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Attempting to classify anybody as the greatest in any field is usually a very touchy matter, as no matter how objective you try to be, there will be counter allegations of bias and prejudice.
In some ways, any allegation is justified, as all opinions in the GOAT debate are always subjective with preference shown for players who meet certain characteristics over others.
Old-timers who saw Pele, Di Stefano, Maradona, Eusebio and the likes in their prime consider it a tad blasphemous to place Ronaldo and Messi in the same class with them, while modern day aficionados believe (rather erroneously) that football was played at a much lower level back then and consider more recent footballers to be of higher standing.
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In a way, each group of fans' arguments is justifiable, as the conclusion to the subject matter is neither here nor there and each of the constantly mentioned GOATs rightly deserves the accolade he gets.
However, one name which perhaps should stand above all others is that of Cristiano Ronaldo as the Portuguese international has shown through the years to not only be one of the most committed footballers in history, but also arguably the most dedicated athlete in any field.
For outright talent, numerous players (including his great rival Messi) can claim to have been more blessed than the Madeira native. However, what is not in doubt about Ronaldo is his ability to constantly reinvent his game to suit his style and when it comes to dedication and cold-blooded self-belief, nobody in the history of the game and indeed very few in other walks of life can match him.
His apathy to losing and settling for second best is ingrained in his personality and can be seen in all facets of his game and in his reaction to missing a goal even if he has gotten a hat trick.
Patrice Evra once told a story about Rio Ferdinand defeating Ronaldo in a Table Tennis game and Ronaldo was so irked at the defeat that he asked his cousin to buy him a tennis board, trained voraciously and two weeks later defeated Rio Ferdinand. Such is his quest to always be the best in all aspects.
Perhaps the greatest and often most understated proof of his dedication and drive should be the remarkable feat of clawing back a 4-1 Ballon d'Or deficit on his eternal rival Lionel Messi to equal him at 5 apiece.
Back in 2012, it seemed like the media, fans and even FIFA were against Ronaldo, making Messi the poster boy for global football. Ronaldo kept working hard, keeping his self-belief that he is the best on the planet when others would have given up with the world seemingly against them. He worked and trained harder and has reaped the rewards his incredible passion deserves.
In addition to his immense drive and commitment, Ronaldo also deserves significant praise for his longevity at the top.
None of the other players mentioned in the GOAT debate can claim to have genuinely played at the highest level for as long as Ronaldo has (although Ferenc Puskas and Lionel Messi might have something to say about that).
The average footballer spends between 4-6 years at the top of their powers, before hitting their peak and dropping off into mediocrity, but there is nothing 'average' about Ronaldo and the incredible number of years he has spent at the top justifies this.
The Portuguese record goalscorer truly 'broke out' at the age of 19 in 2003 and amazingly, some 16 years later, he is still going strong at the very top of the global game.
To deliver for both club and country is a widely acknowledged yardstick in determining the greatest player of all time and it is a test which Pele and Maradona passed with distinction. Very rarely in history have players made an impact on both the club and international scene, but once again, Ronaldo has passed both tests with flying colors.
With 84 goals from 154 international appearances, he is Portugal's record goalscorer, in addition to being Europe's all-time record goalscorer as well as the second highest goalscorer of all time on the international scene.
He had earlier helped his nation lift their maiden international trophy at EURO 2016, while he put in one of the all-time great World Cup performances at the 2018 World Cup group stages when he netted a hattrick in his nation's opening game against Spain, although he was powerless to stop the Selecao's second-round exit.
Also see : Womens World Cup Bracket, Copa America Standings, Gold Cup Standings
You cannot also genuinely claim to be the greatest without making a mark in the greatest club competition in the world - the Champions League (sorry Pele) and it is here where Ronaldo stands head and shoulders above everyone else.
Nobody living or dead, past or present can claim to have made more of an impact in the Champions League than 'Mr Champions League' himself, as Ronaldo's displays in the competition have been nothing short of extra-terrestrial.
With 125 goals, he is the tournament's record goalscorer, while also holding a plethora of other records in the competition including most assists (36), joint-most hat-tricks (8), most group stage goals (66), most knockout goals (65), most goals scored in a single season (17), most UCL Golden Boots (6) among others.
His displays in the Champions League have been invaluable, helping Real Madrid to triumph in four of the last five tournaments, as well as the last three consecutively (how they must miss him right now) and it is for these performances that Juventus spent a club record fee to sign him in the summer, as he was seen as the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle to hand the Bianconeri their long sought after UCL crown.
Ronaldo's ability to deliver on the grandest stages is also second to none throughout history, as the bigger the occasion, the higher Ronaldo rises to deliver for his team. He was often accused of being a flat track bully early on in his career and padding stats against the weaker teams while going AWOL in the bigger matches and his poor goalscoring record against the 'top four' from his Manchester United days backs that up.
However, in typical Ronaldo fashion, he has risen above that weakness to become arguably the biggest big game player in the history of the game.
In the 2014 World Cup playoffs between Portugal and Sweden, with Ibrahimovic laying down his marker, there was Ronaldo responding with a four-goal haul to send his Country into the global Mundial to the applause of the otherwise self-indulgent Zlatan.
At the quarter-final stage of the 2015/2016 Champions League season, with Real Madrid facing the possibility of an exit to a Draxler led Wolfsburg after a 2-0 first leg loss, there was Ronaldo again rising highest to bail his team out with a perfect hat trick to send them to the semi-finals of what would be the first of an eventual unprecedented three consecutive triumphs.
Heading into the quarter-final stage of the 2016/2017 season, Ronaldo was uncharacteristically on just two goals and 9 behind Messi in the top scorer charts with many suggesting his time at the top was finished.
His response - a five-goal haul against Bayern in the quarter-final, a hat-trick against Atletico in the semi-final and a brace against a tight Juventus backline in the final to spur Madrid to become the first team to retain the Champions League and make him the first player to score in three different finals.
So far in his Juventus career, there have not really been too many occasions where Ronaldo's big game performance was required, as the Turin giants' utter dominance of Italian football means that they do not need him to conquer domestically (even though he still leads the scorers' chart in the Serie A).
Their first big test came when they were paired with two-time finalists Atletico Madrid in the round-of-16 of the UCL and their task was made much harder when the Rojiblancos posted a 2-0 first leg victory to make the second leg a very tricky and almost impossible affair, further complicated by their number 7's 'struggles' in the competition up till that point.
However, as Ronaldo has shown time and again, impossible is nothing and the icon took the game by the scruff of the neck, scoring a hat-trick in a 3-0 win to almost single-handedly eliminate Atletico Madrid and ensure Juventus completed one of the most stunning comebacks in their illustrious history.
That the incredibly agile Ronaldo is still an elite performer even at the 'grand old' age of 34 defies imagination and this is down to his ability to alter his game to suit his body.
Gone are the pacy winger and dribbling days of his early career, instead shifting focus to become a predatory penalty box marksman, saving his energy for those bursts of speed into the box in anticipation of a cross or pass leading to a goal, and despite his positional change so late in his career, Ronaldo has adapted almost like he was born into the central role.
Football has evolved tactically from the days of Pele and Maradona, while advancements in technology means that access to players' skillset and moves are easier than ever before, yet despite these, Ronaldo still finds a way to do what he does best - score goals and deliver titles to his teams in spite of minute attention to every detail of his game by rival managers and defenders.
This writer is not a fan of comparing players from different eras because of the evolution of football in those periods and also because he believes that no amount of video clips can do justice to the brilliance of a player as you need to watch them fully to understand their greatness.
However, Ronaldo's numbers and achievements speak for themselves and this is all in spite of the fact that he did not start out as a traditional center-forward, in addition to the fact that he continues to perform at such a level and deliver on the grandest stages after so long, placing him on a higher pedestal than others.
Players like Lionel Messi, Pele, Johan Cruyff and Diego Maradona can all genuinely claim to have been more naturally talented than Cristiano Ronaldo, being born with seemingly in-built greatness with the ball at their feet,
However, for a player who is significantly deficient talent wise to have stayed committed and worked his way up to being considered on par with supposed 'gods' who had no business being discussed with 'mortals' not as blessed as them, is proof of the oft-repeated saying that 'with time, hard work supersedes talent' and it is for this grand reason that Ronaldo should rightly be considered the Greatest Of All Time.
He believes it, and so should the rest of us.
