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What is the story?
Brazil legend Ronaldo Nazario has revealed the names of the five players he enjoys watching the most. While he picked Lionel Messi as his favourite, there was no mention of Cristiano Ronaldo.
The other four players who got mentioned in Ronaldo’s list were Mohamed Salah, Eden Hazard, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe.
In case you didn’t know….
Despite enduring a terrible finish to the campaign, Messi’s season with Barcelona will go down as one of the best-ever, in terms of personal achievements. The mercurial Argentine scored 51 goals in 50 appearances in all competitions in the 2018-19 campaign. The five-time Ballon d’Or winner also managed to secure his sixth European Golden Shoe by netting 36 goals in 34 La Liga appearances, thereby helping Barcelona to yet another league title.
Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo played a crucial role in Juventus’ cakewalk towards their eighth successive Serie A glory. The former Real Madrid superstar managed to net 21 times in the league in his first season in Italy, winning the Serie A Most Valuable Player award in the process.
However, both Messi and Ronaldo failed to lead Barcelona and Juventus respectively to Champions League glory. Messi had an off-night against Liverpool at Anfield which in turn cost Barcelona the semi-final tie. On the other hand, despite scoring in both legs of their quarter-final clash against Ajax, Ronaldo and Juventus bowed out of the Champions League in a shocking manner.
The heart of the matter
Speaking to AS, the Brazilian Ronaldo, who will go down as one of the best-ever to embrace the beautiful game, has named the top five players he loves watching.
"Messi, of course, he is number one, it is a talent that we will take 20 or 30 years to see something similar.
“I also like Salah, Hazard, Neymar, I love watching him play, and of course Mbappe.”
Surprisingly enough, there was no mention of Portuguese talisman Ronaldo, who, in many eyes, has been at par with the Argentine sensation of Barcelona over the last decade or so.
What’s next?
Messi is currently training in the national preparatory camp with Argentina, ahead of the 2019 Copa America. Meanwhile, Ronaldo is also gearing up to play for Portugal in the UEFA Nations League semi-final against Switzerland on 5th of June.
