CRISTIANO RONALDO was compared to basketball great Michael Jordan by his manager last night.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer heaped praise on the Manchester United striker after his late equaliser rescued them at Atalanta.
And the 36-year-old striker was hailed by his boss for another slam dunk in injury time.
Solskjaer declared: “You play for Manchester United or the Chicago Bulls because you can come up with these moments.
“I’m sure the Chicago Bulls didn’t mind having Michael Jordan. And that’s what Cristiano is like for us.”
That got us thinking here at SunSport, how do the two match up against each other?
Basketball legend Jordan, 58, retired in 2003 after a stellar 19-year career which made him one of the greatest US sportsmen ever.
He won six NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls and was five times named the Most Valuable Player in the league.
And the 14-time All-Star also led USA to Olympic gold at Los Angeles 1984 and Barcelona 1992.
He is widely credited with making the NBA a commercial success and changing the image of the sport.
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Jordan is now an owner of his home town Charlotte Hornets NBA team.
According to Forbes, he has banked an incredible £1.32billion from sponsorships with the likes of Nike, Hanes and Gatorade.
His link-up with Nike, in particular the Air Jordan trainer that bears his name, he pocketed him around £1billion since 1984.
The former Chicago Bulls star’s profile has been boosted again thanks to Netflix’s 10-episode show The Last Dance.
All that means his income last year of £95m was still higher than Ronaldo.
The Portuguese superstar, meanwhile, has an estimated net worth of £367m after banking £91m in earnings last year.
One area he does have an edge over Jordan is in social media following with a massive 362 million fans compared to 22 million.
Ronaldo has won seven domestic league titles with Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus.
He’s captured five Champions League titles – one at Old Trafford and four in the Spanish capital – and is a five-time Ballon d’Or winner.
HOME COMFORTS
Both superstars aren’t short of a property or two on their portfolio, either.
He currently lives in a £3million Cheshire mansion having been at similar luxury properties in Madrid and Turin.
In 2019, Ronaldo reportedly spent £1.4million on a holiday home in the Costa del Sol.
The area the lavish house sits in is called ‘The Superstars Cul-De-Sac’ because of the number of famous residents who live there.
UFC star Conor McGregor is also believed to own a property nearby.
But back on his home island of Madeira, his £7m seven-storey mansion in Funchal has two swimming pools, a football pitch and incredible sea views.
Jordan, meanwhile, can’t seem to shift his property.
He has been trying to sell his £12m mansion in Chicago for eight years now but still can’t find a buyer.
He also has a £6m mansion in Utah on the market.
They’ll both always have a roof over their head, it’s fair to say.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
