BREAKING: The former striker for West Ham and Newcastle was the player I dreaded the most, despite the fact that I had played against Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo

They make their living by stopping forwards from scoring, no matter what level of team they play against.

There is no difference for the guy in goal between facing Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, two of the best goal scorers of all time. Just do your job.

But Asmir Begovic would rather play against either of them than Andy Carroll, who was a tough opponent for the former Chelsea, Stoke, and Portsmouth star.

When talkSPORT asked Begovic who he was most afraid of playing, he said, “You’ve got the usual suspects. I’ve played against some of the best strikers in Premier League history.”

Someone like Fernando Torres, Sergio Aguero, or Luis Suarez who can do a lot of different things.

“But actually in terms of stature, people like Andy Carroll.”

“It doesn’t matter if you have your hands on them when a high ball comes into play; they’re such big guys.”

They were always very hard and a handful, but this spring was great.”

“Not just for myself, but also for the defenders.”

Nine-cap Carroll, who plays for England and scored against Sweden at Euro 2012, is still being a bother.

He started out at his hometown team, Newcastle, and then joined Liverpool with Suarez in 2011. He then played for six years at West Ham and then for West Brom and Reading. He is now working as a player in France for Ligue 2 team Amiens.

It’s easy to forget why Liverpool was willing to pay £35 million for him in the first place, even though the move may not have worked out.

The 6ft 4in star from Gateshead was almost unbeatable in the air, and he wasn’t afraid to try the crazy things either, like his amazing overhead goal against Crystal Palace while playing for West Ham.

He will always remember the goal he scored for Liverpool against Everton in the 2012 FA Cup semi-final.

Begovic, on the other hand, liked playing against Messi and Ronaldo more than Carroll.

He played goal for Bosnia at the 2014 World Cup and gave up a goal to Messi in a 2-1 loss to Argentina in the group stage.

As for Ronaldo, he played the five-time Ballon d’Or twice in a Euro 2012 play-off. In the second game, Ronaldo scored twice, making it 2-0.

Having played against the famous pair, he said, “Those were great memories, tough, tough challenges for sure.”

I had the amazing chance to play against Messi once, in the 2014 World Cup, when Argentina beat us 2-1.

“And then Ronaldo at the very top of his game in the Euro 2012 playoffs.”

“They were at the top of their game and couldn’t be stopped. There were times when they could destroy teams if they really wanted to.”

“And they certainly made it very difficult for a goalkeeper, so I enjoyed those battles and it was one of the largest tasks.”