New Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has named his top three players of all time, but there’s no place for Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo.
Mourinho was asked to pick who he thought were the best players of all time to which he replied: “For me the top three players in history are Messi, Pele and Maradona.”
The statement has gone viral on social media, even being retweeted by his son and the Spanish media have picked up one notable absence – Ronaldo.
Spanish newspaper Sport claim it’s a surprise the Portugal international was left out and call his performances for Real Madrid under Mourinho ‘outstanding’.
The Portuguese duo were together at the Santiago Bernabeu for three successive season between 2010 to 2013 and in that time the Los Blancos no.7 scored 120 La Liga goals in just 106 appearances.
However, that astonishing scoring record hasn’t done enough to get him recognised by his old boss, who instead picked Pele, Diego Maradona and Barcelona superstar – and Ronaldo’s main rival – Lionel Messi in his all-time top three players.
In addition to those goals, Ronaldo also won one of his three Ballon d’Or awards under the guidance of Mourinho, so for him to be left out of the list come as a major surprise and hints at possible unresolved issues between the pair from their time in Spain together.
The pair were celebrating, albeit separately, this summer as Portugal won their first piece of international silverware with the European Championships thanks to Eder’s stunning winner in extra-time against host nation France on July 10th.
Ronaldo was substituted early in the final through injury following a heavy challenge from Dimitri Payet, but had the last laugh as he lifted the trophy aloft at the final whistle.
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