5 favourite teammates of Cristiano Ronaldo
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.