Dutch legend Edwin van der Sar snubbed former Manchester United teammate Cristiano Ronaldo but named Lionel Messi while picking his top five players to watch of all time. The former Manchester United goalkeeper was asked to rank his top five players to watch of all time by GOAL.
Starting with number five, he named former French midfielder Zinedine Zidane. The Dutch legend then picked former teammate Ryan Giggs at the fourth spot and lauded the Welshman for his skills. He said:
For the third spot, the Ajax chief backed Argentine superstar Lionel Messi, snubbing his former Manchester United teammate Cristiano Ronaldo. However, the Dutchman said that he was not very happy about Messi scoring against him. He added:
Argentine legend Diego Maradona found the second position on Edwin van der Sar’s list, while Dutch icon Johan Cruyff was number one. The former United custodian gave the interview before the 2025 Soccer Aid by UNICEF, where World XI recorded a 5-4 win over England XI.
English attacker Marcus Rashford was asked to pick between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in 2018 during an interview with CNN. Messi and Ronaldo have dominated the sport for almost two decades, winning numerous individual and team accolades. As a result, choosing one over the other is always a tricky decision.
However, the Manchester United attacker faced no trouble in making his choice. Rashford claimed that he’s a huge fan of Ronaldo but picked Messi as the greatest. The English attacker said (via SportBible):
Marcus Rashford, who spent the second half of the 2024-25 season at Aston Villa on loan, shared the dressing room with Ronaldo between 2021 and 2022 at United.
Shashank has been a Liverpool supporter since 2014 and had first stumbled upon the club after receiving a gift which had the words ‘Liverpool FC’ written on it. He has idolised Steven Gerrard over the years but his favorite football memory is the Reds’ incredible comeback 4-0 win over Barcelona in the 2019 Champions League semis. He, unsurprisingly, also loves Jurgen Klopp’s managerial style.
He strives to report 100% accurate content by going through several social media platforms, and prides himself on his above-average vocabulary and researching skills. In his career so far, Shashank has had the privilege of interviewing Indian national football team goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu.
Shashank also follows the Indian Super League and the Eredivisie along with European Football. In his off time, he likes to do theatre, watch Tennis, and travel.
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