Former Real Madrid manager explains why Cristiano Ronaldo ‘can’t compare’ to Messi or Maradona | OneFootball

Ex-Real Madrid head coach Fabio Capello has this week turned heads across Spanish football and beyond.

This comes owing to a round of comments relating to Lionel Messi, and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Messi and Ronaldo of course enjoyed the peak of their iconic rivalry during the players’ respective stints in La Liga, with Barcelona and Real Madrid.

The two attackers, widely regarded as being amongst the best of all-time, locked horns for a full nine years on opposite sides of the Clásico divide.

As things stand, it is Messi who boasts the advantage when it comes to the ‘GOAT’ debate, the Argentine’s eight Ballons d’Or and World Cup triumph having put the Argentine over the top in the eyes of the majority.

As alluded to above, though, one individual of the opinion that Ronaldo was never truly comparable with Messi is the aforementioned Fabio Capello.

Speaking during an interview with COPE, as cited by Forbes, this week, former Real Madrid headmaster Capello was drawn on the talents of Barcelona starlet Lamine Yamal.

And in his response, the Italian made use of the Messi vs Ronaldo debate to illustrate his point:

“Lamine is a player with a lot of quality, who can improve a lot, but I don’t see him with the brilliance of a phenomenon.

“Messi and Maradona did things that no one can imagine. They were world stars. Really, Lamine cannot be compared to the two of them and in the future I do not see him [being so] either.

“I’m not talking about numbers, or quality. I’m talking about imagination and brilliance. Cristiano Ronaldo was also a very important player, with impressive numbers and who scored very important goals, but I can’t compare him to Messi or Maradona. It’s true that Lamine is very young and that he has room for improvement, but very few have that special brilliance.”

Conor Laird – GSFN