Former Portugal playmaker Deco has made the sensational claim that Ronaldinho was far more talented than either Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo.
Messi and Ronaldo have been comfortably the best players in the world over the past eight years as highlighted by the fact that the former has won five Ballon d’Or titles with the latter claiming the other three.
However, Deco, who played alongside Messi at Barcelona and Ronaldo for Portugal, has insisted that Ronaldinho’s talent was ‘special’ suggesting that his former teammates had to work harder to reach their current level than the Brazilian.
Speaking as a pundit on Sony Six: “Cristiano was young and athletic, very competitive. Messi worked hard to do what he can do with a football now at Barcelona.
“Ronaldinho was a natural with special ability. Whenever we gave the ball to him, the moves and goals were from a different world. He was far more gifted than Leo or Cristiano.
“When we did not know what to do, he would create that opportunity for you.”
Although Ronaldinho, 36, was crowned the world’s best player on just two occasions, he was undoubtedly one of the finest players of his generation and played a key role in helping Barcelona re-establish themselves as one of Europe’s best clubs.
During a five-year spell at Camp Nou, Ronaldinho won two La Liga titles as well as the Champions League in 2006 but he departed soon after Pep Guardiola’s trophy-laden spell in charge in 2008.
The 2002 World Cup winner also spent time in Europe playing for PSG and Milan and most recently turned out for Fluminense in his homeland last year.
Messi and Ronaldo meanwhile continued to score goals at a ridiculous rate in the 2015/16 season, scoring 26 and 35 La Liga goals respectively for Spain’s top two clubs.
They also ended the campaign with more silverware to add to their collection as Messi’s Barcelona won La Liga and the Copa del Rey, while Read Madrid’s Ronaldo clinched the third Champions League trophy of his career.
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