Rafael van der Vaart has revealed he ‘didn’t get along’ with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and explained why Diego Armando Maradona was better than Leo Messi.

The ex Real Madrid star played with Ibrahimovic at Ajax, in the early 2000s.

“We were young, he wanted to be the no 1 and I wanted the same, we were not friends but we were a nice striking partner on the pitch. He was a no 9 and I was a no 10,” the Dutchman told Tuttosport.

Is Ibra the best player he’s ever played with?

Rafael van der Vaart has revealed he ‘didn’t get along’ with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and explained why Diego Armando Maradona was better than Leo Messi.

The ex Real Madrid star played with Ibrahimovic at Ajax, in the early 2000s.

“We were young, he wanted to be the no 1 and I wanted the same, we were not friends but we were a nice striking partner on the pitch. He was a no 9 and I was a no 10,” the Dutchman told Tuttosport.

Is Ibra the best player he’s ever played with?

“No, it was Cristiano Ronaldo. I was lucky to play with him at Real Madrid. We are talking about a machine capable of scoring 700 goals in his career. There will never be again another player like him or [Lionel] Messi. I prefer Ronaldo by the way, because of his mentality and because he has won everywhere.”

Van Der Vaart, however, believes Diego Armando Maradona is the best player of all time.

“Romario was my idol, but Maradona is the best of all time,” he said.

“Maradona did something unique with Napoli. They won they only two Scudetto in their history thanks to him. Messi is a champion but, believe me, if he’d join a club like Hamburger SV, they would improve but they wouldn’t win as Diego did with Napoli and Argentina.”

The 37-year-old retired two years ago.

“I wish I could play in Italy, I came close to joining Juventus from Hamburger SV in 2007 but the deal collapsed. I joined Real Madrid thw following season, the most important club in the world, not too bad…”

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