What's the story?
According to German legend Lothar Matthaus, in the last 18 months, Cristiano Ronaldo has been better than Lionel Messi and everyone else in the footballing world. There is no doubt that the Portuguese star has been on the top of his game as evidenced by his hat-trick against Bayern Munich in the Champions League recently.
In case you didn't know...
Matthäus is a German football manager and former player. He won the FIFA World Cup in 1990, and is the only German player to win the FIFA World Player of the Year. Aside from coaching Germany, Matthäus has worked as a columnist for various German sports magazines from 2001 to 2009. At present, he is the SunSport’s European football expert.
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The heart of the matter
The Real Madrid forward has scored 25 goals and assisted another 12 in 41 appearances for his club this season. According to Matthäus, It's not easy to stop Ronaldo as he tries to score whenever he receives the ball.
Also read: Cristiano Ronaldo: Every single record held by the Real Madrid superstar
Also, the German feels that the qualities that set the Portuguese apart from his peers are his prowess in the air and ability to score with both feet from any distance.
In the last two seasons, Ronaldo has won everything there is to win with his club and country. He won the UEFA Champions League with Real Madrid last year, and picked up his first international trophy when he helped Portugal lift the UEFA Euro trophy in 2016.
The Portuguese forward also won his fourth Ballon d'Or this year and became the first player to score 100 goals in the UEFA Champions League.
What's next?
The former Manchester United star, Ronaldo is in the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League and might win it for the fourth time with his club. Moreover, we might see him picking up his second La Liga title with Los Blancos this season as Real Madrid look set to claim the trophy. The Los Blancos sit level with Barcelona at the top but have a game in hand over their Spanish rivals.
Author's Take
While the Real Madrid forward was fantastic in the last two seasons, winning trophies with both his club and country, there was still no need for Matthaus to compare him to Messi or, in fact, anyone else. Messi and Ronaldo are both fantastic at their respective positions, and instead of judging who is better, we should just enjoy their brilliance while they are still playing.
