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It is hard to be a professional footballer at times. The adulation and the wages come at a price, the price of 'hatred'. One wrong move, and the media, critics and even fans start asking questions, while if everything is going well, rival fans will still be spitting fire. Being a professional footballer can be a thankless job at times and the rivalries make it worse.
No matter how hard you try, one set of fans can never be won over, because they have their allegiance to your direct rival. On the other hand, fan expectations mean that not even one off day is allowed. Professional footballers receive as much love as they receive hate in the world and very rarely can a footballer claim to be in everyone's good books. However, there are a few footballers who fit into those rare cases.
In the past too, there have been players who were very hard to hate, even for rival fans. A certain Ronaldinho instantly comes to mind, with his smiling face that won over even the staunchest rival. Today, we look at 5 present footballers who are so good that they have won over the rival fans as well and as such, practically have no haters in the world right now.
#5 Iker Casillas (Spain, Porto)
Saint Iker, as he is lovingly called because of his warm personality, rose through the ranks at Real Madrid, before making his debut in 1999. Casillas went on to have a highly successful career at Real Madrid, winning a cabinet full of trophies and keeping the strikers at bay with a smile.
He has the record of the most appearances and clean sheets in the Champions League and he captained perhaps the most successful Spain team in the history of the country. Indeed, he is one of only the three captains to have won the World Cup, Euros and the Champions League.
Apart from being highly successful on the field, Casillas is also a perfect gentleman off it. The Iker Casillas Foundation regularly helps underprivileged children and provide them education and a chance to excel in the football pitch.
His loyalty to Real Madrid was evident when he signed a contract for life at the Spanish Giants in 2008. However, Casillas finally left the Bernabeu under controversial circumstances in 2015 joining Porto, where he currently plays.
Iker Casillas is still going strong at Porto, whom he is representing in the Champions League this season. Even after all these years, it would be hard to find anyone who hates Saint Iker.
#4 Gianluigi Buffon (Italy, PSG)
The Italian Legend is considered to be one of the good guys in football and everyone wants him to finally get his hands on the Champions League trophy.
Buffon started his career at Parma, before joining Juventus in the 2001/02 season. It was at Turin that he reached worldwide fame and everyone came to love him. It was also here that his tryst with the Champions League began.
Buffon lost his first Champions League final against AC Milan in 2003. He next reached the final 12 years later but came up against a formidable Barcelona side who denied him the trophy again. In the 2016/17 season, the Italian captained his side to another Champions League final, only to fall short against Real Madrid.
In his long career, Buffon has won many trophies, including the 2006 World Cup with Italy, however, the fabled Champions League trophy has forever eluded him. It is this element of tragedy of such a great player that makes it hard for anyone to hate him.
Buffon is also a gentleman outside the pitch, he is well known for his charity works. Interestingly, during his time as a Juventus skipper, the Italian Legend auctioned off his captain's armband after every game, with the proceedings going to charity. Who can hate such a wonderful human being?
Buffon currently plays for PSG and is appearing for the Ligue 1 giants in the Champions League this season. Football fans all over the world would like nothing more than to see him lift the trophy this season. After all, Buffon is one of the most loved footballers in the world right now.
#3 Juan Mata (Spain, Manchester United)
The Manchester United midfielder has played for Chelsea and Valencia in the past and has sizzled for all of his clubs. While his skills are for all to see, Juan Mata is also an absolute gentleman both on and off the field. He is an absolute down to earth person and even owns a Tapas Bar in Manchester.
On the field, his feet do the talking. He has time and again rescued Manchester United this season and has proved this doubters and Mourinho wrong by becoming an important player at Old Trafford. Mata writes regular blogs and interacts with his fans, qualities which endear him to the United faithful, but it is another humane side of the Spanish midfielder that sets him apart.
Mata's Common Goal initiative has gathered pace of late, and a few big names in football are already involved. It asks players to donate 1% of their wages to a football charity that works around the world. Matt Hummels of Bayern Munich and Giorgio Chiellini of Juventus are already a part of the initiative.
But even apart from his charitable side, Mata is a wonderful human being, who rarely loses his cool on the ground and is competitive while also displaying tremendous sportsman spirit. It is no wonder that every football fan in the world loves the Spaniard.
#2 Andrés Iniesta (Spain, Vissel Kobe)
The Spaniard broke a million hearts all over the world when he announced that he would leave Barcelona at the end of the 2017/18 season. Iniesta had won everything there was to win at the Nou Camp and in search of a new challenge at the twilight of his career, moved to Vissel Kobe in the J1 League at the start of this season
Iniesta was a product of the fabled Barcelona Academy and made his first-team debut in the 2002/03 season. Slowly, the Spanish midfielder established himself as one of the greatest midfielders of his generation and won uncountable accolades both for club and country. He won the 2010 World Cup and the 2008 and 2012 Euros with Spain, as well as the under 19 and under 17 Euros.
On the field, Iniesta nimble footwork, outrageous skill and individual brilliance won him fans all over the world. His goal in the 2010 World Cup final was the perfect end to the Fairy Tale, but in truth, Iniesta had always drawn praise from rival fans and indeed is one of only 4 Barcelona players in history to receive a standing ovation at the Bernabeu. That truly shows that the Spaniard has no haters in the world.
#1 N'Golo Kante (France, Chelsea)
N'golo Kante is one of the very few players in the world who cannot hide his love for football in the pitch. For a defensive midfielder, the Frenchman is full of smiles and looks happy every time he sets foot on the pitch.
On the pitch, there are few people better than him at what he does and his teammates regularly acknowledge that the Chelsea midfielder does the work of two men on the field. It was his heroics that won Leicester their maiden Premier League trophy and he was a vital part of the Chelsea midfield that won the trophy in the following season.
This summer, Kante did the cleaning up for France at the World Cup and was instrumental in their World Cup win. A shy, humble and simple person, his stardom has not touched him yet. The thing he still loves the most is to play football and perhaps it is this nature of the Frenchman that fans adore.
At Chelsea's training ground, Kante's mini cooper looks out of place among the many expensive cars of his teammates. On the field though, Kante is perhaps a league above most of his teammates. His qualities and his humble nature are a couple of the many reasons why N'golo Kante has no haters in the world.
