Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti has hailed Cristiano Ronaldo as the best player he has ever managed across his 19 years in the dugout.
Looking ahead to tonight’s European tie against Bulgarian champions Ludogorets, Ancelotti was eager to heap praise upon his team’s most illustrious player, who is just three goals behind Raul’s mark of 71 on the Champions League all-time goalscoring list.
The Portuguese star also set a competition record by netting 17 goals to inspire his team’s 10th European triumph last season.
In total, under Ancelotti, Ronaldo has scored 64 goals in 56 games.
Ancelotti has enjoyed spells with AC Milan, Juventus, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, working with the likes of: Gianluigi Buffon, Fabio Cannavaro, Andrea Pirlo, Andriy Shevchenko, Rivaldo, Ronaldo, Didier Drogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but he believes Ronaldo is the best of the lot.
“Without being disrespectful to the others, Cristiano is the best player I have ever coached,” said the Italian, who also shot down rumours that Ronaldo could be preparing to return to Manchester United.
“He is very professional and very serious, and I think the thing that has changed about him is that every day he is more closely tied to this club. He is a leader who doesn’t talk very much but does it through his work.”
Ancelotti will be without Fabio Coentrao for tonight’s game but welcomes back central defender Pepe after a hamstring injury.
And although he is set to make a number of changes against the unfancied Bulgarian team, Ancelotti insisted he is determined to field a strong starting XI and does not have a premeditated plan to rotate his squad throughout the season.
“I don’t have a rotation programme,” he said. “If I see in training that any player hasn’t recovered well, I will give them a break.
“But the first few group games in the Champions League are very important and we need to put six points on the board after these first two games.”
Here's Ronaldo doing what he does best this month:
