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          Real Madrid legend Raul competes with Messi, Pique, Ronaldinho for best soccer kit collection ever

          • Chris Wright, Toe Poke writerMay 6, 2020, 11:39 AM

          Raul certainly got around during a long and illustrious career that saw him win over 100 caps for Spain and play well over 500 times for Real Madrid.

          As such, it shouldn't come as much of a shock to learn that the legendary striker amassed an impressive collection of swapped shirts over the years.

          Raul displayed his remarkable haul on Instagram by laying out 50 of his favourite match-worn souvenirs and basking in the "good memories" they bring.

          The collection boasts some of the biggest names in the game, with Paolo Maldini, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldinho and Roberto Baggio all on show.

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          Que buenos recuerdos!!⚽️😍

          A post shared by Raúl González (@raulgonzalez) on

          It's definitely a belter, but is it the best?

          Jump to: Iniesta contacts his 'children' from night of historic Chelsea goal

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          Lionel Messi

          A collection so large it takes up three walls, the floor and the ceiling, Messi's shirt stockpile includes some serious stellar names.

          Curiously, the Barcelona superstar has his own shirt hanging up, but not Cristiano Ronaldo's.

          Rating: 9/10 -- So substantial it requires three dimensions, but it's not quite complete.

          Gerard Pique

          Pique has a groaning shirt tapestry that contains offerings from the best of the best -- from Lionel Messi through to Thierry Henry, via Francesco Totti, Gianluigi Buffon and David Beckham.

          The Barca defender even has a special VIP section for the shirts he managed to swap on his way to winning the 2010 World Cup, the big show-off.

          Rating: 8/10 -- An excellent collection, but he loses marks for storing it all in his kid's bedroom.

          Paulo Dybala

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          Cuantas hay? 🤷🏽‍♂️😜

          A post shared by Paulo Dybala (@paulodybala) on

          What Dybala's shirt collection lacks in star power it more than makes up for in sheer volume.

          The shirts of Juan Roman Riquelme and Ronaldinho have both been carefully positioned, though it's difficult to see exactly whose shirts are lurking among the other rails and boxes.

          Rating: 7/10 -- points docked for sloppy presentation

          Jesse Lingard

          Lingard gave a guided tour of his collection, which includes shirts from Paul Pogba, Antoine Griezmann and Marco Verratti.

          The Manchester United forward also has lots of his own shirts up on the wall, each taken from memorable milestone matches in his club and international career.

          Rating: 7/10 -- A little too much Nathan Redmond to be upper-echelon.

          Ryan Babel

          Another player who has been about a bit, Babel has managed to amass a vast haul of esoteric shirts from a wide variety of opponents.

          Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Didier Drogba, Thierry Henry and Kaka are just a few of the contemporaries laid out on the floor. Nice that Peter Crouch managed to sneak in too.

          Rating: 8/10 -- And there are still four other boxes to sift through!

          Stephan El Shaarawy

          The ex-Roma and Milan winger has an entire built-in wardrobe to display his shirts around his bedroom television.

          Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Neymar are topping the ridiculously strong bill with support from Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Gianluigi Buffon, among others.

          Rating 8.5/10 -- Strong collection with an extra bonus point for style.

          Edwin van der Sar

          Van der Sar has been entertaining his social media followers by modelling a variety of the shirts he collected during his playing days and getting them to guess which games they were worn in.

          Such was the longevity of his career, the Dutch goalkeeper's jerseys span several eras of kit design -- from the zany psychedelic days of the 1990s to more refined post-Millenium efforts.

          Rating: 9/10 -- Like a nostalgic scrapbook of one of the best goalkeepers of all time.

          Jamie Carragher

          The Liverpool legend recently donated a large portion of his shirt collection to a charity auction, with jerseys previously belonging to Francesco Totti and Kaka being the main attractions.

          Rating: 8/10 -- Bonus mark for the incredibly charitable gesture from Carra.

          Steven Reid

          Former Republic of Ireland international Reid took a little stroll down memory lane recently and revealed a well-stocked shirt collection in the process.

          English midfield trinity Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Paul Scholes take price of place, with Ireland compatriots Robbie and Roy Keane hung alongside.

          Philipp Lahm is in there, as too is Didier Drogba.

          Rating: 7.5/10 -- Surprisingly strong offering from the ex-Blackburn and Burnley man.

          Giovanny Tocohua

          Mexican football fanatic Tocohua has built a truly massive collection over the years and dedicated it solely to the shirt of one man: Ronaldinho.

          Tocohua has over 70 shirts from every stage of Ronaldinho's career, including his early days at Gremio.

          Rating: 10/10 -- So good it even earned a commendation from Ronaldinho himself!

          Ronaldinho

          Not to be outdone, Ronaldinho also has a modest collection, which he put on display to celebrate reaching the 10 million follower mark on Instagram a few years ago.

          Rating: 8/10 -- Not massively extensive, but the visual gag earns a bonus point.

          Anthony Le Tallec

          Former Liverpool striker Anthony Le Tallec was able to pull out some big guns, with Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldinho, Lillian Thuram, Eden Hazard and Emile Heskey all present and correct.

          Ranking: 7/10 -- Not too many shirts on offer but a good mix of names and numbers.

          Fousseni Diawara

          Fousseni Diawara, who works with the Mali national team, went to great lengths to arrange his football shirt collection by hanging them around the entire perimeter of his house.

          Ranking: 8/10 -- Hard to ascertain the calibre of the shirts on show, but the use of guttering to display them is ingenious.

          Iniesta contacts his 'children' from night of historic Chelsea goal

          Andres Iniesta's stoppage-time goal at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea in 2009 didn't just help Barcelona reach the Champions League final, it also led to a baby boom in Catalonia.

          Births reportedly increased almost 20% nine months later in the region and many parents stepped forward to confirm their newborns were the result of celebrating a goal that became known as the "Iniestazo."

          Eleven years on, on the anniversary of the goal, Iniesta has spent the day video calling some of the children that were conceived on the night of his wonder-strike.

          The former Barca midfielder, now playing for Vissel Kobe in Japan, shared the video of the calls to the kids and their parents on his social media accounts on Wednesday.