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Cristiano Ronaldo has spent well over 18 years playing football at the highest level for the likes of Real Madrid, Manchester United, Juventus and Sporting Lisbon.
The Portuguese superstar has racked up countless individual accolades in his career including the Ballon d'Or and European Golden Shoe as well as multiple UEFA Champions League, Premier League and Serie A titles just to name a few.
None of those would have obviously been possible without his teammates and Ronaldo knows it. He is a player ready to credit them whenever given a chance.
Given his attitude, it is no wonder then that Ronaldo is held in such high esteem by so many of his teammates, some of whom have gone on to become his life-long friends.
Here are five of Ronaldo's favorite teammates:
#5 Paulo Dybala
There were a few media outlets who attempted to spin Paulo Dybala beating Ronaldo to the 2019-20 Serie A 'Most Valuable Player' award as potential for a rift to emerge between the pair. However, if you regularly pay attention to their interactions together, it's clear that the likelihood is next to nothing.
On the pitch, Dybala is Ronaldo's second most prolific assister behind Miralem Pjanic for Juventus, although this does not account for the many penalties the Argentinian has won for his illustrious teammate to score. It's no wonder then, that this is Ronaldo's way of saying thanks:
And there was that time they appeared to 'kiss' each other on the lips while celebrating, but that was just a quirk of the television camera angle.
Clearly, there is plenty of admiration between the pair, especially since Dybala has changed his game to ensure his strike partner gets more chances to score.
It's also a testament to Ronaldo, because Dybala did not have a high opinion of him prior to his arrival - as he elaborated:
“I said to him: ‘Cristiano, in Argentina, we hate you a bit because of your figure, because of how you are, of how you walk. The truth is that you’ve surprised me [since we met], because I’ve found you to be different.”
#4 Pepe
Of the 673 games Pepe has played in his career for club and country, 363 of those have been with Ronaldo in the same squad, with the centre-back spending 26,118 minutes on the pitch with his friend and teammate - second only to Sergio Ramos.
The pair have gone through tough times and incredible highs together over a storied career with Real Madrid and Portugal. Indeed there have been times when Pepe has been Ronaldo's staunchest defender - in moments when the Bernabeu has whistled and booed the superstar forward.
Clearly, Ronaldo is appreciative, once saying:
"Not only is he a fantastic defender, but he leaves nothing on the field. He gives everything. Pepe is the teammate I would want next to me in a war."
Little wonder then, that when Ronaldo looked to sell his £3.5 million mansion in Portugal, he had no issues shaving a third of that price while selling it to Pepe.
#3 Karim Benzema
There is little doubt that Ronaldo owes much of his success at Real Madrid to Karim Benzema. The French forward and Ronaldo have been involved in each other's goals a whopping 76 times, almost double that of anyone else to have played with the Portuguese superstar.
Benzema's sacrificial play was crucial in allowing Ronaldo to thrive at Real Madrid, with the Frenchman bearing criticism of the Bernabeu fans for many a season as he rarely got on the scoresheet. It was no surprise then that once Ronaldo left Madrid, Benzema was immediately back to his prolific ways.
It wasn't always a one-way street - CR7 was appreciative of Benzema in many ways:
Ronaldo has also confirmed that he still stays in touch with Benzema after moving to Juventus, noting that they 'speak often'. No wonder then that he reportedly wants a reunion.
Also Read: Cristiano Ronaldo asks Juventus to sign former teammate Karim Benzema
#2 Marcelo
Like Benzema, Ramos and Pepe, Marcelo spent a ton of time with Ronaldo on the pitch (26,091 minutes). However, of all the players Ronaldo has played with, Marcelo has the distinction of winning the most often, an incredible 73.19% of the games they have played together.
The Brazilian also ranks 4th-highest in combining with Ronaldo to score, an impressive 33 times. Putting that all aside, it's really Marcelo's relationship with Ronaldo off the pitch that's perhaps most important, as the Brazilian noted in 2018:
Such was their friendship that Ronaldo trusted Marcelo to keep the news of his departure from Real Madrid a secret. Truly, a bromance for the ages.
#1 Miguel Paixao and Jose Semedo
It's a bit disingenuous to give the top spot to two people, but so close are Miguel Paixao and Jose Semedo to Ronaldo that it's hard to separate the pair. Along with Ronaldo's personal manager Ricardo Regufe, the foursome are often seen spending time together on vacation, with their respective Instagram accounts chock-full of images of them bonding.
It's a childhood friendship that has witnessed the test of time and distance. Semedo and Paixao were Ronaldo's teammates at Sporting Lisbon, right from the youth level. In fact, Semedo owes much of his career, and life, to the Portuguese superstar.
Also Read: Cristiano Ronaldo saved best friend Jose Semedo's life
As the story goes, Semedo was all set to be released by Sporting, only for Ronaldo to intervene:
"He said they could put an extra bed in his room and that we could share a cupboard for his clothes. He said that if I went, he would too. The place I am from in Setubal is not a good place for a young man. A lot of my friends from there were involved in crime. Some of them are dead now, or in jail. I owe everything I have to him. He changed my life. My family, my children, my career: it is all because of him."
Cristiano Ronaldo, more than a teammate.
