A LOOK BACK: Jose Mourinho’s opinion on football matters carries great weight, particularly when it comes to the identity of the greatest ever player to have graced the sport

Jose Mourinho is regularly held up as one of the greatest managers football has ever seen.

So his opinions go a long way when looking at who the best players to have graced a football pitch are. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are usually the leading candidates when crowning the world’s best-ever star.

Between them, they have won 63 major trophies at both club and international level, as well as taking home the Ballon d’Or 12 times combined. The latter award tends to be the way many judge a player’s greatness, with Messi having won it a record seven times.

But back in 2019, Mourinho opted to snub both Messi and Ronaldo when being asked his opinion. The Portuguese boss coached Ronaldo for three years during their shared time at Real Madrid.

He had previously gone up against the superstar attacker in the Premier League during his first spell as manager of Chelsea. Messi meanwhile was a frequent opponent for Mourinho was he was at Madrid, with the Argentina captain then playing for Barcelona.

But rather than selecting either of those pair as the world’s greatest player, Mourinho instead opted to select Ronaldo. Known as R9, the striker won the World Cup twice and picked up two Ballon d’Or trophies.

Mourinho selected Ronaldo as his greatest ever player back in 2019 ( Image: ullstein bild via Getty Images)

His career was tragically cut short by injury, with the striker particularly suffering knee issues. But despite that, Mourinho insisted that the Brazilian legend was the standout star from his time in the game.

Mourinho told LiveScore in 2019: “Ronaldo, El Fenomeno. Cristiano Ronaldo and Leo 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. Injuries killed a career that could have been even more incredible, but the talent that that 19-year-old boy had was something incredible.”

Ronaldo first burst onto the scene during a two-year spell at PSV Eindhoven, where he scored an astonishing 54 goals in 58 games. That earned him a move to Barcelona, where he worked alongside Mourinho, who was acting as Robson’s interpreter.

He would only spend one season at the Nou Camp though, before joining Inter Milan for a world record fee. The Brazilian starred in his first two seasons at the Serie A giants, before injuries began to disrupt his career.

Upon his return, he joined Real Madrid before seeing out his career with spells at AC Milan and Corinthians. In total he won 10 major trophies, having scored 414 goals in both club and international football.