Brazil Nazario Ronaldo has named eight players he believes are best players of all time leaving Portugal international and Al Nassr super star Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ronaldo Nazario, 47, enjoyed a brilliant career from 1993 to 2011, playing for teams such as Barcelona, Inter Milan, Real Madrid and AC Milan, also scoring 62 goals in 98 appearances for Brazil.
The former striker is one of the most iconic footballers of his generation and has since tried his luck as a football owner with Real Valladolid in Spain and the Brazilian Cruzeiro of his childhood.
And, speaking in 2022 with The Guardian, Ronaldo, who scored 352 goals in 518 career games and also won two Ballon d’Ors, named the eight greatest players of all time. Argentina international and world cup winner Lionel Messi a perennial rival of Cristiano Ronaldo however made the list.
“I think there’s a very, very special group,” he said. ‘Where you have Diego, Messi, Cruyff, Beckenbauer, Pelé, Van Basten, Ronaldinho.
Brazilian Ronaldo named the eight best players of all time in an interview back in 2022
‘I would include myself. Let the fans say, let them debate it in the bars.
“But you can’t classify them, you can’t compare generations.”
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The Brazilian snubbed Cristiano Ronaldo in favor of his old rival Lionel Messi, even though the Portuguese icon scored 891 goals in his career and continues to excel at the age of 38.
Meanwhile, Ronaldo’s list included several players he would not have played with.
Diego Maradona, Pelé, Johan Cruyff and Franz Beckenbauer are all from an earlier era, although they are widely acclaimed as legends of the game.
Likewise, despite crossing paths with Marco van Basten and Lionel Messi in his playing career, he was never a teammate of either icon.
On the other hand, Ronaldo played with Ronaldinho for both AC Milan and the Brazil national team.
The two stars were crucial in helping boost the Selecao in the early 2000s.
This included winning the World Cup together in 2002.
