Jose Mourinho snubbed Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi after he was asked to describe the best player he has ever seen on a football pitch.
The self-confessed ‘Special One’ is more than familiar with a special talent.
Throughout his trophy-laden 24-year career in management, Mourinho can boast taking charge of some of the world’s best players at Chelsea, Inter Milan, Real Madrid and Manchester United.
But before those spells, he was an assistant at Barcelona under the great Sir Bobby Robson, where he was exposed to arguably the most exciting prospect in world football at the time, Ronaldo Nazario.
In fact, more than 20 years after seeing what the Brazilian could do on a daily basis, Mourinho named Ronaldo as the best player he’d ever seen take to the pitch.
When questioned on the best player he has ever seen, Mourinho barely hesitated before making his pick.
“Ronaldo, El Fenomeno,” he told Live Score. “Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have had longer careers, they have remained at the top every day for 15 years.
“However, if we are talking strictly about talent and skill, nobody surpasses Ronaldo. When he was at Barcelona with Bobby Robson, I realised that he was the best player I’d ever seen take to the field.”
Mourinho added: “Injuries killed a career that could have been even more incredible, but the talent that that 19-year-old boy had was something incredible.”
Mourinho isn’t the only high-profile name to shower praise on Ronaldo.
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AC Milan legend Paolo Maldini, who is widely regarded as one of the best defenders of all time, was once asked to pick the three best players he’d even seen during his 25-year career.
In that time, the Italian came up against some of the greats, including Ronaldinho and Ronaldo Nazario, who both named Maldini as the toughest defender they faced throughout their careers.
Ronaldinho said he was blown away by how the defender “made it all look effortless” while former Milan teammate Ronaldo echoed those thoughts.
In fact, during a recent documentary based on Ronaldo titled ‘The Phenomenon’, Maldini named the former Brazil striker as one of the three greatest player he seen during his career.
As well as Nazario, the former Italy captain named Argentine pair Lionel Messi and Diego Maradona in his list.