA 15 should have been illegal. A CDM with 88-pace? Get out of here! Ramires makes N'Golo Kante on FIFA 20 look like Carlos Sanchez.

Hazard and Oscar were quality as well, but this is all about that iconic 81-rated beast.

Antonio Valencia, Chris Smalling, David De Gea (FIFA 17)

The year Smalling was turned into prime Nemanja Vidic.

He made intercepting and tackling look so easy, as did Valencia out on the right, who's impression of Cafu on FIFA 17 was also mighty impressive.

De Gea was 90-rated so you expected great things, but the other two's brilliance caught us all off guard.

Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale (FIFA 17)

Ridiculously expensive to assemble, but just glorious to behold.

That Ronaldo card might just be the greatest ever version of the legendary Portuguese, while Bale's 90 rating was far and away his highest ever.

But don't sleep on Benzema; he was the unsung hero of FIFA 17 La Liga squads!

Radja Nainggolan, Kostas Manolas, Alessandro Florenzi (FIFA 17)

We started with an overpowered Roma trio and we'll end with one.

If these three had of been the defensive backup to Gervinho, Doumbia and Ibarbo, it would have been horrendous - yet magnificent.

Nainggolan was the complete midfielder, Manolas was a Formula 1 car at the back and Florenzi could just do it all.

So if history is taught us anything, it's that Roma are an unexpected source of Ultimate Team gold.

Sadly on FIFA 20, the Italian side don't really possess any hidden gems. To be fair, with so many promos and special cards available, barely any teams do anymore.