MUMBAI: Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have done enough in the game and would be considered as great as Pele and Maradona even if they were to end their brilliant career without winning the fifa world cupbelieves portuguese great Luis Figo.
“Winning doesn’t always depend on the quality of the individual, it depends on a lot of other things,” Figo, who is part of Viacom18 Sports’ expert panel for the World Cup, said on Saturday. “Of course it’s more prestigious if you win a world title or a European title, but that doesn’t mean that their career or what they did in the past was not footballing history. That So it depends on each person’s point of view.
Despite all the successes and accolades Ronaldo and Messi have shared over the past 15 years, the ultimate prize in football has eluded the two Portuguese and Argentine superstars, ever since they made their World Cup bows at Germany 2006. With Ronaldo closing in on 38 and Messi, 35, both players are aware that the current edition in Qatar may well represent their last chance to join Pele and Maradona among the pantheon of World Cup-winning legends.
“I don’t like to compare because the generations are different, the football players are different, the opponents are different, but I think in the last 15 years they have had an amazing career. If they win a World Cup, of course, it will be in the memory forever, but you can’t forget what they did in the past,” added Figo.
From a statistical point of view, Ronaldo, who played under Figo in the 2006 World Cup, and who would inherit the latter’s iconic number 7 shirt for the national team, continues to make history. His penalty against Ghana in a 3-2 win for Portugal on Thursday made him the first male player to score in five World Cups. Going back to that 2006 campaign, where Portugal equaled their previous best result (1966) by reaching the semi-finals, did Figo imagine that Ronaldo would become one of the greatest players of all time?
“You can’t predict anything, but you could see in that moment that he had a lot of talent, that he could achieve great things,” he said.
Coming back to the present, although the former Barcelona and Real Madrid star considers Fernando Santos’ Portugal to be ‘one of the best teams in the competition in terms of talent’, he didn’t shy away from naming Brazil as his favorite for the title. “We have a very good team, very good players who play in the best clubs in the world…Portugal can win, of course, but Brazil are the strongest team,” he said, expressing his admiration for the scintillating second in the Selecao. half against Serbia in their opening game on Thursday. “They played very fast, were very aggressive with and without the ball. They created a lot with their attacking game. But it’s not just about this game. In terms of players, they have two teams and in a competition like this one is very important.”
Although the star striker Neymar is ruled out of the remaining group matches with an ankle injury, Figo said the perceived setback could well work in Brazil’s favor heading into the tournament’s knockout stages. “He can rest,” smiles Figo, “and be fit for the rest (from the tournament). I don’t know how hard the injury is and how he will come back. Of course, you can’t put another player with the same quality as Neymar, but they have so many top players on the bench that if he rests for two games and then comes back fresh, that could be very valuable for Brazil.”
The former Ballon d’Or praised the performances of the Asian teams, which lit up the opening week in Qatar, while reserving praise for Carlos Queiroz’s Iran. “It’s good for football, for other confederations to have this success. I’m very happy for Iran because the country is going through a difficult situation and I have one of my best friends who is coaching Iran, so I’m happy for him. I know the difficulties they must have had to prepare.”
“Winning doesn’t always depend on the quality of the individual, it depends on a lot of other things,” Figo, who is part of Viacom18 Sports’ expert panel for the World Cup, said on Saturday. “Of course it’s more prestigious if you win a world title or a European title, but that doesn’t mean that their career or what they did in the past was not footballing history. That So it depends on each person’s point of view.
Despite all the successes and accolades Ronaldo and Messi have shared over the past 15 years, the ultimate prize in football has eluded the two Portuguese and Argentine superstars, ever since they made their World Cup bows at Germany 2006. With Ronaldo closing in on 38 and Messi, 35, both players are aware that the current edition in Qatar may well represent their last chance to join Pele and Maradona among the pantheon of World Cup-winning legends.
“I don’t like to compare because the generations are different, the football players are different, the opponents are different, but I think in the last 15 years they have had an amazing career. If they win a World Cup, of course, it will be in the memory forever, but you can’t forget what they did in the past,” added Figo.
From a statistical point of view, Ronaldo, who played under Figo in the 2006 World Cup, and who would inherit the latter’s iconic number 7 shirt for the national team, continues to make history. His penalty against Ghana in a 3-2 win for Portugal on Thursday made him the first male player to score in five World Cups. Going back to that 2006 campaign, where Portugal equaled their previous best result (1966) by reaching the semi-finals, did Figo imagine that Ronaldo would become one of the greatest players of all time?
“You can’t predict anything, but you could see in that moment that he had a lot of talent, that he could achieve great things,” he said.
Coming back to the present, although the former Barcelona and Real Madrid star considers Fernando Santos’ Portugal to be ‘one of the best teams in the competition in terms of talent’, he didn’t shy away from naming Brazil as his favorite for the title. “We have a very good team, very good players who play in the best clubs in the world…Portugal can win, of course, but Brazil are the strongest team,” he said, expressing his admiration for the scintillating second in the Selecao. half against Serbia in their opening game on Thursday. “They played very fast, were very aggressive with and without the ball. They created a lot with their attacking game. But it’s not just about this game. In terms of players, they have two teams and in a competition like this one is very important.”
Although the star striker Neymar is ruled out of the remaining group matches with an ankle injury, Figo said the perceived setback could well work in Brazil’s favor heading into the tournament’s knockout stages. “He can rest,” smiles Figo, “and be fit for the rest (from the tournament). I don’t know how hard the injury is and how he will come back. Of course, you can’t put another player with the same quality as Neymar, but they have so many top players on the bench that if he rests for two games and then comes back fresh, that could be very valuable for Brazil.”
The former Ballon d’Or praised the performances of the Asian teams, which lit up the opening week in Qatar, while reserving praise for Carlos Queiroz’s Iran. “It’s good for football, for other confederations to have this success. I’m very happy for Iran because the country is going through a difficult situation and I have one of my best friends who is coaching Iran, so I’m happy for him. I know the difficulties they must have had to prepare.”
