CRISTIANO RONALDO has been accused of not knowing “how to play football”.
The 39-year-old recently became the first player in the history of the sport to score 900 goals for club and country.
However, in the view of former Real Madrid star Antonio Cassano, that makes little difference.
Cassano, who starred for Madrid between 2006 and 2008, was appearing on the Viva El Futbol podcast when he made the stunning claim.
The 39-cap Italian international said: “Cristiano Ronaldo doesn’t know how to play football,’ said Cassano. ‘He could score 3,000 goals, I don’t give a f***.”
Cassano, 42, added: “[Gonzalo] Higuain, [Sergio] Aguero, [Karim] Benzema, [Robert] Lewandowski, [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic and [Luis] Suarez knew how to link-up with the team.
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“They knew how to do a lot of things, unlike Ronaldo whose only objective has always been to score.”
Cassano netted four goals in 28 games for Madrid, while Ronaldo bagged 450 goals in 438 games.
Ronaldo’s time in Spain also saw him become the fastest player to 100 goals for one club, with 105 games to reach his century – a record now only matched by Erling Haaland after he scored against Arsenal on Sunday.
Cassano also went on to play for AC Milan and Inter Milan, though the best period of his career came with AS Roma between 2001 and 2006 before his form earned him a transfer to Madrid.
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It is not the first time he has spoken critically about the Al-Nassr ace.
In 2022, Cassano called on Ronaldo to hang up his boots as he was out of favour at Man Utd.
He said: “A guy like Cristiano has to think about himself and if you can’t do it anymore then you have to call it a day.
“It’s a rule in all sports. Retire, that’s enough!
“He has won everything, he has been a phenomenon, he has earned a lot of money and now he is not a starter at Manchester United.”
Cassano himself retired in 2018 following a year without a club, ending his career with 139 goals in club football and 10 goals for Italy, including three goals at the European Championships.
He won La Liga and the Serie A as well as two Italian Super Cups, while he also turned out for Bari, Sampdoria, Parma and Hellas Verona throughout his career.
In 2001, at the age of 19, he was signed by Roma for a then-record transfer fee of 60 billion Italian lira, or about €30million, which at the time was the most expensive fee for a teenager ever.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
