Zinedine Zidane is one of the most influential figures in soccer. From being one of the best players of all time to a record-breaking manager at Real Madrid, the French icon’s voice is one of the strongest in the sport in 2023. Being one of the former managers of Cristiano Ronaldo, his opinion carries a lot of weight regarding the debate between Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
Recently in the soccer community, a statement from Zidane is making rounds about the eternal debate between the two icons. Zidane stated that Cristiano Ronaldo is a fantastic player, but not at Lionel Messi’s level. He concluded by stating that Lionel Messi is the greatest player of the time.
Zidane thinks that Cristiano Ronaldo is not on Lionel Messi level 😳 pic.twitter.com/MbWarV3Jug
— ACE (@FCB_ACEE) November 9, 2023
The blunt statement against his former player raised some eyebrows from fans. On a closer look and some research on the quote, it is evident that this statement from Zidane is false. There isn’t any reliable source that shared the quote to weigh on the debate. All the noise about the statement is from fan accounts, which are notorious for bending facts for their arguments.
Zidane managed Ronaldo during his two successful stints at Real Madrid. Together, the duo won three back-to-back UCL titles and a La Liga title. The French manager has always backed Ronaldo on various occasions and praised his talent during his time with the Spanish club. Zidane’s history with Ronaldo was the fundamental reason the quote in the context raised the eyebrows of some sets of fans.
Zinedine Zidane declared Cristiano Ronaldo the greatest of all time
The above quote might not be real, however, Zidane has previously weighed in on the debate between Ronaldo and Messi. Back in 2022, Goal reported the opinion of some of the biggest players of the game on the debate. From players like Zlatan Ibrahimović to Roberto Carlos, everyone’s statements on the debate were reported.
In that report, Zidane’s statements were also included. Zidane was quoted: “Cristiano is the best. Messi is his rival and it’s the rivalry everyone wants to see. But Ronaldo is phenomenal. There are no words to describe him. He is much better than me even though I had a great career. He’s the greatest of all time.”
ZIDANE:
“Cristiano is the best. Messi is his rival and it’s the rivalry everyone wants to see. But Ronaldo is phenomenal. There are no words to describe him. He is much better than me even though I had a great career. He’s the greatest of all time.” pic.twitter.com/ZPGXIMTvK6
— CristianoXtra (@CristianoXtra_) September 13, 2022
From the above statement, it is clear that Zidane rates Cristiano Ronaldo higher when compared to Lionel Messi. The polar opposite of the false statements reported by fan accounts. Zidane recently sat down with Lionel Messi for a video for Adidas in which he expressed that Messi is pure magic. However, the above statement from Goal, confirms Zidane’s stance on the debate.