#360debate: Is Ronaldo Real Madrid’s best player ever?

Sport360 staff 07:32 19/10/2015
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Mail
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • WhatsApp
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Standing above all others: Cristiano Ronaldo.

    With Cristiano Ronaldo moving past the record of Real Madrid icon Raul to stand alone as the club’s top-scorer, the debate over his status in the hierarchy of greats who have represented the club rages on.

    For some, the Portuguese star’s incredible numbers and performances since joining the club see him climb to the very top of the pile. For others, he is yet to achieve the consistent success required to be worthy of such status.

    Our #360debate today is: Is Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid’s best player ever?

    Matt Monaghan, reporter, says YES:

    There is an obtuse tendency in sport to favour the heroes of the past over the stars of today. Cristiano Ronaldo is currently a victim of this hackneyed thinking.

    The Portuguese phenomenom is truly one of a kind, redefining the boundaries of football at a time when elite competition has never been stronger.

    His six-year spell with Los Blancos has seen him repeatedly reach new peaks, making him the finest player to don the shirt of the sport’s outstanding team.

    This began with the then record-breaking £80 million fee (then worth Dh483.7m) which bought him from Manchester United and continued this weekend, his 324th Real goal in 310 games making him Madrid’s greatest scorer.

    It is not fashionable to hail the 30-year-old’s achievements. He is considered second to Barcelona’s Lionel Messi despite outscoring him in the last two seasons and derided for an inferior trophy haul to the greats of Madrid’s storied past.

    For all second-placed Raul’s acclaimed finishing, he required 741 appearances to reach 323. But it is the legend in third place on 305 goals from 392 games who is commonly hailed as Ronaldo’s superior.

    Alfredo Di Stefano is rightly considered an icon, the technician who provided the inspiration behind the team which dominated the early years of the European Cup. On trophy hauls alone, there can be no argument. ‘Saeta Rubia’ won 15 during 11 years in the capital, Ronaldo trailing with seven in six years. But this is far too narrow a field.

    Di Stefano was stolen from Barcelona, then hamstrung by Spain’s political situation. The overall strength of the European game is also much higher, making Ronaldo’s pivotal 10 goals in the Champions League on the way to 2014-15’s hallowed ‘La Decima’ all the more incredible.

    Players have never been fitter, stronger or well drilled. Goalscoring has never been harder. Yet Ronaldo has risen above everyone to set marks which will stand the test of time.

    Grandes Zinedine Zidane, Emilio Butragueno and Ferenc Puskas all – remarkably – stand in his wake. Only when he is retired will football allow itself to rightly salute Ronaldo as Madrid’s greatest.

    Andy West, La Liga reporter, says NO:

    Cristiano Ronaldo is a phenomenal footballer, of that there can be absolutely no doubt. Indeed, his feat in surpassing Raul as Real Madrid’s all-time leading marksman, going along at a rate of a goal per game to do so, marks him down as one of the greatest pure goalscorers ever.

    But it does not make him the greatest player in the club’s history, because that is quite a different matter.

    For starters, we have to acknowledge just how strong the competition is. We are talking about Real Madrid here – arguably the most famous and certainly one of the most prestigious sporting organisations on the planet.

    The list of players to have represented the club over the last century is truly mind-boggling. Even in the last 15 years, awesome talents such as (the other) Ronaldo, Raul, Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane and Roberto Carlos have plied their trade at the Bernabeu as part of president Florentino Perez’s controversial but never dull Galacticos policy.

    Even if it could be argued that Ronaldo matches up favourably against any of those stars, looking at the bigger picture any team sport has to take into account the amount of silverware won – and Ronaldo has not fared well in that respect.

    Instead, we have to go further back in history and return to the club’s true golden era in the 1950s and 1960s.

    Back then, Los Blancos were more or less unstoppable, winning nine La Liga titles in the space of just 11 years as well as claiming the first five European Cup trophies.

    The club’s greatest ever player has to come from their greatest ever era, and three men stood head and shoulders above the rest during that legendary period of success: Paco Gento, Ferenc Puskas and, of course, Alfredo Di Stefano.

    Gento was captain for nine years; Puskas scored his goals nearly as quickly as Ronaldo and won many more trophies; and Di Stefano was, well, Di Stefano.

    Any one of those giants of the club could be regarded as Real Madrid’s greatest ever. But as amazing as his goalscoring record might be, one thing is clear: it’s not Ronaldo.

    Recommended