Legendary AC Milan​ defender Paolo Maldini has revealed Diego Maradona and Ronaldo were the two toughest opponents he faced through his storied career, and stated his relief that he never had to face up to Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi's trickery.

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The two never crossed paths during their careers as Maldini's wound down just as Messi reached the pinnacle of the game. But the Italian has said, while speaking to ​M​arca, that Messi is nigh-on unstoppable because of his unpredictability and overall talent.

On Messi, he said: "I was lucky not to have faced Messi. He was injured when we played against FC Barcelona, and I do not know how I would have managed stopping Leo because in my time there were possibilities of failure.

"Is Messi unstoppable? Yes, because he's unpredictable and possesses incredible speed. He's able to transform a normal move into a clear scoring chance."

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He also spoke of Ronaldo and Maradona, who were players Maldini did get to face over the course of his career: "When he was very young, we played against Maradona's Napoli and he's certainly the best of all time.





"Ronaldo, the Brazilian, was another player who was unstoppable during the two years he spent with Inter."





Maldini has also named former Juventus midfielder Zinedine Zidane among his toughest opponents in the past. Zidane is currently the head coach of Real Madrid, and made a world record move to Spain from Turin back in 2001 - when Maldini was at his peak.

A young Paolo Maldini when he was at Milan's academy. pic.twitter.com/CnMsMJcksC — Historical Pics (@HistoricalPics) August 2, 2016





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