{"id":4208,"date":"2026-07-28T23:51:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T22:51:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stakegains.com\/blogs\/?p=4208"},"modified":"2026-07-28T23:51:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T22:51:19","slug":"rodri-names-his-three-greatest-footballers-of-all-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stakegains.com\/blogs\/rodri-names-his-three-greatest-footballers-of-all-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Rodri names his three greatest footballers of all time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Manchester City midfielder Rodri has revealed his three greatest footballers of all time during a recent interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Spain international shared his choices in a video posted by Sports Direct Football on Instagram. When asked to name his favourite players in football history, Rodri did not hesitate with his selections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Ballon d&#8217;Or winner first picked Real Madrid legend Zinedine Zidane, describing the French icon as his childhood idol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;My three favourite players of all time, I will have to say my idol, Zizou (Zidane),&#8221; Rodri said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rodri then selected Argentina captain Lionel Messi. The Manchester City star praised the eight-time Ballon d&#8217;Or winner and called him the greatest footballer in history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Of course, because I played against him and I consider him the best footballer of all time, Lionel Messi,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For his final choice, Rodri turned to another Spanish legend, former Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The City midfielder said Iniesta&#8217;s influence on Spanish football and his impact on an entire generation made him an easy choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;One more, I think, for his importance, for what it means for our generation and because my country and everything, I would say Andres Iniesta,&#8221; he explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All three players are regarded among the greatest footballers to have played the game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Manchester City midfielder Rodri has revealed his three greatest footballers of all time during a recent interview. The Spain international shared his choices in a video posted by Sports Direct Football on Instagram. When asked to name his favourite players in football history, Rodri did not hesitate with his selections. The Ballon d&#8217;Or winner first [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4209,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[14,29,34,15,19],"class_list":["post-4208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sport-news","tag-barca","tag-epl","tag-man-city","tag-real-madrid","tag-ucl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Rodri names his three greatest footballers of all time | Stakegains Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Manchester City star Rodri has revealed his three greatest footballers of all time, naming two Barcelona legends.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link 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