5 Reasons why Cristiano Ronaldo is the Greatest of All Time

5. The most complete forward in history

Across his career, he’s had almost every attribute, every weapon that an attacking footballer could ever ask for. While he doesn’t do it as much these days, his dribbling and the sizzling pace at which he did was as good as the game has ever seen. His finishing has always been immaculate – and ruthless. He has learned over the years how to perfect the art of off-the-ball movement as he drags people hither and thither at his whim, opening up spaces not just for him but his entire offensive unit.

His shooting is brilliant from any range, of either foot (a very underrated quality of his... he has no ‘weak’ foot), his crossing has always been impeccable, his passing is exquisite (when he does choose to) and he’s brilliant at set-pieces (mastering the folha-seca technique of hitting the ball in a way that makes it arc down at the very last moment)

Oh, and no-one, no-one, has headed a football quite like this man.

When you pick out the great forwards of the game and analyse their chief qualities, you will always see one ‘outstanding’ quality, and a few weakness here and there – but when football historians and aficionados pick over the corpse of Cristiano Ronaldo’s career in 2087, they will find it next to impossible to identify ’just one’ outstanding quality, and they will find it nearly impossible to pick a weakness.

He is, arguably, the most complete forward in the history of our “beautiful game”