5 of football's greatest generational talents of all time

#3. Cristiano Ronaldo

Ronaldo has legitimate GOAT claims

In any other era competing with any other player, the Portuguese superstar would be the undoubted king of world football.

Such has been the consistent excellence of the kid from Madeira that he has unlocked God-levels wherever he has played his football.

Fiercely competitive, super-fit and obsessive about achievements to the point of paranoia, Cristiano has become the gold standard for everything good a modern footballer is supposed to be.

Starting out his career as a winger, his flicks, tricks, pace, and devilry excited everyone at Sporting Lisbon’s famed academy. He had scarcely become established before Manchester United and Sir Alex Ferguson pounced to whisk him away to Old Trafford in 2003 for £12.24m (a then world record for a teenager).

He shone brightly at Old Trafford becoming the first Premier League-based player to win the World Footballer of the Year title since the league rebranded in 1992.

His records at Real Madrid (for a world record fee) was even more breath-taking, winning UCL titles and other trophies with reckless abandon before another big-money move to Juventus last summer.

He has emerged as Portugal’s leader, record goalscorer and record appearance maker since he made his debut for A Seleção das Quinas (Selection of the Quinas) in 2003.

His rivalry with Lionel Messi has defined the period; 2008 – till date and will probably go down as probably the greatest individual rivalry in the history of the game.