Cristiano Ronaldo is definitely one of the best players of his time, some will even tag him the greatest player of all time, which can be as well valid.

In his time he has broken a lot records, some which might go unbroken, others which will take time before they get broken. We need to understand that Lionel Messi would easily become the greatest footballer of all time if not for the present of Portuguese finest, Cristiano.

All through Lionel Messi’s career, Cristiano Ronaldo has been is only competitor.

In an interview where Lionel Messi was asked to mention the greatest footballers, he mentioned Neymar Jr, Luis Suarez, Aguero, Kylian Mbappe and Eden Hazard. When asked about his name and Cristiano, Messi said he skipped it since both of them are really exceptional players.

We took time to study The Portuguese star to see what’s so special about him. We’d all agree Messi is probably the most talented footballer of his time, so what’s so special about Cristiano that makes him a tough competitor for Lionel Messi?

Some would say he’s hardworking, but does that really mean other players don’t work enough?

Cristiano Ronaldo isn’t your regular kind of person, he works with his mind not really his body or legs.

Right from his childhood, he’s been so confident about himself becoming the best. We’ve probably heard stories of times where he told his friends he’d be the best and they laughed at him, even his father didn’t believe in him.

He’s also some sort of rebel, at the age 14, he was expelled from school for throwing a chair at his teacher who insulted him because of his family poor status. (Try imagining a 14 years old child around you who’s capable of that).

From here we can tell Ronaldo’s mindset is what separates him from your regular footballer. We hardly get this kind of charisma from many other players (think about Zlatan Ibrahimovic).

Does this mean Cristiano has been playing mind games with us? Let’s see….

Firstly, Cristiano is confident in himself unlike many other players. In one of his interviews he claims “if I don’t believe in myself that I’m the best, no one will believe me”.

Sometimes it’s the ‘lies’ that we tell ourselves that separate us from others. Cristiano tells the lie and and he also lives it.

He’s undoubtedly the most confident footballer out there without showing any sign of fear till the final whistle.

His confidence alone is so much that it scares his opponents, which means Cristiano’s presence in a team is a plus to that team and a minus to it’s rival.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s style of celebration

Cristiano has the best celebration style in football history, this we can’t deny not even his haters can complain about it. We’ve seen cases where his teammates mimicked the ‘Siuuu’ style and even some opponents go as far as celebrating their goals like Cristiano.

But we can tell Cristiano does it better. At times after scoring in important matches or winning goals he goes as far tearing his clothes or pulling it off to celebrate. In those moments, he shows us his built chest that is capable of pulling your girlfriend’s interests(just kidding).

He also has his ‘calma’ kind of celebration. When he scores a goal, he gives his fans that kind of celebration to make them understand that he’s around and that they should be calm.

All these events pulled by Cristiano brings some aura of power around him that commands respect and love from fans and even his opponents.

Cristiano Ronaldo is a good human

We might have seen many of our favorite footballers give out part of their wealth to help humanity which is very kind of them. But I think Ronaldo does it a bit different.

In case you don’t know, Cristiano doesn’t have any tattoo. And when asked about it in an interview, he made it clear that he doesn’t have any tattoo on his body because he donates blood very often. That level of kindness is something we don’t see from most footballers today.

Although there are other examples of players who also don’t have tattoos on their body, the likes of Mohamed Salah, Robert Lewandoski etc but I really can’t tell if it’s because they also donate blood.

Cristiano Ronaldo also doesn’t drink alcohol or smoke. All these accounts his level of professionalism.

He once waited for 40 minutes in a restaurant in Italy where the table he had booked was given to another customer. You can read the full story here

Cristiano Ronaldo is a big game stepper

This can’t be over emphasized. Ronaldo shows up in big games to prove his worth I’d really say that this alone accounts for 90% of the love and respect he gets.

His greatness can be seen in matches like the one against Atletico Madrid where he scored a hattrick to help his team qualify in the champions league, Portugal vs Spain where he also scored a hattrick that won a point for his country on a 3-3 draw, and many other matches like that were he stepped up for his team.

Sensational performances in the champions league that will never be forgotten. Hattrick vs Bayern Munich, Bicycle kick vs Juventus and many other outstanding performances that really got our attention.

Let’s not forget he holds 5 Ballon d’or awards, and 4 European Golden Boots, A Guinness world record for Highest goals scored in international football history.

Coupled with the fact that he’s the most followed footballer on social media, a role model to many upcoming footballers and even many outside the football world still look up to him.

He has proved to us that ordinary people can become extraordinary. Cristiano Ronaldo will go unforgotten in football books.

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