Manchester United and Portugal midfielder Bruno Fernandes has chosen his compatriot, Cristiano Ronaldo as the best player in the world at present, just beating Barcelona forward Lionel Messi. The 25-year-old followed in Ronaldo’s footsteps in January by league Sporting Clube de Portugal for United.
Fernandes has seemingly hit the ground running at United, making 11 appearances, scoring four goals and four more assists and seems to be vastly proving his ability in England’s top flight, just as Ronaldo did 17 years ago, despite being seven years his junior at the time he left Portugal for Manchester, proving himself as a world-class player at the club.
The United midfielder, who compliments French World Cup winning midfielder, Paul Pogba at the club, having played with him competitively for the first time a week ago, spoke to Ronaldo before making he move from Sporting to United, which was heavy speculation last summer, materialising in nothing, making the move six months later instead.
Fernandes spoke to SoccerBible during the coronavirus lockdown in the United Kingdom, speaking about many things. However, in this instance the 25-year-old spoke about his international teammate, Ronaldo who he says is the best player in the world right now. Speaking about this and giving more insight as to how he came to the conclusion, Fernandes said:
“As a person from Portugal, every time someone mentions your name with [Cristiano] Ronaldo, you just have to be grateful. You can like [Lionel] Messi more than Ronaldo or you can like Pele more than any other player.
“I didn’t see Pele play so I can’t say he was the biggest player in the world. For me, Cristiano is the best I’ve ever seen. Messi and Cristiano are the best. You can’t say they are not the best players in the world. You can like one or there other.
“Italian people may like someone like Pirlo, English people may like Beckham more, you have your choice but what these two players have done for football (Messi and Ronaldo) is impressive.
“Cristiano is a Portuguese guy like me, I need to enjoy him. He is the best for me.
“When I arrived at Manchester United, people in the kitchen would say, ‘do you know, every day when Cristiano came in he would go around and say good morning to everyone’. Two ladies come to me every day and say ‘You know Cristiano did that, you need to do the same'”
Ronaldo has achieved so much in his career for both club(s) and country. At Sporting, the young forward played 31 times, scoring five goals and five assists. He won the Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira with the club before leaving for United. At the Old Trafford club, he replaced David Beckham donning the famous number seven shirt.
In six years at United, Ronaldo played a total of 292 times, scoring 118 goals and 69 assists, winning three Premier League titles, one FA Cup, two League Cups, one FA Community Shield, one UEFA Champions League, and one FIFA Club World Cup. From United, Ronaldo headed to Real Madrid with the Spanish club paying £80 million for the player.
In Madrid, Ronaldo spent nine seasons, playing 438 times, scoring 450 goals and 131 assists, winning two La Liga titles, two Copa del Reys, two Supercopa de España, four Champions Leagues, two UEFA Super Cups and three Club World Cups. Ronaldo left Madrid for Juventus and has played 78 times, scoring 54 goals and 14 assists, winning the Serie A and the Supercoppa Italiana. With Portugal, Ronaldo has been capped 117 times, scoring 82 goals, winning UEFA Euro 2016 and the UEFA Nations League.
