Carlos Tevez has retired.

The iconic Argentine striker made the tough call to hang up his boots this week, revealing in an emotional interview on Friday that the passing of his father had been a key factor in the decision.

Tevez confirmed his conclusion by saying: "I have retired, it is confirmed. They offered me many things, including from the United States.

Tevez calls time on his career

"But that's it, I have given everything. Playing the last year was very difficult but I was able to see my old man. I stopped playing because I lost my number one fan."

It's a moving and honest statement from a man who has always had something of a love-hate relationship with the realities of playing football at the highest level.

However, despite things having been far from plain-sailing at times for Tevez, there's no denying that he still carved out a remarkable professional career for himself between 2001 and 2022.

Tevez has played with greats of the game

Tevez had the joy of playing for some of the greatest players in history having represented Manchester United, Juventus, Boca Juniors, Manchester City and Argentina.

In fact, Tevez is a proud member of an exclusive club of players that can claim to have shared a dressing room with both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

Marry that to also playing alongside the likes of Sergio Aguero, Gerard Pique, Gianluigi Buffon, Paul Scholes, Juan Román Riquelme and more to see that Tevez must have quite the contact book.

Tevez and Ronaldo celebrate.

Football - Manchester United v Aston Villa - Barclays Premier League - Old Trafford - 07/08 - 29/3/08

Carlos Tevez celebrates scoring the second goal for Manchester United with Cristiano Ronaldo (L)

Mandatory Credit: Action Images / Michael Regan

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Tevez's stunning teammates XI

As such, it should come as no surprise to learn that when Tevez took on the challenge of naming his greatest XI of former teammates that the subsequent line-up was out of this world.

And in light of the 38-year-old waving goodbye to his time as a professional footballer, we thought that it would rude not to look back at the star-studded XI that serves as a testament to his own stellar career.

According to the Manchester Evening News, Tevez said to Radio La Red in the summer of 2020: "If I retired and had to put together a farewell match, my team would be: Gianluigi Buffon, Hugo Ibarra, Rio Ferdinand, Gabriel Heinze, Patrice Evra, Paul Scholes, Andrea Pirlo, Paul Pogba, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Wayne Rooney. I’d stay on the bench."

Tevez's ultimate teammates XI.

Tevez's ultimate teammates XI includes Messi and Ronaldo.

Now that's quite some team.

World-class quality everywhere

The simple fact that Tevez can call upon both Messi and Ronaldo in a teammates XI is staggering enough, never mind when you can throw Pirlo, Ferdinand, Evra and Rooney into the equation.

And United fans will be buoyed to see that there is something of a Red Devils theme going on in Tevez's XI with no less than six of the players having starred alongside him at Old Trafford.

It's also interesting to note that Pogba, who is waving goodbye to United this summer, also gets the nod from his time sharing a dressing room with Tevez at Juventus.

Pogba and Tevez at Juventus.
Football - Real Madrid v Juventus - UEFA Champions League Semi Final Second Leg - Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid, Spain - 13/5/15 Juventus' Paul Pogba and Carlos Tevez celebrate at the end after reaching the UEFA Champions League Final Reuters / Sergio Perez

Football - Real Madrid v Juventus - UEFA Champions League Semi Final Second Leg - Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid, Spain - 13/5/15

Juventus' Paul Pogba and Carlos Tevez celebrate at the end after reaching the UEFA Champions League Final

Reuters / Sergio Perez

As such, Tevez's teammates XI not only makes for footballing eye candy, but also leaves the door ajar for debate with both Pogba and Ibarra ranking amongst some of the more idiosyncratic picks.

But perhaps the decision we disagree with the most is Tevez leaving himself on the bench because we'd love to see him playing in that jaw-dropping team. Happy retirement, Carlos.