Brazilian legend Ronaldo Nazario, the man who helped the Seleção win the last World Cup in 2002, recently said that his namesake Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo was in the top 10 players of all time, but he was not the undisputed best footballer he claims. The Brazilian icon even said that Pele, Messi and Maradona were, in his opinion, the three best players of all time. However, he said he respects Cristiano’s opinion and said he has achieved great things.
“I really don’t like to dwell on that. I think people have very high self-confidence, don’t you? I’d rather people talk about my performance. What I did and what I was like, rather than talking about myself. But Cristiano has a great story, doesn’t he? He’s achieved great things, scored goals in all kinds of ways, including changing his position, right? From left striker to central striker, which is not easy. Certainly he’s among the best in history. Now I don’t agree that he’s one of the best in history,” Ronaldo said in an interview with ESPN. “The best, but I respect his opinion, he is definitely among the best in history.”
“From the whole world? It’s complicated. Pele is No. 1 for sure. Messi and Maradona are linked together. Zico, Romario, Cristiano Ronaldo, Van Basten, there are a lot of players like Zidane, Figo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, there are a lot of great people in that list. But I’m sure I will forget someone important and I will regret it. Every time I’m asked about the rankings, I come up with a different list. I can’t remember a single list,” he added.
Cristiano, who scored 143 goals in 225 matches for Portugal, will play later this week when he leads his country against Ireland and Armenia in two 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
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(Tags for translation)Ronaldo Nazario
