Zlatan Ibrahimovic has claimed Brazilian Ronaldo deserves to be remembered as the best footballer of all time, saying his talent was more 'natural' than that of his namesake Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ronaldo, 40, won numerous titles with Inter Milan, Barcelona and Real Madrid while also inspiring Brazil to a World Cup triumph in 2002, eventually finishing an esteemed international career with 62 goals in 98 caps.
In comparison, Cristiano Ronaldo has become Real Madrid's all-time top goalscorer and won three Champions League titles as well as the European Championships with Portugal.Â
Manchester United striker Ibrahimovic, himself arguably in the running for the label of best ever, was asked to compare the two prolific goalscorers in a recent interview and, as usual, was not afraid to speak his mind.Â
'I think Ronaldo, Il Fenomeno, was the best,' he told ESPN Brasil.
'He was an example of what football is. Everything he did was like 'wow'. The way he dribbled, the way he ran.'Â
'Ronaldo was natural, he was born to be what he was. It was not something he trained to become. This type of player is not made, he is born. He is unique.'
On Cristiano Ronaldo, he said: 'It is different because he is the result of hard training. It is not natural.'
Ibrahimovic has had some career when it comes to goalscoring himself, netting 50 times in 2016 alone. Only Lionel Messi of Barcelona can boast a better record than that with 51 goals in the same period.
His incredible form for the Red Devils has come as a surprise to critics who believed the Premier League would chew up and spit out a 35-year-old with plenty of miles on the clock, but he has since proved he can still mix it with the best.
While Manchester United prepare to extend his contract by a further 12 months, Ibrahimovic appears to be thinking about his next move already and said he would consider playing in Brazil one day.
He said: 'Maybe I should go to Brazil, you never know... [Maybe] I'd enjoy my football there.'