‘Footballers lie, we lie all the time man’ admitted Rio Ferdinand on his Vibe with Five show, after former Barcelona and Las Palmas forward made a startling revelation.
Boateng was a surprise recruit for Barcelona in 2019, where he joined on loan for six months from Sassuolo. The Ghanaian-German was part of the Blaugrana’s interminable search for a back-up striker that could handle coming on for Luis Suarez.
The now-retired Hertha Berlin icon admitted that while he did support his local side, Real Madrid were his other team growing up.
Boateng admits that he lied and claimed that he supported Barcelona instead in order to play for them. ‘I think anyone would have done the same, I wanted to pull on that shirt one time at Camp Nou’. He also explains that the press officer instructed him to say Barcelona.
He describes it as ‘one of the biggest lies he has ever told’, and that while previously he had said Cristiano Ronaldo was the best player in this world, Lionel Messi was the best in the galaxy – that changed for a much more simple ‘Messi is the best in the world’.
Boateng goes on to describe Lionel Messi ‘s captaincy style, and perhaps while he was not the classic leader, underneath the exterior the rivalry with Cristiano Ronaldo burns brightly. Previously Ferdinand had noted that Nemanja Vidic did very little speaking in the dressing room. Boateng names Massimo Ambrosini at Milan as the best captain he has had.
More must-reads: