Ronaldo Gets Thumbs Down From Both Pele & Maradona as Legends Fuel Football’s Biggest Debate

Cristiano Ronaldo is having one of the worst league seasons of his career.

The Portuguese star, who won his fifth Ballon d’Or last year, as well as the Best FIFA Men’s Player Award, has only scored six goals this season in La Liga.

Real Madrid are also 19 points adrift of La Liga leaders Barcelona, leaving the 32-year-old very unlikely to defend last year’s league title. And as if matters couldn’t get any worse, he suffered a horrible gash above his left eye during Sunday’s 7-1 win over Deportivo.

Perhaps glowing reviews from two of the best players to ever grace a football pitch would have been enough to soothe the stricken star, yet he has been let down there as well, with both Brazil legend Pele and former Argentina superstar Diego Maradona failing to recognise him as the best.

“Everybody has the right to say what they want and I don’t think Cristiano Ronaldo is the best player in history,” Maradona said in an interview with Telesur, via Marca. “Not at all.

“But I do respect the career he is having. He has a long way to go from this point to the point where we talk about him as the best ever.”

Pele, meanwhile, revealed that he thinks Lionel Messi is better, despite Ronaldo’s goal-scoring achievements.

“I would still choose Messi,” Pele said on TV Globoover the weekend. “Scoring goals is important, without doubt, but if there isn’t anybody there to set it up, the ball won’t go into the net. In my team, I’d prefer Messi.”

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Those statements won’t go down well with Ronaldo, but he’s thrived off proving people wrong all of his career and this could be just the sort of motivation he needs to kick into gear this term.

Let’