Henrik Larsson overlooks Messi & Ronaldo when naming his four best team-mates | OneFootball

Henrik Larsson is one of the few players who’s been fortunate enough to play alongside both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

He got the chance to play with Messi at Barcelona in 2005-06 and alongside Ronaldo at Manchester United in 2006-07.

However, neither player made the cut when the legendary Swedish forward named his greatest teammates of all time.

During a recent interview on the Stick to Football podcast, these were the four players that Larsson named as his best ever teammates.

Ronaldinho

It’s not a bad start, is it?

Larsson played alongside Ronaldinho when the Brazilian was at the peak of his powers at Barcelona.

In total, the pair played 42 games alongside each other and they combined for seven goals during that time. Of Larsson’s 22 goals for Barcelona, five of them were assisted by Ronaldinho.

“At Barcelona, Ronaldinho was the best player in the world,” Larsson said.

“I couldn’t see anybody being better than him. But Lionel Messi proved it was possible. He had close control, speed, ability, vision. Messi put them all together, and he became arguably the best player we have ever seen.”

Chris Sutton

What a strike duo these two made back in the day.

Larrson played 144 games alongside Sutton at Celtic and the pair combined for 24 goals during that time, with both players providing 12 assists for each other.

During a separate interview from 2019, Larsson named Sutton as the best strike partner that he’d ever had.

“Chris and I had a great understanding”, he said.

“We didn’t even have to look, we just knew where we were.

“We had great players at that time: Chris Sutton, Alan Thompson, Didier Agathe, Stiliyan Petrov, I could go on and on. It made it easier for me to score all of those goals.”

Wayne Rooney

Larsson debated picking Xavi, Andreas Iniesta, and Paul Scholes, but eventually settled on Rooney.

Despite only ever played 12 games alongside Wazza, the former England captain clearly made a big impression during that time.

Of the three goals that Larsson scored for United, two of them were set up by Rooney.

Ľubomir Moravcik

When asked to name the very best player that he’s ever played alongside, Larsson went straight to Moravcik.

At Celtic, the pair played 84 games alongside each other and the Slovakian attacking midfielder was capable of doing pretty much anything with the ball.

“Ľubomir Moravcik, I still can’t tell you if he’s left or right-footed,” Larsson said.

“I don’t know, but he could find you anywhere and he could score goals. He was great; his technique was something else.”

Former Celtic midfielder Paul Lambert also described Moravcik as one of the best players that he’s ever played alongside.

“I don’t think there was ever a more skilful player in my time at the club,” Lambert said of Moravcik.

“He’s the most talented two-footed player I’ve ever played with and it’s incredible the things he could do. He’s a great player and a great entertainer.

“You don’t get a higher compliment when someone like Zinedine Zidane says he is probably one of the best No.10s that he had ever seen.”