Premier League football legend, Gary Neville, has said that he doesn’t see Ronaldo retiring from the game of football until he has surpassed Pele’s goalscoring record because he wants to be termed the best footballer of all time.
Gary Neville and Ronaldo were team-mates at Manchester United and the ex-Manchester United defender says Ronaldo’s obsession with perfection might see him play until his 40s.
Pele scored a total of 1281 goals in 1363 games, a Guiness Book record, while Ronaldo has scored over 700 goals prompting Neville to say surpassing Pele is Ronaldo’s main target.
“He just wanted to be the very, very best in the world and it’s so important to him,” Neville told SkySports.
“It’s an obsession. Absolute obsession with scoring goals. Applying himself every single day, being the fittest he can possibly be. I think he’s lifted his professionalism every single year and progressed.
“Jamie (Carragher) mentioned before about James Milner wanting to play into his late 30s and 40s. I think he [Ronaldo] has a plan to go on and take over Pele’s record. “I genuinely believe he wants to go on and beat Pele’s numbers.
“That’s where I think he’s at in his mind, he wants to be the greatest of all time, that is his sole purpose, understanding that along the way if he is the greatest of all time, the teams that he plays for will win trophies and be successful.”
Related Post:
- Czech FA disputes claim Cristiano Ronaldo has broken the all-time goalscoring record after his 760th career goal; say national legend Bican netted 821 times
- Euro 2023: Gary Neville reacts as Ronaldo breaks goals record
- Peru vs Brazil: Neymar breaks Ronaldo’s goalscoring record
- Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Jay Jay Okocha: See new list of the 30 greatest free-kick takers of all time
- EPL: Gary Neville reveals some Arsenal players have become ”mafia” against Arteta
- Cristiano Ronaldo passes Pele to become second-highest goalscorer of all-time for club and country
- Cristiano Ronaldo presented with special ‘G.O.A.T’ shirt after scoring his 770th goal to break Pele’s all-time record of official goals
- Gary Neville Reveals What Will Happen With Messi And Barcelona
- Brazil’s Ronaldo is the greatest striker of all time – Samuel Eto’o
- 50 greatest footballers of all time ranked, Messi 3rd, Ronaldo 6th [Full list]