Portugal begin their UEFA Euro 2016 campaign with a clash with Iceland on Tuesday, as the 2004 runners-up look to finally end their long wait for the crown and lift the title in France.
They will be looking to star attacker and captain Cristiano Ronaldo to inspire Selecção das Quinas to the European Championship trophy, and to help, the 31-year-old has received a huge confidence boost ahead of their opening game.
The three-time Ballon d’Or winner earned the backing of Brazilian legend Pele, with the three-time World Cup winner hailing the Real Madrid superstar as the “best player in the world”. This come after Cristiano’s recent loss to Lionel Messi in the 2015 Ballon d’Or award, held back in January.
Pele admitted that if he was to build a national team, his first pick would be the Portugal captain, a man who recently led Los Blancos to an unprecedented 11th Champions League title in 2015/16.
However, the 75-year-old confessed that he is sad to see the beautiful game being dominated by only two players – Cristiano and Leo – which he sees as a decline from the old days where several star names were at a single club.
Speaking to Sportsmail, Pele said:
"At the moment the best player in the world is Ronaldo.
"I admire him, if I had to set up a national team he would be my first pick.
"But in the meantime I feel sorry because today and the last five years, you just mention two big stars. Some years ago, you had a lot of players.
"You have Bale and Neymar, but they are not enough. You used to have two or three players in one team who were stars. Now there are that many in the world. It's a shame. The game deserves more great players."
Pele also advised against comparing Cristiano to the likes of Maradona, Messi, and himself, insisting that the former Man United winger plays a different role to the three aforementioned South Americans.
"But we cannot compare Pele and Maradona with Cristiano because we were players who came from behind. We played deeper. He plays in front. He's more like [the Brazilian] Ronaldo. This you can compare.
"It's the same with Messi. They are two players with completely different styles. Messi is playing more from midfield, he is an excellent player and passer. But Ronaldo is more forward, the No 9, the striker. He has a different style to Messi."
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