London: Cristiano Ronaldo, who is Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr and Portugal national team's forward, is one of the best footballers of all time and has a great fan following worldwide.

However, he is usually compared with other football greats like Argentina's Lionel Messi and hence, many of his supporters do not like Ronaldo.

The Portuguese superstar, who is a five-time Ballon d'Or winner, is currently a part of Al-Nassr from January for two and a half years.

Former teammate Paulo Dybala shared a story from when he was playing with Ronaldo for Juventus. Dybala told Ronaldo that he was "hated" in Argentina, however, the Al-Nassr's forward laughed it off.  "On a personal level, I was surprised for good because I did not know him, none of us knew anything about him. Even in the previous Champions League we were knocked out against Real Madrid and we had crossed paths," said Dybala while recalling the event.  Explaining how his perception changed about Ronaldo when left Madrid for Turin in 2018, the Argentinian player said: "But then we found something else, he is an excellent guy, very sociable and friendly inside and outside the locker room. Always ready to talk, to listen, which surprised me, being an important figure, they are not always like that. "Once I sat down to talk to him, we were travelling. I said 'look, if I'm honest, we in Argentina hate you a bit, because of your personality, your way of being, then you really surprised me because I found something else'. He laughed because he said 'I know that's the way it is, but I know how I am, I'm used to being criticised for that'."

Ronaldo and Dybala played together for the Turin-based football club for three years between 2018-21. They won two Serie A titles, one Coppa Italia and two Supercoppa Italiana titles together.

Dybala currently plays for Serie A side AS Roma while Ronaldo has joined hands with the Riyadh-based club.

Published in The Daily National Courier, June, 07 2023

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