Let us discuss five footballer duos that are same age. Some football players just look older. While others presumably have to produce their IDs when buying booze. But, age is just a number & looks can be deceptive. Some might perform at the beginning of their careers and then disappear, while others take a lot longer to become well-known.
Footballer duos that are same age
Here are our top 5 duos you won’t believe are the same age:
1. Salah and Lingard- 30 years
Despite being the same age, Salah made his international debut 5 years before Lingard.
He began his journey in 2007 for his local Egyptian club. And it took him 10 more years to join the ranks of Liverpool.
Jesse Lingard, on the other hand, made his first competitive debut in a loan move to Leicester City. But both careers took a 180-degree turn, despite Jesse being compared to the greats like Iniesta.
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Salah proved to be an incomparable beast at Liverpool scoring 173 more goals than Lingard. And Englishman’s assist column also pales in comparison managing only 57 to Salah’s 122.
Not sure what went wrong even though his diet was perfectly healthy, unlike Wayne Rooney. More on Rooney’s Mcdonald’s incident in a few seconds.
2. Ronaldo and Rooney
If you ask any football geek, he would tell you that Rooney and Ronaldo were once at similar stages of their football careers. That Bromance was at the top level. Rooney once revealed that he took Ronaldo to McDonald’s for a Big Mac in the early stages of his United career as his former teammate attempted to gain weight.
But considering both of them now, it is hard to believe that former United stars are of the same age, especially when they go topless.
It appears that Rooney is still munching on those burgers, whereas 37-year-old Cr7 has turned away from his old habits long ago.
Well the two of them have recently been into a war of words. Ronaldo accused Rooney of being jealous of his achievements and that the Englishman finished his career early in his 30s.
Bit of a harsh way to finish.
3. Neymar and Zaha
With a goal difference of more than 200, it’s easy to understand why no one could imagine that Zaha is as old as Neymar.
The Brazilian has been in and around the center of every big thing that happens in the game playing in every major tournament and competition. That has not been the case for Zaha.
Zaha was termed by Junior Alex Ferguson as “ unplayable at times.” But his United career did not come out the way everyone was expecting. He wasn’t given enough play time and mostly he was surrounded by controversy.
The Telegraph reported that Zaha once turned up for a flight to Thailand for a pre-season tour wearing jeans and trainers instead of a club suit. And this really angered manager David Moyes. He continually left Zaha on the bench given his careless mindset.
Neymar on the other hand, bossed the game, taking his highest market value to 180 million Euros compared to Zaha’s 55 million Euros.
4. Ibrahimovic & Kaka
Comparisons are often great. But it’s impossible to compare two superhumans. Ibrahimovic and Kaka are arguably the two greatest footballers of this century. While both of them share the trait of making the lives of defenders hell, they share another thing. Both of them are of similar age.
Kaka retired in 2017 at the age of 35, whilst Ibrahimovic is still playing at 41. Even though Kaka had a better prime, Zlatan produced world-class level performances for nearly 20 years now and he’s still going.
Kaka’s Milan chapter was just unbelievable. That period was marked by creative passing, goal-scoring, and unbelievable dribbling from the midfield. And this resulted in a Ballon Dor for the Brazilian.
Andres Pirlo once said:
“ For two or three years Kaka was the best player in the world. There was a time when teams had no clue to stop him.”
And for Ibrahimovic standing and delivering at this age is an achievement in itself.
Kaka has secured around 20 silverware in his career. And you’ll be blown away by the fact that Ibrahimovic’s tally is around 60. Clearly, hard to conclude who’s better.
5. Hector Bellerin and Kalvin Philipps
There was once a time when Arsenal possessed one of the best right-backs in the world. Bellerin was blessed with blistering pace and very few in the game could stop him.
But injuries ravaged his budding career. A nine-month knee injury tore him apart. And Bellerin never came back to his best.
Yet, Bellerin has been in the spotlight for so long that many people think that he is nearing retirement.
Elsewhere a year or two earlier, no one had known Kalvin Philipps, who spent so many years in the lower league that when he came to Mancity, everyone thought that he was as young as Foden. In reality, he & Belerin share the same birth year.
It’s funny that he came to prominence as Bellerin was fading away.
Which other pair do you know that don’t look the same age? Tell us in the comments.