A lot was made of Cristiano Ronaldo being made the best player in FIFA 17.

The Portuguese superstar beat Messi to be crowned the highest rated player on the latest edition of the much-loved video game.

However, if you cast your mind back 14 years, Ronaldo and Messi weren’t dominating football like they have done for the past decade.

In FIFA 03, Ronaldo and Messi were merely hot prospects.

So, Who was the best player in the game back then?

The Ballon d’Or winner in 2003, Pavel Nedved? Thierry Henry? Zinedine Zidane?

None of the above.

It was, in fact, a certain Matteo Brighi.

The centre midfielder was rated a ridiculous 97 on FIFA 03 making him an absolute FIFA legend. He was rated better than cover stars Henry, Ryan Giggs and Roberto Carlos.

But exactly who is Matteo Brighi?

Well, the biggest football fans amongst you will no doubt have heard of him. After all, the Italian was once regarded as the hottest prospect in football after he won Serie A’s Young Footballer of the Year and played for Italy Under 21’s.

But despite playing for Juventus, Parma, Roma and Torino in Serie A, Brighi never quite fulfilled his potential. He did get four caps for Italy but he didn’t really justify his 97 rating.

At the age of 36, Brighi is still playing with him currently at Perugia in Serie B.

EA Sports don’t usually get many things wrong but rating Brighi as 97 in FIFA 03 will go down as one of the worst decision in the game’s history.