Former Italian defender Paolo Maldini names the best football player he ever faced.
Paolo Maldini is widely regarded as the greatest defender who ever played football. The striking Italian faced the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Ronaldinho, Diego Maradona, Ronaldo Nazario, Zidane and the list goes on and on. For better or worse, he gave all of them a real tough time.
He recently spoke out in an interview with Tutto Juve, where he named the best forwards he ever played in his illustrious career.
Paolo Maldini named the Argentine Diego Maradona and Brazilian Ronaldo Nazario as the best.
“He (Maradona) and Ronaldo, the Brazilian, are the strongest.”
He then praised Lionel Messi as he jokingly thanked God for not playing against him.’
“I did not play against Messi, thank God.”
When it came to Cristiano Ronaldo who he faced when CR7 was with Manchester United, Paolo Maldini said this:
“CR7 is a great striker, but he has less magic than the other two.”
He continued to admire Maradona and Ronaldo(R9) as he believed that they were not only stronger, but they were faster as well.
“I was fast and physically strong, but they [Maradona and Ronaldo] were even faster. Diego [Maradona] was also very nice. When they nominated him in the Hall of Fame, I was ashamed for having given him so many blows, and I apologised,”
Paolo Maldini was a one club player. Much like Harry Kane, he devoted his whole life for AC Milan, the difference was that with Milan, he won every trophy in the world.
In his career that spanned over 25 years, Maldini won prestigious honors such as the FIFA World Cup, 5 Champions League/EC titles, 7 Serie A titles and much more.
