Leo Scienza has admitted imitating Brazil’s legendary attacking midfielder Ronaldinho at Southampton ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off today. Mexico play South Africa in the Group A opener on home soil, in a reverse fixture of the 2010 World Cup held in South Africa. Needless to say, plenty of football fans around the globe will be tuning in to World Cup action for over a month.
For Southampton fans, it’s a refreshing time to return to watching competitive football after watching the club get harshly expelled from the 2025/26 Championship playoffs final in May. For the record, Cyle Larin, Ross Stewart and Yukinari Sugawara are the three Southampton players participating in the 2026 World Cup.
The Saints will have an eye on their games, alongside supporting their favourite national teams. As for the rest of the non-World Cup bound Southampton squad, they are also actively rooting for their nations.
Brazilian duo Leo Scienza and Welington are likewise excited to look up to Brazil’s World Cup 2026 campaign. In the lead up to the tournament, the Saints pair recently participated in a Brazil legends squad building challenge.
Leo Scienza and Welington’s all-time Brazil Top 11 ranking
The task was to rank some of Brazil’s greatest legends from 1 to 11 positions. Scienza and Welington began with putting the 2002 World Cup winning Brazilian trio of Rivaldo, Roberto Carlos and Cafu at 11, 10 and 9th place respectively.
At 8th, they picked Garrincha. 2007 Ballon d’Or winner and Milan legend Kaka at 7th, with Zico closely following at 6th spot. With Neymar, Scienza took a surprising call to limit the all-time Brazilian topscorer to 5th place despite making it clear that he usually looks up to Neymar.
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Romario came fourth, and afterwards, Leo Scienza admirably gave the 3rd place to Ronaldinho. The former Barcelona and Brazil No.10 is widely regarded as the greatest playmaker of all time and stands as an inspiration for many footballers around the globe.
Leo Scienza admits imitating Brazil legend Ronaldinho at Southampton
Leo Scienza is also one of them. Acknowledging his career, Scienza spoke highly of Ronaldinho: “This is my favourite player for all the times. (Ronaldinho) is my favourite player in history from football. I absolutely love him.
The cele(celebration) that I try to do very bad after scoring goals is also because of him, he was just so free, so happy when he scored, doing magic and just doing everything with flair.”
Following Scienza’s confession, it’s easy to see why his playing style feels so similar to Ronaldinho’s. Southampton have one of the best Championship attacks around, no doubt, but Scienza plays a big role in creating chances and scoring curlers out of nowhere.
Off the pitch, he is as classy as Ronaldinho and enjoys a fan-favourite status among St. Mary’s faithful. A few months ago, former Saints midfielder Mateus Fernandes lived his dream to debut for the Portugal national team in a 2-0 March friendly against USA.
Likewise, Scienza also holds the skillset needed to play for Brazil one day. But when that day will come, and will it come at Southampton, remains to be seen.
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