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5 Things You Probably Don’t Know About Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar

Yesterday, two of the biggest football stars in the world, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar Jr. celebrated their birthdays.

5-time Balon D’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo turned 34 while talented Brazilian Winger, Neymar Jr became 27 years old. Both players are icons whose influences have spread even more than just the football world.

I’m sure you know that C Ronaldo plays for Juventus in the Serie A and is the most followed football player on Instagram but here are 5 things you may not know about him:

  1. CR7 as he is popularly called would have quit football at a very young age. At 15, he suffered from an irregular heartbeat condition which almost made him stop playing but after a successful surgery, the condition was corrected and well, the rest is history.

  2. Before signing for Manchester United in 2003, CR7 almost signed for Liverpool (but they couldn’t meet his wage demands), Arsenal (but he was convinced to go to Man U instead by fellow Portuguese and Ferguson’s former assistant, Carlos Queiroz) and Barcelona (they didn’t have enough money to spend more on CR7). Just imagine if Barca had been successful, both CR7 and Messi would have played in the same team!!!

  3. CR7 actually didn’t want the number 7 jersey. He wanted number 28 but Manchester United coach Sir Alex Ferguson convinced him to stick to the number 7. Thank God for Sir Alex. Imagine CR7 being CR28! Yuck!

  4. Fourth year students at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan actually study a course based on the life and achievements of CR7. Na wa!

  5. CR7 donated his bone marrow to help a team mate, Carlos Martin’s son.

And I know that its general knowledge that Neymar plays for French giants, PSG but do you know that Neymar Jr:

  1. Almost joined Real Madrid when he was 14 after a successful trial with the team.

  2. Got his first European club bid from EPL club West Ham United in 2010.

  3. Scored his 100th career goal on his 20th birthday.

  4. Acts in telenovelas, music videos and movies. Neymar even appeared in Vin Diesel’s blockbuster movie ‘XXX:Return of Xander Cage’. He actually has a movie coming up later this year.

  5. Has more than 30 tattoos on his body. Na food?

Now, both superstars have a few things in common that you may not know about. Take a look:

  • They both have won the Puskas Award. The prestigious award which recognizes the best goal of the year was won by CR7 in its inaugural year, 2009, and then by Neymar Jr in 2011. Astonishingly, Argentine talisman Lionel Messi has never won this award.

  • The mother of Neymar Jr’s son has never been revealed by the player. This is something he has in common with C Ronaldo as CR7 first son’s mother’s identity is a well hidden secret.

  • Both players absolutely love poker and are excellent poker players. Maybe that’s how they perfect their maneuvering and winning skills!

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