Last Monday, the announcement of the creation of DeepSeek, the Chinese artificial intelligence, caused the biggest earthquake in Wall Street history. The US unicorns had a fierce competitor on the other side of the trenches, much cheaper, with more curated knowledge and open source. The collapse of Nvidia, the computing company that was leading the development of the great computing phenomenon of the decade in the United States, shook the stock market: it lost 589 billion dollars in a single session. The invention in just two months by Liang Wenfeng, the genius behind DeepSeek, has changed the way we understand the world.
As an experiment, and to compare the responses of both models in a football environment, we asked both ChatGPT and DeepSeek to tell us who are, according to their own codes and reasoning systems, the eleven best footballers in history. An interesting confrontation.
Assuming that there is a high degree of subjectivity when dealing with this issue, and that it would be practically impossible to get all the fans in the world to agree (each of them would have their own eleven after much reflection), the answers obtained (in just a few seconds) from both the American and Chinese artificial intelligence open up numerous debates.
Subjected to this test, the US AI version ChatGPT chose and justified these eleven players:Goalkeeper:Lev Yashin. The only goalkeeper to win a Ballon d’Or. Known as ‘The Black Spider’ for his reflexes.
Defenders:Cafu (Right-back). The best right-back in history, two-time world champion. Tireless in attack and defense.
Franz Beckenbauer (Centre-back). The ‘Kaiser’ dominated from the back with elegance. Pioneer in the role of libero.
Paolo Maldini (Centre-back). A symbol of class and longevity, impeccable in defence.
Roberto Carlos (Left-back). Explosiveness and power, famous for his shooting and contributions to attack.
Midfield:Xavi Hernandez. The brain of the best Barcelona and Spain, a genius of passing and possession.
Diego Armando Maradona. Pure talent and creative genius, capable of changing matches on his own.
Zinedine Zidane. Elegance at its finest, always appears in the big moments.
Forwards:Lionel Messi (Right winger) The perfect combination of talent, vision and goals.
Pele. (Centre forward) Three World Cups, hundreds of goals and an unparalleled legend.
Cristiano Ronaldo (Left winger) Goal machine and impressive physique, with impact at every club he played for.
For its part, the Chinese AI version DeepSeek chose and argued these eleven players:
Goalkeeper:Lev Yashin (Soviet Union) Known as the ‘Black Spider’, he is the only goalkeeper to win the Ballon d’Or (1963). He revolutionised the position with his aggressive style and incredible reflexes.
Defenders:Paolo Maldini (Italy). An AC Milan and defensive icon. Elegant, intelligent and with a long and successful career, he won five Champions League titles.
Franz Beckenbauer (Germany). The ‘Kaiser’ was a revolutionary libero, winning the World Cup as a player (1974) and as a coach (1990). He also shone at Bayern Munich.
Cafu (Brazil). One of the best right-backs in history. He won two World Cups (1994 and 2002) and was key for Roma and AC Milan.
Midfield:Diego Armando Maradona (Argentina). An absolute genius. His ‘goal of the century’ in 1986 and his leadership at that year’s World Cup make him a legend.
Lionel Messi (Argentina). Considered by many to be the best of all time. He won seven Ballon d’Ors, multiple Champions Leagues and the 2022 World Cup.
Johan Cruyff (Netherlands). The greatest exponent of ‘total football’. He changed the game with his style and philosophy, both as a player with Ajax and Barcelona and as a coach.
Zinedine Zidane (France). A magician with the ball. He won the 1998 World Cup, Euro 2000 and was key at Real Madrid, including his goal in the 2002 Champions League final.
Forwards:Pele (Brazil). The ‘King of football’. He won three World Cups (1958, 1962, 1970) and is the top scorer in the history of the Brazilian national team.
Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal). A physical and goalscoring phenomenon. He won five Ballon d’Ors, five Champions Leagues and is the all-time leading international goalscorer.
Ronaldo Nazario (Brazil). ‘El Fenomeno’. One of the most complete strikers, he won two World Cups (1994 and 2002) and left his mark at Barcelona, Inter Milan and Real Madrid.
Two legendary elevens, two monumental teams, two different formations (4-3-3 chosen by ChatGPT; 3-4-3 by DeepSeek), both of incalculable value. There are many similarities in their configuration but also subject to multiple debates, starting with some significant absences such as Di Stefano
In any case, these are the conclusions of the two main and most powerful artificial intelligence tools created by man. Surely, human intelligence (the one that each fan carries inside) will question the result of this confrontation that MARCA has proposed between ChatGPT and DeepSeek.
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