Angel Di Maria SNUBS Cristiano Ronaldo as he reveals the best XI he has ever played with… as he includes a current Premier League star and a former Liverpool midfielder

Angel Di Maria has revealed the best players he has ever played with – but showed no mercy to Cristiano Ronaldo. 

The creative icon is nearing the end of his Argentina career as he intends to retire from international football after the Copa America in the summer. 

With his career winding down, the Benfica midfielder has been asked to reflect on some of the greatest stars he has shared a pitch with – and torn opposition teams apart alongside – in an interview with MARCA.

In goal, he opted for Emi Martinez ahead of Iker Casillas and David de Gea after the Aston Villa custodian’s heroic exploits at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, which Argentina won.

Martinez will likely be best remembered for his last-ditch save from Randal Kolo Muani’s shot to deny France a late winner and take the game to penalties. 

There was no room for Cristiano Ronaldo, who he played with at Real Madrid for several years

At centre-back, he went for Sergio Ramos, who he played with at Real Madrid, and ex-Manchester City centre-back Nicolas Otamendi, who he knows from Argentina and Benfica duty. 

Di Maria decided not to pick a right-back – limiting himself to just 10 players – in a damning verdict on some of the stars he had played alongside.

That list would include Antonio Valencia, Alvaro Arbeloa, and Pablo Zabaleta among others, but he was happy to have the ‘incredible’ Marcelo from Real Madrid as his left-back.

In midfield, he selected former Anfield favourite Javier Mascherano alongside Rui Costa, who was finishing his career at Benfica when Di Maria was just starting out. 

That left four slots available for a formidable, unprecedented front four.

Lionel Messi, Neymar, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and Kylian Mbappe made the grade in a fearsome four who have scored almost 2,200 goals between them.

Unfortunately, Di Maria left Ronaldo twiddling his thumbs on the sidelines, though he would have good company with Wayne Rooney, Robin van Persie, Karim Benzema, and Danny Welbeck.

‘I had the opportunity to play with so many and have that privilege that sometimes if they don’t ask me a question like that I don’t start thinking about who I played with and the truth is that it is crazy if I have to put myself together. I could easily put together two all-star teams,’ Di Maria said.   

Emi Martinez, who was critical in Argentina’s 2022 World Cup triumph, was the only current Premier League player he chose

Di Maria didn’t even pick a right-back, meaning the likes of Antonio Valencia have been left to simmer on his bench 

Ex-Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano made the cut in a two-man midfield alongside Rui Costa – leaving him with some heavy lifting on the defensive side of things!

He isn’t the first football legend to rate Ronaldo a rung below his peers.

Ronaldo Nazario, known as the ‘original’ Ronaldo, raised eyebrows last week when he didn’t include the current Al-Nassr star in his list of the eight greatest players ever. 

It’s hard to say that Di Maria was basing his opinion on aspects such as how the team would fit together, considering he didn’t eve deig to include a right-back.

Now 35, he moved to Benfica in the summer and is enjoying a fruitful year at his first European club, having scored 11 goals and made five assists.  

Benfica are second in the Portuguese top flight, just a point behind frontrunners Sporting CP.