Zlatan Ibrahimovic Claimed Cristiano Ronaldo Owed His Career to English Icon

Whatever you think about him, few have reached higher peaks in football than Cristiano Ronaldo. The five-time Ballon d’Or winner will always be in the conversation when it comes to ranking the sport’s greatest players.

It all started for Ronaldo at Sporting Lisbon, but he didn’t truly announce himself to the world until he was a Manchester United player. The then-flashy winger was electric at Old Trafford, winning three Premier League titles, the Champions League and more, before sealing a move to Real Madrid.

In Spain, he reached an all-new level, scoring a club-record 450 goals in 438 games for the Spanish giants as well as four more Champions League titles and two La Ligas. Now 41, the forward has bagged over 100 goals each for Juventus and Al-Nassr at the back end of his career.

He also has 146 goals in 234 games for Portugal, which is the most of any men’s international team. In short, he’s had a pretty good career.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic, however, believes Ronaldo owes it all to one ‘great’ Englishman.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic Praised Hard-Working Man Utd Legend

Speaking in 2015, Ibrahimovic insisted that Ronaldo would not have had the same brilliant career were it not for Wayne Rooney. Explaining how the English icon sacrificed himself for his Manchester United teammate, the Swede remarked:

Ibrahimovic clearly followed Man Utd closely at the time, as he added: “If I can’t play alongside Wayne, then I’ll just need to keep watching him on television.

“Great players have exceptional phases that last from between one to three years, it’s not normal that this phase lasts five years as in the case with Rooney.”

Ibrahimovic’s Arrival in England Actually Led to Rooney’s Man Utd Exit

Ibrahimovic did eventually go on to play for Man Utd, winning the League Cup and the Europa League in 2016/17 during his first season with Rooney at Old Trafford. The Swedish legend then left in 2018, having managed 29 goals and10 assists in 53 games for the Red Devils.

He clearly was a huge fan of Rooney. As well as his aforementioned praise, Zlatan called the Englishman ‘a fantastic footballer’ in 2013, adding: “He is the player who helps his partner score lots of goals because he is working for one, two and maybe three other players.

Then after playing with Rooney, he insisted: “As a player, there are no words to not say about him – he’s the perfect player. Everybody knows what he can do, what he did, what he has done.”

Ironically, Ibrahimovic’s move to Man Utd helped lead to Rooney’s exit, as the club record goalscorer later explained: “The hardest thing for a player is to understand you may be not at the level you were. I did it at when Zlatan Ibrahimovic came in and I wasn’t playing. I wanted to play so I left straight away. I accepted it.”

Rooney left in 2017, having scored 253 goals in total, while he is the only player to have recorded both 200 goals and 100 assists in the Premier League. No wonder Ibrahimovic was such a fan.