Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Neymar are arguably the three best players in the world right now and all three superstars will be hoping to lead their country to World Cup glory. These players are so good that some of the best players in the world consider it an honour to play with any one of them.
When Philippe Coutinho joined Barcelona, he said it is an honour to play alongside Lionel Messi in his very first interview as Barcelona player.
“Like everyone else, I thought Messi was the best player in the world and to be here with him now is a fantastic honour. It’s a great experience watching him in training and in matches…the way he can transform a match is unbelievable.”
The prospect of playing with these superstars attract other players to their clubs. Only 11 players have had the opportunity to play with both Messi and Ronaldo and only three out of those 11 players had the chance to play with Ronaldo, Messi and Neymar.
Barcelona’s Nelson Semedo currently shares the dressing room with Messi and also with Ronaldo for Portugal. He briefly shared the dressing room with Neymar upon joining Barcelona and interestingly had a training ground bust-up with the Brazilian during the last preseason. However, they didn’t play together as Neymar left Barcelona to join PSG a few weeks later.
3 Andre Gomes
The 24-year-old midfielder plays for Barcelona at the club level since 2016. It is at Barcelona that he played with both Lionel Messi and Neymar. However, his stint with the Catalan club could come to an end this summer. Although Gomes was not a key member of the Barcelona team in the last two years, he won four trophies at the club.
2 Gerard Pique
Gerard Pique started his football education at La Masia and he played at the academy with Lionel Messi between 2001 and 2004. He left Spain to join Manchester United in 2004 and it was here that he played with Cristiano Ronaldo.
Pique was at Manchester United for four seasons although he spent one of them on loan at Real Zaragoza. During his stint in England, he won the league and Champions League.
1 Angel Di Maria
Andre Gomes and Gerard Pique played with Messi and Neymar at the same time when all four players were at Barcelona. Angel Di Maria, on the other hand, played with all three players with different teams. Di Maria is a regular alongside Lionel Messi at Argentina since he made his debut in 2008. Messi with 124 caps and Di Maria with 94 caps have the 3rd and 7th highest number of appearances for Albiceleste.