Cristiano Ronaldo Is The 'Michael Jordan' Of Football, Claims Manchester United Star Defender

Manchester United winger Jesse Lingard has termed Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo as the 'Michael Jordan' of soccer.

Ahead of the restart of the National Basketball Association (NBA) season on July 30, Lingard spoke to Sky Sports, where he compared Ronaldo’s achievements in soccer to NBA legend Jordan, who won six championships with the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s.

Lingard, who is a supporter of NBA team Toronto Raptors, was asked to pick a soccer player, who could be compared to Jordan. The Man Utd defender replied with Ronaldo’s name, who has scored over 600 goals and is the only player in the history of soccer to have won three top-flight leagues multiple times: Premier League, England (3 titles), La Liga (2 titles) and Serie A, Italy ( 2 titles).

"I have to say, Cristiano Ronaldo. Everything he has achieved in his career. He has been at plenty of clubs and won many trophies. I believe he is a real icon of football, Michael Jordan of football. When [Ronaldo] first came to Manchester United, I was 11 or 12. We did a skills DVD and it was him teaching us skills which were good. That was the first time I had seen him. He was young and skinny when he came [to the club]," Lingard told Sky Sports.

Recalling a pre-season game where Lingard faced Ronaldo, the 27-year-old defender said, "I have played against him a few times. Did he give me trouble? No, he wasn't too bad, to be fair! There was one game in pre-season where he came on and you could see the skills and the qualities that he brought."

Ronaldo kickstarted his professional career at Sporting Lisbon before he moved to Man Utd in 2003. His journey really took off at the Old Trafford, where he scored 118 goals in as many as 292 competitive appearances. He won nine titles with Sir Alex Ferguson’s side before he moved to the La Liga side Real Madrid.

He had an unbelievable career in Spain where he netted mind-boggling 450 goals in just 438 games. He clinched four Champions League trophies with Real Madrid before he chose to leave the side in the summer of 2018 and moved to Serie A champions Juventus.