When the debate re-emerges over the greatest footballer of all time, some common names always come up. For younger fans, it essentially becomes an argument over preferences for Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. Millennial supporters with a wider perspective may suggest Zinedine Zidane or Ronaldinho. And those who can boast a much longer timescale of following the beautiful game will immediately point to generational greats of the 20th century – Diego Maradona, Johan Cruyff and of course, Pele.
One of the habitual rank outsiders in the discussion is Ronaldo Nazario. He’s sometimes mentioned, yet very quickly ruled out in favour of players who perhaps boasted greater longevity or won more trophies – the Brazilian being one of the greatest players ever to not win the Champions League. The other problem with Ronaldo Nazario is that he was only truly at his absolute best for the first five or six seasons of his career, signified by his 1997 Ballon d’Or win.
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Indeed, Ronaldo Nazario’s career was split in two halves; one before his series of serious knee injuries, and one after. During the second half of his career, Ronaldo was still unquestionably one of the best players in the world and probably the best striker in the world, so much so that he won a second Ballon d’Or in 2002 after scoring eight goals for Brazil as they won the World Cup that year.
But he still wasn’t quite as unbelievable as before his injuries, when he displayed a mixture of technical skill, composure and dynamism never before seen in world football. Regardless of how incredible his performance levels still were, chiefly scoring 104 goals in 177 games for Real Madrid, simply knowing he could’ve been even better seems to have ultimately dropped the South American down in estimations when discussing football’s all-time greats.
Nonetheless, managerial legend Bobby Robson – one of the greatest British managers of all time – was in no doubt that Ronaldo Nazario could’ve been the greatest footballer ever.
Robson thought Ronaldo Nazario Could’ve Become the GOAT
Injuries split the Brazilian’s career into two halves
As quoted by The Guardian in 2016 when they celebrated Ronaldo Nazario’s 40th birthday, Robson once said of the Brazil legend:
“Ronaldo could start from the halfway line and the whole stadium would ignite. Had he managed to stay free of injury, he had every chance of becoming the best footballer ever.”
Robson enjoyed an incredible managerial career. As well as being England boss for eight years, he worked at PSV, Sporting Lisbon, FC Porto and Barcelona. It was at the latter club where he worked directly with Ronaldo Nazario, witnessing first-hand the best season of his career.
During the 1996/97 campaign, the striker scored 47 goals in 49 appearances as Barca won the European Cup Winnners’ Cup and the Copa del Rey. Ronaldo Nazario himself would go on to pick up the 1997 Ballon d’Or, albeit by that time he was an Inter Milan player because the Ballon d’Or was an annual award given out towards the end of the calendar year.
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Robson passed away in 2009, and therefore will have made this remark before Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo’s Ballon d’or rivalry took football’s GOAT debate by storm. But even with that in mind, Robson still felt Ronaldo Nazario had the potential to be better than Pele, Maradona, Cruyff and any other footballer who had established themselves as a legend of the game by the turn of the century. It’s also a view shared by Gianluigi Buffon, one of the all-time goalkeeping greats:
“If it wasn’t for injury I think he would be talked about on the same level as Pelé and Maradona. He had all the skills needed to be the best ever. He was like an alien because of what he could do on the pitch.”
Perhaps only Messi has been able to blend world-class skill and unrelenting speed like the Real Madrid icon could. And yet even then, there is a strength, a swagger, an aggression, an individuality and an instinct for scoring goals that even Messi doesn’t quite match. The young Ronaldo Nazario could dribble like Messi, entertain like Ronaldinho, and physically battle defenders like Maradona.
Ronaldo Nazario could’ve been the greatest footballer ever – he’ll have to settle for being just one of the greatest instead.
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