Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi brutally snubbed as Luka Modric names five best players - The Mirror

AC Milan star Luke Modric overlooked his former Real Madrid teammate Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi when asked to name his top five players of all time

Luka Modric made the controversial decision not to name Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in his top five players. The 40-year-old midfielder played alongside Ronaldo at Real Madrid for six seasons but the forward still did not make Modric’s list.

Modric holds the distinction of being one of only two players to win the Ballon d’Or during Ronaldo and Messi’s dominance of the award between 2008 and 2023. However, Modric also chose not to include himself or his former teammate Karim Benzema in his personal list.

The ever-lasting debate over which of Ronaldo and Messi is the better player has been part of football discourse for almost two decades. A section of fans find Ronaldo’s numerous goalscoring records to be the deciding factor, while others favour Messi’s flair with the ball.

Despite the intense rivalry that developed while Ronaldo and Messi were competing head-to-head in La Liga, it is almost universally accepted that the pair are two of the best players to have ever played the game. However, Modric has a different view.

The current AC Milan midfielder was tasked with naming his five best-ever players and swerved several star names. Instead, Modric overlooked Ronaldo and Messi in favour of his childhood icons.

When tasked with naming his five best-ever players by content creator The Real Yesus, Modric showed no hesitation: “Maradona, Francesco Totti, Ronaldo [Nazario], Zvonimir Boban…Zizou.”

Modric is not the only person who would argue Diego Maradona is the greatest footballer of all time. His former Real boss Zinedine Zidane and iconic Brazilian striker Ronaldo may also feature in many fans’ top five lists.

However, his decision to include Roma legend Totti and Croatian football hero Zvonimir Boban, who played for Milan and helped lead his country to third place at the 1998 World Cup, will raise some eyebrows, particularly as it comes at Ronaldo and Messi’s expense.

Modric’s omission of Messi is particularly surprising, given what the former Tottenham Hotspur star said after Croatia’s World Cup semi-final defeat to Argentina in 2022. “I hope [Messi] wins this World Cup, he is the best player in history and he deserves it,” Modric admitted.

However, it is not the first time that Modric has snubbed Ronaldo and Messi when faced with a similar task. The Croatia international even offered a light-hearted apology to Ronaldo, who he won three Champions League titles with at Madrid, after not picking him in his dream six-a-side team last year.

Modric was given several choices of who to pick in goal, defence, midfield and attack by Icons.com. He opted for former Real goalkeeper Iker Casilas, Roberto Carlos and Paolo Maldini in defence, plus Maradona and Zidane in midfield. This left Modric with only one spot left in attack, but neither Ronaldo or Messi made the cut.

"For me, between [Cristiano] Ronaldo and Ronaldo [Nazario]. I played with one, but this one [the latter] was my favourite growing up,” Modric explained.

"I fell in love with his game and... wow. And others are also... Romario, Messi, Pele, but I go with Ronaldo [Nazario]."

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