Ronaldo names his eight greatest players of all time but makes glaring omission
There was no place for Cristiano Ronaldo when his namesake, the Brazilian Ronaldo, named eight players that stand above all others in the pantheon of football.
The Al Nassr forward is among the most decorated players in history with five Champions League medals to his name and league titles in Spain, Italy and England, in addition to a whole host of goalscoring records and five Ballon d'Or wins. There is no doubt he is in the conversation of the greatest players to grace the game.
Ronaldo even went as far to suggest that the Portuguese superstar is from a 'different planet', alongside Lionel Messi. However, the Brazil legend might have higher standards than most.
The 47-year-old won two Ballon d'Ors himself with 352 goals across 518 games. He twice carried the weight of expectation of the Selecao and was a World Cup runner-up in 1998 before delivering it in 2002.
Consecutive knee injuries may have changed the course of his career, leaving a generation of football fans wondering what might have been. A World Cup golden boot, Ballon d'Or and FIFA World player of the year award in 2002 signalled his talent, but having spent more than a season out of action there remains the possibility more was possible.
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Nevertheless, Ronaldo believes he has a place among the greats of the game. Speaking to the Guardian in 2022, he named his selection including two more Brazilians.
"I think there is a very, very special group," he said. "Where you have Diego (Maradona), (Lionel) Messi, (Johan) Cruyff, (Franz) Beckenbauer, Pele, (Marco) Van Basten, Ronaldinho. I would include myself. Let the fans say, let them debate it in the bars. But you can’t rank them, can’t compare generations.
(Alessandro Sabattini/)“People call me Original Ronaldo but there were others – and they weren’t false. I’m not the only one and more will come along and be better than me, in everything.
“I did what I could, the best I could. I’m doing other things now, important things, and I want to keep improving myself. As a footballer I can’t do any more now.”
Ronaldo retired in 2011 but returned to the cut and thrust of football through ownership in 2018. There was talk of a possible move for QPR, but the Brazilian legend first took a controlling stake in Real Valladolid in 2018 before doing the same with boyhood club Cruzeiro in 2021.
While such a move is a big investment with a lot of responsibility, it remained much more enticing than any idea of management. Ronaldo had zero interest in that.
He explained: “I dribbled round being a manager: I bought the teams instead. But I don’t interfere, eh! Managing never attracted me, no, no: zero, zero, zero. I love football but the idea of being a coach kills me, always killed me.
"A player does what he has to, goes home, that’s it. A coach has 25 guys, all wanting to (mess with) you. Unthinkable. Never. But I admire them, their love for football . I love football but couldn’t put up with that ; they were born for it.”"
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