Sport Features

MOVE over Paul Merson, Joe Jordan and Craig Burley… footballers in the modern world now want perfect teeth!The world’s best players and managers believe teeth hygiene is important, with many now investing thousands of pounds in getting their gnashers whitened and fixed.
Joe Jordan was happy to play without his front teeth back in the 80sCredit: Getty – Contributor
After all, with their lives under public scrutiny these sporting giants have made sure they will look their best on and off the pitch.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Philippe Coutinho are just some who have invested money in their smiles… it’s definitely a marked improvement.
Cristiano Ronaldo
While at United Cristiano Ronaldo was in desperate need of a good dentistCredit: Reuters
The Juventus legend always wears a grin these days, and it’s all because he has perfect teeth.
When he was a teenager at Man United, they were slightly wonky, yellow and it’s fair to say his smile was gummy.
Since becoming a global icon Cristiano Ronaldo has completely reinvented his teethCredit: AFP or licensors
But after a few good years of solid wages earned at the Red Devils and Real Madrid, he wore a brace, had corrective surgery, whitened them up and now looks the superstar he is.
Gareth Bale
Before he was a global superstar Gareth Bale had yellow teethCredit: Times Newspapers Ltd
Like Ronaldo, Gareth knew he had to invest in his looks to be recognised as one of the world’s leading talents.
Once a pale teenage prodigy, he slapped on some fake tan. But it was his teeth that he really went to town on.
As a Real Madrid star Gareth Bale improved his looks no endCredit: AFP or licensors
Once neglected, they’re now pearly white and go nicely with the white of Real Madrid and Tottenham’s jerseys.
Philippe Coutinho
Philippe Coutinho wanted to get his teeth fixedCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Growing up in Rio de Janeiro, it will be easy for any Brazilian kid to have poor teeth without proper access to a good dentist.
So, as soon as Philippe hit the big time, he got his teeth whitened and he regularly beams his gnashers towards journalists in press conferences and on social media.
Philippe Coutinho has teeth as dazzling as his play
The Brazilian playmaker doesn’t look out of place among Barcelona’s elite, who boast a superstar squad full of prime examples of sports stars with great teeth too.
Brendan Rodgers
Brendan Rodgers teeth were in a frightful state when he first arrived at LiverpoolCredit: Action Images – Reuters
Even managers aren’t immune to a little vanity here and there.
Step-forward Leicester City boss Brendan Rodgers, who has perfectly white teeth now he’s managed some top clubs.
In his earlier press conferences, the Northern Irishman flashed a rotten smile that had us reaching for some floss.
Brendan Rodgers is in the Champions League when it comes to dental hygieneCredit: Kenny Ramsay – The Sun Glasgow
However, in recent years Brendan’s teeth are as impressive as Leicester’s form – absolutely sparkling.
They even look good on the continent.
Ronaldinho
Ronaldinho was defined by his buck teeth lookCredit: Empics
The former world’s best player was a bit slow on the up-take when it came to visiting the dentist.
Throughout his playing days, Ronaldinho’s buck teeth were infamous not just because they stuck out, but also because they were yellower than the sun.
Ronaldinho now has even more reason to smile with whiter teethCredit: Alamy Live News
Now, Ron has more to smile about, not that he didn’t wear a smile on the pitch whenever he played.
Wonder if he regrets not getting them done sooner?
Gary Lineker
Gary Lineker urgently needed to whiten his yellow teethCredit: Reuters
The former Spurs and England legend didn’t have bad teeth during his playing days. However, they did need a good polish!
Lineker now sports a proud set of sparkly whites presenting Match of the Day.
Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker reportedly spends £500 whitening his gnashersCredit: Getty Images – Getty
The TV personality reportedly pays around £500 to get his teeth whitened by a top Harley Street dentist. The results are really remarkable.
Roberto Firmino
Roberto Firmino arrived in England with bad teethCredit: PA:Press Association
It looks like Firmino shares the same dentist as his former team-mate Coutinho, if comparable snaps of the Brazilian are evidence enough.
The hotshot forward has been a shining light for Liverpool since arriving on our shores and his teeth aren’t dull either.
Now Roberto Firmino has the brightest teeth ever seen on a footballerCredit: Prime Media
In fact, they might just be the brightest teeth known to humankind, and we’ve seen them brightening up stadiums around the Premier League this year.
Judging by photos of when Firmino first arrived on our shores, he’s had them whitened and had some of the chips filled in too.
Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino show off their pearly whitesCredit: Instagram, @roberto_firmino
Jurgen Klopp
Jurgen Klopp’s teeth needed whiteningCredit: Mark Robinson – The Sun
There really is something in the water at Anfield…
His football teams are dazzling, but his teeth certainly needed a good clean.
So, it was no surprise that Klopp had decided enough was enough, out with the decay and in with a set of new teeth.
Now Jurgen Klopp just loves to show off his new smileCredit: Reuters
Klopp’s pearly whites have been proudly on display all season, although they’ve certainly been brighter than his team this campaign.
Not only are they whitened, it looks like he’s had veneers fitted.

Then there’s Jose, the dentist whisperer…
Jose Mourinho believes perfect teeth make for perfect performanceCredit: PA:Press Association
Spurs boss Jose Mourinho is reportedly a stickler for dental hygiene and insists his squads get checked by a dentist.
When the Portuguese manager first arrived at Old Trafford, he reportedly insisted the whole squad went for a check-up.
Jose Mourinho got a dentist to check his Man United team’s teethCredit: –
He was said to have done the same at Chelsea, because he believes that having better teeth improves performance.
While there’s no scientific evidence to suggest that, the British Journal of Sports Medicine claimed that the dental health of footballers is “poor and affects performance” in a recent study.
Jose Mourinho has had great success with a team that has perfect teethCredit: Times Newspapers Ltd
And who are we to argue with ‘The Special One’ who has won many titles over the years for various clubs. More

THE EFL certainly isn’t afraid of challenging stereotypes.Earlier this month, referee Rebecca Welch made history when she became the first female to officiate a men’s football league fixture.
Hannah Dingley has been linked with the vacant managerial post at Forest Green RoversCredit: Rex
And now, League Two’s eco-friendly Forest Green Rovers are giving serious consideration to hiring the first ever female manager in football league history.
Owner Dale Vince has already shown an aptitude for change by cultivating an environmental-approach to the running of Rovers, as well as introduced their fans to a full-vegan menu.
Reports suggest he could be set to hire from within and replace sacked Mark Cooper with Hannah Dingley.
And the trailblazing coach has a head start, knowing the club inside out thanks to her current role as head of the club’s academy.
A PLETHORA OF CANDIDATES
In the days after Cooper was fired from his post, Vince revealed he received over 70 applications for the vacant managerial’s role.
The green energy industrialist also said he wasn’t afraid to do something groundbreaking with his next appointment, and naming a female coach as his next manager wasn’t as far-fetched as it seems.
“Our starting place is to have no prejudices,” Vince explained.
Forest Green Rovers owner Dale Vince has said he’s considering making a groundbreaking appointmentCredit: PA
Chelsea Women coach Emma Hayes was previously linked with a job in the men’s game at AFC WimbledonCredit: Getty
“It’s entirely feasible we will appoint a type of coach that has not yet been seen in English football.”
Back in February, Chelsea Women gaffer Emma Hayes was touted as a potential candidate for the top job at AFC Wimbledon.
Vince understands that it’s time women get the same opportunities as their male counterparts, and he could be about to make a revolutionary change.
He continued: “We don’t do things conventionally, we’re not constrained by the way things are always done and we’re quite pleased to be in a position where we can choose with a blank slate approach and say, ‘Let’s find the very best person for the job’.
“Football is in need of evolution and change.”
HISTORY MAKER
Almost two years ago, Hannah Dingley was named head of Forest Green Rovers academy.
It completed a remarkable journey for the ambitious coach, who has always had an incredible passion for the game.
Dingley is currently head of the Forest Green Rovers academyCredit: Rex
Forest Green Rovers, who released a kit made entirely from recycled plastic and coffee beans, are one of football’s most forward-thinking clubs
She played at her primary school in a mixed team, but was not allowed to play from the age of 11 to 16 because she was a girl.
Dingley told SunSport in 2019: “Those were the rules. At primary school you could play with the boys, but in secondary school boys were expected to play football and rugby and girls were made to play netball and hockey.
“We lived in a small village and there were no nearby girls’ teams.”
Dingley didn’t get the opportunities to develop her own ability as a player, so instead she turned to the next best thing.
LEARNING THE GAME
Determined to make her breakthrough in football, Dingley took on a work experience at Swansea.
There, she studied first-team training sessions and was encouraged to take the pathway to coaching.
She enrolled on a BTEC in Football Studies course at a college in Llanelli and was the only girl in her class.
Dingley believes ability, not gender, determines successCredit: Rex Features
“I was very single-minded. No one was going to stop me,” she said.
Dingley also has a degree in PE and sports and sciences from Loughborough University, as well her Uefa Pro badges.
COACH DINGLEY
Having earned her stripes in the men’s game, Dingley deserves to be considered for a manager’s role at a senior men’s side.
Before she was hired by Forest Green Rovers in 2019, she worked her way up to head of coaching at Burton.
There was also stints at non-league clubs – notably as a first-team coach at Hinckley and assistant manager of Gresley for four years.
Mark Cooper was sacked by Forest Green Rovers over the weekendCredit: PA
Dingley, sat with her academy staff, could fill Cooper’s hot-seatCredit: Rex

She has seen it all. “Fights on the pitch, fights off the pitch, handbags all over the place, lots of shouting and swearing at one another, someone having a sulk and storming off,” Dingley divulged.
“But I must say everyone has been accepting and welcoming of me. I’ve learned that at first there is a feeling of, ‘Oh, she is a woman’, because of those unconscious biases I speak about.
“But once I speak, the men all realise I know what I’m talking about.  If you know your stuff, you will succeed — whether you are a man or a woman.”
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REAL MADRID missed out on Neymar. There was no way they were going to miss out on the next potential Brazilian superstar.And so they took a gamble. Vinicius Junior was a 16-year-old without a professional match to his name when Real spent around £40million on him almost four years ago.
Vinicius Junior was the star of the show against Liverpool in the Champions LeagueCredit: EPA
There were no guarantees that an outstanding youth prospect would go on to tip the balance at the highest level.
The road between promise and reality is long and winding, and plenty of wonderkids have veered off the path along the way.
But that performance against Liverpool last Tuesday made the transfer fee look like money well spent.
Vinicius Junior was winning the game for Real Madrid even before he opened the scoring with a superbly taken goal.
That devastating pace and those extra gears he has were sowing dangerous seeds of doubt in a Liverpool team already lacking confidence in its pressing game.
They were unsure whether to stick or twist. Jurgen Klopp’s brand of heavy metal cannot be played in unplugged mode, and the young Brazilian was the cause of the confusion.
Liverpool were too scared of him to press with conviction, leaving Toni Kroos with the space to hit Vinicius with raking passes over the top.
Football pace is never just pure speed. It is changes of rhythm, choosing the right moment to go through the gears and, if it is going to end up in goals, being able to decelerate and keep the head still enough to finish with precision.
£40m signing Vinicius Junior terrorised Liverpool with his paceCredit: EPA
Zinedine Zidane is finally get the best out of Brazilian Vinicius Junior four years after he joined Los BlancosCredit: EPA
So there was much more than velocity to admire in the two goals that Vinicius scored in Real Madrid’s 3-1 first leg win.
There was the timing of the run for the first goal, and the way he broke off from the defender on the second.
And there was the accuracy of his shooting, with two well placed attempts beating Brazil’s first choice goalkeeper.
EARLY PROMISE
This was the Champions League equivalent of the moment in South America’s Copa Libertadores when Vinicus Junior first indicated that he was on the way to being something special.
It was March 2018. Real Madrid had already signed him, but he was too young to move across the Atlantic and so was still playing for Flamengo of Rio.
They were a goal down away to Emelec of Ecuador when Vinicius was brought off the bench.
He turned defeat into triumph with two wonderful goals. Despite the disappointment of watching their team lose, the Emelec fans sensed that they had been in the presence of something out of the ordinary.
At the final whistle they queued up to have their photo taken with the teenage phenomenon.
As a teenager Vinicius Jr exploded onto the scene with Flamengo before moving to SpainCredit: EPA
Vinicius Jr has to add consistency to his game if he is to become a true greatCredit: Rex

The question now is whether he can produce Tuesday’s level of performance on a regular basis.
Doubts remain about his finishing and decision making – it is hardly surprising that someone who moves at that pace has problems with precision.  Was the first leg a fluke?
There is no better place to prove that it was not than the second leg. 
Liverpool are obliged to chase the game at Anfield. Hitting Vinicius on the counter attack will surely be a key part of Real Madrid’s strategy.
Another match winning display will show that true greatness is within his grasp.
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