Dutch legend Marco van Basten has recently made a rather controversial comment about Cristiano Ronaldo. In his illustrious career, Van Basten has won several trophies, including the European Cup Winners’ Cup and the Euros. One of the best strikers of his generation, it has been around 30 years since Van Basten retired. However, he believes his legacy would have been different had he not retired so early.
Marco van Basten, who used to play for Ajax and AC Milan, had to take an early retirement at the age of 28 due to an ankle injury. However, he feels that he would have been better than Cristiano Ronaldo if he had the latter’s longevity. During a recent interview, van Basten said, “Players like me nowadays? Lewandowski looks a bit like me. Cristiano Ronaldo, I think I get close to that.“
🗣️ Marco Van Basten: “I think if you compare my career with Cristiano Ronaldo’s career until I had to quit (injury), I got very close to him, and maybe mine was even better, but I was unable to continue my career after that.”
Marco van Basten at 28:
🥇3 Ballon d’Ors
🏆2… pic.twitter.com/NFLfFKKs91— Football Talk (@FootballTalkHQ) August 23, 2023
Although Marco van Basten did admit Ronaldo’s physical superiority over him. The former Netherlands coach further added, “But I would have liked to see how things turned out if I could have played until the age of 38, I think I would have been better.” Cristiano Ronaldo’s incredible physical fitness and longevity are known all around the soccer world. Despite being 38 now, the Al-Nassr star still shows no signs of stopping.
BREAKING: Cristiano Ronaldo announces the World Cup will not be his last international competition as he wants to play at Euro 2024! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/IKlV2bfgie
— SPORTbible (@sportbible) September 21, 2022
Cristiano Ronaldo recently led Al-Nassr to Arab Club Champions Cup victory, scoring twice in the final. Although he is in the twilight of his career, the Portuguese star has set his sights on playing in the upcoming Euro 2024. However, it will be interesting to note how Ronaldo, who’s not known for his thick skin, responds to van Basten’s comments.
Marco van Basten criticized Lionel Messi’s personality in the past
Cristiano Ronaldo isn’t the only one who has received the brunt of Marco van Basten’s scathing remarks. Back in 2022, the ex-Ajax star criticized Lionel Messi’s personality during an interview. The three-time Ballon d’Or winning star doesn’t believe that Messi deserves to be called the greatest player of all time. As quoted by MARCA, he said, “Pele, [Diego] Maradona and [Johan] Cruyff are for me the three greatest players in history.“
“Messi is also a great player, but Maradona always had more personality in a team. Messi is not the one who puts himself at the front to go to war.” However, despite his brutal take on the Inter Miami star, van Basten prefers Lionel Messi over Cristiano Ronaldo. Marco van Basten has had rather mixed opinions about the 2022 World Cup-winning captain.
🗣️Marco van Basten:
“Cristiano is a great player, but those who say he is better than Messi know nothing about football, or they are saying it in bad faith. He is one of a kind. Impossible to imitate and impossible to repeat. A player like him comes along every 50 or 100 years.” pic.twitter.com/kJiC81NjNg
— Ali Mahi 🇵🇰 (@Mehhssiii) September 14, 2022
Speaking to Corriere dello Sport, Marco van Basten once said, “Cristiano is a great player, but those who say he is better than Messi know nothing about football.” He also went on to say that a player of Messi‘s caliber comes once every 50 or 100 years. Van Basten further maintained that imitating the former FC Barcelona star is impossible, stating that Messi’s talent remains unparalleled.