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| Rio Ferdinand suggests Zinedine Zidane was not a truly great player. |
Rio Ferdinand raised a few eyebrows on Wednesday night after claiming that Zinedine Zidane, the great former France international, would not make it into his top five or 10 all-time great players list.
And the ex-Manchester United star, who now works as a pundit on BT Sport, even suggested that - in his mind - Zidane was perhaps not a “top, top player”.
Ferdinand argued the truly great players were more explosive and that the graceful Zidane, although beautiful to watch, was less effective.
“Rio, you’re not overly convinced - you don’t put him in your top five or 10 players?” Gary Lineker asked Ferdinand before Real Madrid’s 2-0 win over AS Roma in the Champions League last-16 first leg.
“No, I don’t,” the retired defender replied. “There’s no denying he was a magician, an unbelievable footballer, but when I think of the top, top players - the likes of Ronaldinho, Diego Maradona, Cristiano Ronaldo, the real Ronaldo ‘R9’, Messi - these guys for me are more explosive and they got me off my seat a lot more than what Zidane did.
