Ronaldo Nazário confirms what he has said before: in his day, the competition for the title of footballer of the year was tighter. The famous Brazilian striker doesn’t want to downplay the achievements of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in his later years, but he points out that the competition for the top spot used to be tougher.
“In my generation, the competition was more important than today, without wanting to underestimate Messi and Ronaldo. They will fight for the title of best player in the world in the future, but in my time there was Zidane, Rivaldo, Figo, me, and then Ronaldinho. It was a generation where being the best was more difficult,” he said in an interview with Sport Bild and relayed by Marca and AS.
It is true that there was more competition 15 to 20 years ago, but was the level higher than that of Messi or Ronaldo? It’s not only that the monsters of the current era are impressive, but the consistency they’ve had throughout their respective careers is simply unheard of. It’s more than 10 years at the top for the Messi-Cr7 duo.
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