Cristiano Ronaldo and the 20 Most Arrogant Players in World Football
Arrogance has become an art form in world football.
In the days before huge contracts and transfer fees, soccer was a blue-collar sport. Or, as the saying goes, a gentleman's game played by thugs.
In some ways today, it's a scoundrel's game played by prima donnas. Turn on any match from any league or any international competition. You'll see diving. You'll see players arguing with the officials. You'll see blatant cheating. You'll see more diving.
This is world football of today.
Good or bad, the culture of today's game has brought with it a new class of citizen: the arrogant footballer. Epitomized by these 20 (actually, a few more than that, but you'll see), the arrogant footballer does all the things listed above, and is proud of himself for it. After the game, he shows more arrogance in his comments to the media. And some of them even take the arrogance into everyday life.
With that said, here are a few disclaimers.
I don't know any of these players personally. There's a chance they're all nice guys who are merely misunderstood by the media. But that's not very likely.
Oh, and the first 19 of these guys are unranked. That's because in true Highlander style, there can only be one. One king of arrogance in world football.
Here's betting you already know who it is.
19.Pretty Much Every Barcelona Player
The best team in the world. Blah, blah, blah.
The most arrogant team in the world—that's more like it.
Anytime Barcelona plays, it's the same story. There's the diving. They complain to the officials about every call. After every foul by the other team, the player rolls around on the ground. They insist on pronouncing their city "Bar-tha-lo-na."
Barca is the best team in the world, but its players don't respect their opponents.
Oh, and there was that little Cesc Fabregas transfer saga, too. After Spain won the World Cup last year, the team went on a victory tour. Most of the players were also Barcelona players, and since they wanted Fabregas (who was then under contract at Arsenal) to join them in Catalonia, they decided to throw a Barcelona jersey on him. Talk about a lack of respect.
Fabregas, of course, eventually joined Barca during the summer of 2011. Speaking of Cesc…
18.Cesc Fabregas
Cesc can't walk away from that transfer saga completely blameless.
Sure, he comes off like a good guy. Some reports suggest that he actually paid part of his transfer fee to join his boyhood club. And it does seem like the reason he left was to win more trophies.
But Cesc was part of the disgraceful scenes after the World Cup when a couple of his future Barcelona teammates threw a Barcelona jersey on him. Instead of throwing it off immediately, he kept laughing.
That's not any way to show loyalty to the club and manager that took you from an unknown teenager to one of the world's best midfielders.
17.Emmanuel Adebayor
Here's a video of Emmanuel Adebayor talking about an attack on the Togo team bus last year in Angola.
Everything seems normal at first. Adebayor says he'll keep playing for Togo "for the people who died." He expresses grief about the incident, calling it "one of the bad moments in my life."
But he's wearing an Arsenal polo shirt. And at this time, he's a Manchester City player.
Add that to his general on-field antics, and Adebayor comes off as an arrogant player.
16.Michael Essien
Some players just can't seem to remember which team they're playing for.
Back in 2008, Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien got caught pictured wearing an Arsenal jersey.
Stupid, yes. But arrogant, too. Why? Because for Essien (and others who do this sort of thing) it's all about Essien. He doesn't care about what his club and teammates think. He only cares about wearing what he wants to wear, even if it's the jersey of a rival team.
Arrogant.
15.Mario Balotelli
Adebayor and Essien aren't the only ones. Mario Balotelli got caught too.
Check out this story about Balotelli, who was then with Inter Milan, wearing an AC Milan jersey while appearing on an Italian television show. If that's not the height of arrogance, check out the other examples cited in that story.
With Balotelli, it's not just a case of being forgetful or a bit selfish. He's just an arrogant person.
Here's another example: Balotelli won Tuttosport's Golden Boy trophy in 2010 for being the best player in the world under 21 years old. One of the players he beat out was Arsenal's Jack Wilshere.
When Balotelli gave a comment about his award, did he act humble and praise the others on the list? No he did not.
“Who should have won this award but me? Two years ago I finished sixth and a year ago fourth. It was finally my turn.
I don’t know who Wilshere is but the next time I play against Arsenal I will keep a close eye on him.”
Oh, Mario.
15.Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Zlatan Ibrahimovic inspires strong reactions in former teammates.
The tall Swede is a great player, but he seems to get under the skin of teammates.
Here's Kevin-Prince Boateng describing Ibrahimovic as an "arrogant (jerk)."
Here's Fabio Cannavaro spouting off about Ibrahimovic to the Italian media.
And here's an entire article dedicated to the debate over whether Ibrahimovic is arrogant, smug, cocky or all of the above. Just looking at the pictures tells you which one it is.
Bottom line: Zlatan Ibrahimovic is arrogant, cocky, smug, insolent and whatever synonym you could think of.
14.Robinho
Robinho almost gets a pass on account of his clearly below-average intelligence. But does that rule out arrogance?
Not hardly.
Here's a rundown of Robinho's reasons for leaving Manchester City a while back. Preview: “I am Brazilian and I can’t offer my best performance if I’m not happy in every aspect of life."
Here are some more reasons. Preview: "I am a special footballer and I need to be happy when I'm playing."
Robinho is almost too much fun to be called arrogant. Almost.
13.Antonio Cassano
Antonio Cassano is too good for your club.
At the age of 29, Cassano has already bounced around a number of clubs. He started his professional career with Bari, a smallish Italian club, before moving to AS Roma. He stayed there from 2001-06, and for a while, everything seemed fine.
Then he moved to Real Madrid. Then he got himself loaned to Sampdoria, back in Italy. Then he joined Sampdoria full time. Then he went to AC Milan.
Cassano just can't stay put, and a lot of that has to do with his attitude. Heck, arrogance even made it into his profile at Soccernet.
12.Francesco Totti
Back in 2003, Pavel Nedved won the Player of the Year award in Italy's Serie A. Francesco Totti didn't think Nedved was deserving. Totti told everyone who would listen about it.
Here's what he told Rete Sport, a radio station (h/t El Observador).
“Nedved did not deserve the Balon d’Or.
I realize Nedved did some very good things this year, but on a technical level there are better players out there.”
Wonder who Totti thinks is better?
“I think that this award should have gone to someone who is able to entertain the fans.
I am not sad that I did not win. It can only act as a spur to do even better this season with both Roma and the Azzurri.”
Totti is getting on up in age, but he's still one of the most arrogant players around.
11.David Beckham
Do I even have to list the reasons?
OK, here are a few:
It's not so much what he says as how he acts like a movie star. The way he hangs out with movie stars. The way he looks. The way he changes his hairstyle every two days. The way he's a fashion icon before a football star. The way he's married to a Spice Girl and named his kids Cruz, Brooklyn and Romeo.
On a side note, have you ever listened to him speak? It's not arrogant. It's squeakily hilarious.
Check it out.
10.Mido
Mido thinks he's better than his country. Or at least that's the way he acted in 2006.
During the African Cup of Nations that year, Mido got thrown off the Egyptian team after a heated argument with the team's manager. Here's what he had to say to the Daily Express following the dismissal:
"In Egypt they are amateurs. The manager is an amateur, the team are amateurs, the association are amateurs.
They think they know everything. People can call me an arrogant Premiership player. The fact is that I am a Premiership player and they are amateurs.”
When he was with Tottenham, Mido also called Portsmouth's Sol Campbell one of the worst players he had ever played against.
And Mido has a good point of reference. He's played for more than 10 teams and has never played more than 50 league games with any of them. From 2009-10, he got loaned out an amazing four separate times.
A word to Mido: Maybe it's not everyone else. It might be you.
9.Carlos Tevez
Carlos Tevez can't seem to stay happy, no matter where he is.
First he engineered a move away from Manchester United. Then, across town at Manchester City, he started to criticize his new manager. Here's a sampling of his critique of Man City manager Roberto Mancini:
"We are at the end of a long season, we have big matches, we are tired but there are still double training sessions, morning and afternoon. Then, the next day, we train for two hours. I do not understand."
Tevez has gone back and forth on his transfer requests. One day he wants out of Manchester City, and the next he wants to stay.
Tevez also thinks he should automatically get a spot on Argentina's national team.
And Tevez's former manager, Manchester United's Sir Alex Ferguson, slammed Tevez for an arrogant ad campaign in Manchester.
Carlos Tevez is a great player, but sometimes he lets his ego get in the way of his game.
8.Didier Drogba
Didier Drogba might fit in well in the United States, where self-promotion among athletes is almost expected.
In England, however, he comes off as arrogant.
He plays well, and then lets everyone know about it. The act is wearing thin.
7.Nicolas Anelka
Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri (more on him later) have perfected the art form. But Nicolas Anelka was the originator.
The canvas is leaving Arsenal. The art is in how much acrimony you leave behind.
How good was Anelka? As a young player, he had no equal. And for his histrionics upon leaving Arsenal, he earned the nickname "Le Sulk."
Here's the story. Anelka joined Arsenal as a 19-year-old in 1997. He blossomed immediately in a partnership with fellow striker Dennis Bergkamp, and Arsenal won the title in 1998. Anelka even scored as Arsenal won the FA Cup 2-0 over Newcastle.
During the 1998-99 season, though, things went sour. Arsenal finished second and Anelka started complaining about wages. At all of 20 years old, he thought he deserved to be paid as much as anyone on the team.
The fans quickly turned on Anelka, who vowed he would never play for Arsenal again. His agent/brother secured a move to Real Madrid for £23 million, and Anelka went on to play for five other teams before finally finding a home at Chelsea in 2008.
Age seems to have mellowed Le Sulk a bit, but he's still one of the most arrogant players the Premiership has ever seen.
6.Thierry Henry
Thierry Henry is another player who had almost no equal when he was at his best.
Henry's rise mirrored that of Arsenal in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Henry scored amazing goals and led the Gunners to a couple of Premier League titles. But while he was one of the best players on the planet, he had the ego to match.
Back in 2007, the Guardian published a piece on the French superstar's increasingly arrogant behavior. The writer cited Henry's tendency to taunt opposing players after Arsenal goals.
Also included were Henry's propensity for blaming refs when things go wrong, and an anonymous French teammate's account of Henry's "enormous melon."
But while Henry loved to complain about refs when things went wrong, he had no problem accepting their decision when those poor decisions meant things went very, very right for Henry.
By the way, here's what Henry said about that play: “I will be honest, it was a handball. But I’m not the ref. I played it, the ref allowed it. That’s a question you should ask him.”
Way to be humble, Thierry.
5.John Terry
A few years back, John Terry had an affair with a teammate's girlfriend.
When word started coming out about it, what did Terry do?
He filed a "super-injunction" against the media to stop the reports. No, that's not the same thing as double-secret probation. That's an arrogant move by an arrogant player.
Terry got stripped of the England captaincy and moved on. But to do something like that to a teammate, and to think he was above getting caught, is the height of arrogance.
4.Ashley Cole
What is it with Chelsea players and arrogance? It probably has something to do with the wages they get from their billionaire oil-baron owner.
Whatever it is, Ashley Cole decided he was too good for Arsenal in 2006 and moved across town to join Chelsea for more money, earning himself the nickname "Cashley."
Around that same time he published a memoir at the ripe old age of 26. Included in the book was an attack on Cesc Fabregas for being a "featherweight."
With Cole, it's best to follow that old rule. If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.
3.Joey Barton
Joey Barton doesn't shy away from anything. Even criticism of his own country.
Here's what he said about the England national team.
“The people in charge at the FA played football maybe 50 or 60 years ago and still think that we can win a World Cup in the same way we did in 1966. We English will play the next 50 World Cups and we’ll never win one.”
And that's not all. The talented but petulant midfielder has insulted just about everyone in his day.
On himself: "Honestly, I think I’m the best. I’m English and I love playing for my country. Maybe the people at the top have a problem with me. I don’t know.”
On Manchester City's Gareth Barry: "He's also discreet and always agrees with the manager. He's like the guy who sits in the front row and listens to the teacher. I certainly don't lose any sleep when I play against him.
And, just for good measure, here's an entire column on how Joey Barton is such a punk.
2.Samir Nasri
If you've only started following international football recently, you might think Nasri's first name is actually $amir. Such is the venom directed at him from disgusted Arsenal fans.
The anger comes from the fact that Nasri is yet another of manager Arsene Wenger's obscure signings to develop into a world-class player before turning his back on the club. And with Nasri, the transformation happened alarmingly quickly.
Nasri developed into Arsenal's best player during the 2010-11 season. But before the 2011 season started, he was already gone to Manchester City for more money.
But he didn't leave without taking a swipe at Arsenal: "Arsenal doesn’t have the same funds. They can’t make the same coups as before in the transfer market. They are rather forced to sell their best players and bet on young ones.
Samir, Samir. You were one of the young ones Arsenal bet on. Remember? Guess not.
No. 1: Cristiano Ronaldo
You didn't think it could be anyone else, did you?
Cristiano Ronaldo is the king of arrogance in world football. It's doubtful even Maradona or Pele could complete with Ronaldo's unique brand of self-love.
Remember the wink? (Ronaldo and Rooney were club teammates at the time.)
Then there are all the sex scandals. And the diving. And the stepover moves. Really, it's not even worth the time to mention it all. If you need to know, try a Google search for "Cristiano Ronaldo arrogant."
You won't be disappointed.