Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane says that Cristiano Ronaldo is the best player in history after scooping a fifth Ballon D’Or award on Friday. CR7 has now won the prestigious accolade the same amount of times as Barcelona rival Lionel Messi.
Zidane won the award himself in 1998, the year that he helped both France to to lift the World Cup and Juventus to win Serie A. He spoke glowingly of Ronaldo’s achievement;
“The stats speak for themselves. He’s the best player in the history of football. He’s made history at the club and will continue to do so and I hope he’ll retire here.”
And here are those stats. Ronaldo is 32 and has scored 418 goals in 412 games for Real Madrid at the time of writing. In eight seasons at the club, he’s won three Champions Leagues, two La Liga titles and two Copa del Rey trophies.
The former Real Madrid star was happy to concede that Ronaldo is a better player than he was, humbly adding;
“Cristiano Ronaldo is better than me by far, but I’m not bothered because I had a good career.”
Cristiano Ronaldo could yet add a third Club World Cup to his growing list of medals. Los Blancos fly to the United Arab Emirates this week, where they take on Al Jazira or Urawa Reds in the semi-final. All being well there, they will play a second match, the final on Saturday 16th December.
Zidane has confirmed that both Gareth Bale and Raphael Varane will travel to Abu Dhabi, despite missing Saturday’s La Liga clash with Sevilla. Bale has featured in just 10 games this season, managing only 28 minutes of game time since September. It is thought that the Club World Cup will be the ideal setting for him to continue his rehabilitation.
