40-year-old striker Cristiano Ronaldo enjoys his 15-year rivalry with Lionel Messi, but also believes he is the best in history.
In a post published early in the morning of February 4, Hanoi time, Ronaldo invited Spanish journalist Edu Aguirre to Saudi Arabia to interview him, creating more content for the UR Cristiano YouTube channel with more than 73 million followers. Previously, the Al Nassr captain also invited former center back Rio Ferdinand and the world’s number one YouTuber Mr Beast to interview him.
When asked by Aguirre about the best player of all time, Ronaldo said: “I score the most goals, and I am the most complete. I have never seen anyone better than me, honestly. To say I am not complete is a lie. People can prefer Messi, Diego Maradona or Pele. I understand and respect that.”
Ronaldo has scored 923 goals and assisted 257 times in 1,261 matches. He is the only player in history to score over 150 goals with his left foot, right foot and header. His contemporary superstar, Messi, has scored 850 goals and assisted 379 times in 1,083 matches. Of these, the Argentine captain has scored 711 goals with his left foot, 107 with his right foot and 28 with his header.
When asked about his rivalry with Messi for the best player title for 15 consecutive years, Ronaldo was enthusiastic. “We have been standing on the stage of individual awards for 15 years, and we have always been in harmony,” the 40-year-old striker said. “I once translated for him from English, and it’s funny when I think about it. Messi has always been good to me. We fight each other in a healthy way, like Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost in F1 racing.”
Ronaldo is the captain of Al Nassr Club in the Saudi Pro League (SPL), while Messi is the captain of Inter Miami in the US Major League Soccer (MLS). Comparing the two leagues, Ronaldo said: “Of course SPL is much stronger. Because it is a Saudi Arabian league, people look down on it. But in reality, people don’t understand what they are saying.”
According to the Opta power index, MLS is ranked ninth in the world, while the SPL is ranked 33rd. This ranking is based on the average power index of the teams in the league. The SPL has Al Hilal ranked 29th in the world, stronger than any club in MLS. However, the level of American clubs is closer together, while the Saudi Arabian teams are more diverse in strength.
Despite playing for Al Nassr and rising to prominence at Man Utd, Ronaldo said his nine years at Real Madrid were the happiest of his career. He said he left in the summer of 2018 because he wanted to find new inspiration, and President Florentino Perez did not react well to that. “However, I still respect Perez because we won many titles together,” he added.
Ronaldo was said to want to return to Real Madrid, when he was preparing to leave Juventus in 2021 or Man Utd at the end of 2022. However, Perez did not allow that to happen. Therefore, CR7 moved to Al Nassr in early 2023. Many people thought he wanted to retire, but the striker born in 1985 has not considered this possibility. “I have made history, but I will not hang up my boots because of that,” he said. “I am still playing very well, so it would be a pity if I retired.”
Part of the reason Ronaldo left Man Utd was because of a conflict with coach Erik ten Hag. But he believes that Ten Hag is not the worst coach he has ever met, but alluded to Ralf Rangnick. “There are coaches who know nothing about football, but think they are the last bottle of Coca-Cola in the desert. They are really bad,” the Al Nassr captain commented.
Ronaldo used a similar analogy to Rangnick after he left Man Utd. The two worked together in the second phase of the 2021-2022 season. At that time, the Austrian coach was brought in to replace Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, and was promised to be a team advisor in the future. But in the end, he was ousted by Man Utd, then transferred to manage the Austrian national team.
In an interview with Aguirre, Ronaldo also revealed the secret to his success, and how he has not suffered many injuries in his more than 20-year career. “Luck is only a part of it,” he said. “The important thing is how the body recovers after each match or training session. If I train for two hours, I will spend another two hours on recovery. Do people think I like going to the gym every day? No, I only work out because I have a commitment to myself.”
In the past 15 years, Ronaldo has never missed more than five games due to injury. He is striving to participate in the 2026 World Cup, while also ambitiously aiming to score 1,000 goals. “But I am not obsessed with reaching this milestone,” he emphasized.
