Cristiano Ronaldo marked a milestone while still playing at an elite level at 40 with the same confidence and self-esteem as he has always boasted throughout his successful career.
Ronaldo has no doubt about who should be considered the best football player ever.
The Portugal hero started out as a skinny winger with floppy hair, quick feet and outrageous skills, wowing the world at the age of 17 after moving to Manchester United.
He developed at Real Madrid into perhaps the most famous athlete on the planet and one of soccer’s greatest ever goal-scorers — and is still going strong heading into his fifth decade.
He turned 40 on Wednesday and the goals are still flowing for the Portugal superstar in the twilight of his career, whether it’s for his national team or his Saudi club Al-Nassr. Who knows, we could yet be seeing his famous “Siuuu” celebration at the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico — when he’ll be 41½.
Ronaldo started out at Sporting Lisbon in 2002, and impressed so much in a preseason friendly against United the following year that the English club bought him immediately.
He became a world-class winger at United, winning three Premier Leagues, the Champions League and — in 2008 — the first of five Ballon d’Or trophies.
The other four were won at Madrid, where he moved in 2009 and became a lethal center forward, helping the Spanish giants to four more Champions Leagues and many more titles.
Ronaldo is the all-time top scorer in the Champions League and in men’s international soccer, and is approaching 1,000 goals for club and country as he continues his career in Saudi Arabia.
“I am the greatest scorer in history,” Ronaldo said in an interview with Spanish television channel La Sexta. “Although I am not left-footed, I am in the top 10 in history for goals scored with the left foot. These are numbers, I am the most complete player who has ever existed.
“I play well with my head, I take good free kicks, I am fast, I am strong, I jump… I have never seen anyone better than me.”
The Portugal star holds most scoring records in men’s international soccer, including most appearances with 217 and most goals with 135.
Ronaldo had said it before, more than once, that he feels he will go out as the best ever in the history of football. Whenever he was asked about the discussion of who is better, him or Lionel Messi, he always praised the Argentine but ended siding with himself.
