Everton goalkeeper Asmir Begovic has faced his fair share of iconic Premier League forwards, but only one name stands out as the toughest he’s ever faced.
Begovic has logged 256 Premier League games across stints at Portsmouth, Stoke City, Chelsea, Bournemouth and the Toffees, keeping 65 clean sheets in that time.
Throughout his career, the 37-year-old has thwarted some of the best strikers to have ever graced the English top flight.
Begovic has also been fortunate enough to be on the same team as some of them, especially during his two seasons at Stamford Bridge.
But only one superstar stood out to the Bosnian when he was asked by talkSPORT host and former Portsmouth teammate Jamie O’Hara to name the toughest opponent he’s ever faced.
“The best I played against was Cristiano Ronaldo,” Begovic told talkSPORT.
“He was pretty difficult to stop. There’s no getting away from it.”
Begovic also name-checked Manchester City legend Sergio Aguero, who scored 184 Premier League goals for the club.
He added: “Aguero was never easy to play against”.
There was another star who Begovic felt warranted praise, even if their Premier League career somewhat fizzled out.
“One I have to mention was Fernando Torres,” Begovic said.
“He was just incredibly powerful. Those first few steps, he just washed people away. Him and [Luis] Suarez at Liverpool, one after each other was not easy.”
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O’Hara also asked Begovic to name the best strikers he’s played alongside, with the goalkeeper throwing in a few surprises.
“Peter Crouch, those boys at Stoke, we had some good years,” Begovic said.
“Diego Costa at Chelsea was pretty spectacular. Dominic Calvert-Lewin here [at Everton], Richarlison‘s a great player.”
Begovic will be hoping Calvert-Lewin can rekindle the form that saw him score 29 goals from 69 games across the 19-20 and 20-21 seasons amid Everton’s dismal start to the campaign.
The Toffees have lost all three of their games and have shipped 10 goals, with their latest defeat a 3-2 loss to Bournemouth in which they were 2-0 up after 87 minutes.
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