One of the greatest defenders of all time, Giorgio Chiellini is a nine-time Serie A winner with Juventus and a European champion with Italy.

With such a decorated career, in tandem with remarkable consistency and quality during his playing years, he has rightfully earned the utmost respect from the football world.

With such a legacy, his opinions on the game naturally carry weight, and when a player of his stature speaks, people listen.

But while legends often use their platform and reputation to shed a positive light on other players and former teammates, Chiellini did something a little different in his autobiography. He went out of his way to name not one, but two players he would consider the worst he has played alongside.

Chiellini Named His Worst Ever Teammates

Via his autobiography, titled "Io Giorgio", Chiellini highlighted Mario Balotelli and Felipe Melo as the worst players he has ever played with, for their "lack of respect". He wrote:

During the aforementioned 2013 Confederations Cup campaign, Chiellini and Balotelli both featured side by side for Italy, and the latter netted twice in the tournament, before suffering an injury prior to the semi-finals round. That was among a number of international competitions in which the pair played together, including the 2012 Euros in which Italy were named runners-up to rampant winners, Spain.

• June 2013 — Chiellini and Balotelli played together for Italy at the Confederations Cup in Brazil.
• May 2020 — Chiellini's autobiography labelled Balotelli negative and Felipe Melo "the worst of the worst".
• May 2020 — Balotelli and Melo publicly hit back at the Juventus captain's criticism.
• May 2020 — Chiellini apologised to Balotelli, admitting he had made a mistake.
• May 2020 — Melo claimed the feud stemmed from him headbutting Chiellini at Juventus.

Chiellini did later admit on live TV in 2020 that he may have gone too far with his comments in his autobiography:

"I made a mistake and I learned from it and will continue to learn from my mistakes every day."

But the 42-year-old is yet to truly bury the hatchet with Felipe Melo, who he played alongside 65 times in Juventus colours. In fact, the Brazilian, who has been considered one of the dirtiest players since 2000, fired back at Chiellini later, claiming he had "never apologised" for the comments in his book: