Cristiano Ronaldo and Eusebio are undoubtedly two of the best Portuguese players of all time. While the two played in completely different eras, their heroics for their nation, Portugal, has been nothing less than monumental, to say the least, and quite undoubtedly both are treated as legends. However, another Portugal legend, Luis Figo, has no doubts in his mind regarding who is the best.
In a recent interview with Spanish Radio station Cadena Cope, the ex-Real Madrid and Barcelona star discussed a wide range of issues where he revealed that although both Ronaldo and Eusebio achieved surreal numbers in their playing career, in terms of number and quality, the current Madrid superstar is much ahead of Eusebio.
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Figo revealed his reason for choosing Ronaldo, “Cristiano is always good, but the problem is he can’t be expected to score two or three in every game and when he doesn’t it seems he’s not playing well. Cristiano is possibly Portugal’s greatest ever player. For his statistics, without doubt, and for what he has won. For respect, possibly Eusébio, because he was the first. But for numbers and skill, maybe Cristiano.”
After having a remarkable EURO 2016, Ronaldo has so far been pretty ordinary this season by his own lofty standards and the goals have also dried up, much to the disappointment of the club and fans.
Figo backed his countryman to regain his form and also win the Ballon d'Or this time around, “Cristiano will win it, there are no doubts I don't think.
“Cristiano always does well, the thing is he cannot always score three goals a game. But he is in good form. You can analyze performance by goals or by footballing performance, I don't know, but Cristiano is key.
“But when he does not score one, two of three goals it seems like there is something wrong.”
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Both Eusebio and Ronaldo have been successful in conquering Europe and have performed brilliantly for their national team. While Eusebio was instrumental in taking his country to a 3rd place finish in the 1966 World Cup, in which he won the Golden Boot and bronze ball, Ronaldo delivered superbly this year to lift the European Championship.
Figo’s claims makes all the more sense when one looks at the numbers Ronaldo has so far achieved. He is the all-time Portugal top scorer with 66 goals in 135 matches (the most number of caps) to Eusebio’s 41 in 64.
In club football, along with the three Ballon d'Ors, he has numerous individual accolades in his illustrious career with Manchester United and Real Madrid.
