Ronaldo, Pele, Rivaldo: Cafu's all-time Brazil XI will always be epic

Happy birthday, Cafu.

Today, the Brazilian icon blows out 52 candles on his birthday cake and strides into a 14th year of post-retirement life having drawn the curtains on his playing career at AC Milan.

A Champions League winner and two-time World Cup victor, Cafu is regularly named by fans, pundits and journalists alike as the greatest right-back in the history of the men’s game.

Cafu was part of a long line of Brazilian stars who added the flair and skill so often associated with the country’s football into their game regardless of where they played on the pitch.

Besides, you know you’re a special full-back when you’ll forever be remembered for juggling the ball over Pavel Nedved’s head – a Ballon d’Or winner, lest we forget – three times in mere seconds.

And if it wasn’t for another World Cup-winning Brazil captain in the form of Carlos Alberto, it’s fair to say that Cafu would be an absolute shoo-in for any and every all-time XI of the Selecao.

Or, of course, the problem could be eliminated by asking Cafu for his own selections where – in typically humble fashion – he can leave himself off the team sheet.

And that’s our not-at-all-contrived segue into exactly that because the birthday boy did indeed bless us with his selections for Brazil’s greatest ever XI while writing for the Guardian in the build-up to the 2018 World Cup.

It was not only fascinating to see how one of the finest footballers in history broke things down, but the line-up that he settles upon proved to be one of the most menacing that we’ve ever seen.

So, be sure to take a wild ride through a Brazil XI so star-studded that Ronaldinho is nowhere to be seen by checking out Cafu’s selections and his justification for them down below:

Cafu says: “He was