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Louise Thomas
Editor
One of the greatest strikers ever, Ronaldo has picked his all-time XI – and it contains a few surprises.
The first is that the Brazilian great, who won two World Cups and multiple trophies with Barcelona, Inter Milan, Real Madrid and AC Milan, doesn’t pick himself in the team for Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo.
In an extremely attacking 3-4-3 formation, only two current players make it into the team, Barcelona pair Lionel Messi and Xavi, and only two of Ronaldo’s former team-mates make the line-up, with Real Madrid and France star Zinedine Zidane and Brazil legend Marcos Cafu the right-back.
Pele is the only other Brazilian, while Diego Maradona and Alfredo Di Stefano (who played more international games for Spain) join Messi as the three Argentines in the side.
Johan Cruyff starts on the right wing, while Paolo Maldini and Franz Beckenbauer start in defence.
The biggest selection surprise comes in goal, where Ronaldo picks Jose Iribar the legendary Athletic Bilbao keeper who helped Spain win the 1964 European Championships.
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