Juventus and Italy centre-back Giorgio Chiellini has lavished praise on Manchester United duo Cristiano Ronaldo and Paul Pogba.
The towering Italian legend has played with the pair during his 17-year stay in Turin.
The 37-year-old who is the same age as Ronaldo played alongside the five-time Ballon d’Or winner for three full seasons with the Old Lady, before Ronaldo returned to United in the summer.
During the time Ronaldo was with the Italian giants, the Bianconeri failed to advance beyond the Champions League quarter-finals.
But in an interview with the Times, the Italian international feels he was “lucky enough” to play with the great Portuguese who became FIFA’s all-time leading scorer with 807 goals, following his 59th career hat-trick against Tottenham, in the 3-2 win at Old Trafford yesterday.
Currently out with calf trouble since early February, Chiellini hopes to return for Italy’s World Cup play-offs this month.
They face North Macedonia in a semi-final and then, potentially, Ronaldo’s Portugal, who face Turkey in the last four, for a place at Qatar 2022.
The Euro 2020 winner would relish another meeting with the great Ronaldo, who alongside Lionel Messi is described as an “alien” due to their phenomenal brilliance and consistency over a 15-year period.
“Cristiano and Messi are aliens. Not from the herd,” Chiellini says.
“I was lucky enough to play with Cristiano at Juventus for three years and seeing him day by day, you understand some of his secrets.
“He works every day to achieve his goals — and finds new goals all the time. In the big moments, when you need him, he is there.”
The man who has 114 Italy caps to his name has been following how Ronaldo’s return to the Theatre of Dreams has panned out.
Despite being United’s top goalscorer, Chiellini doesn’t believe United’s struggles have transpired due to the legend’s return.
Chiellini added: “In the end, he’s just a single player. If Cristiano is in a team that supports him and plays better than the other, you can be sure he’ll get the goal.”
Juventus’ number three also feels that Pogba is an easy target when things don’t go to plan at United, but Chiellini’s first impression of the Frenchman back in 2012, when he left Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United on a free transfer, will always stick with the experienced Italian.
views Paul Pogba’s Old Trafford travails similarly and will never forget his first impressions of Pogba when he signed for Juventus in 2012 having shocked United by forcing an exit, aged 19, against Sir Alex Ferguson’s wishes.
“Pogba is the LeBron James of football. Really, when I see him growing up it’s fantastic,” Chiellini says.
“When I saw him that first week of training I said, ‘What? He is not real!’ He was from Manchester United, so I expected to meet a good player but I also thought if he is not playing for United he cannot be a top one. But he was.
“He was different from the others and I’m sad that [since rejoining United] he is not showing completely what he is.
“He has done fantastic in many matches but has not been lucky, with injuries and for other reasons. He has not been able to show, continuously, all his skill.”
With Pogba’s United contract expiring in three months time, it’s looking increasingly likely that he will leave the club on a free transfer for the second time in his career, and he has been tipped to re-join Juventus.
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