Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo should wake up every day and be thankful that he got to play with Karim Benzema at Real Madrid.
That’s according to Antonio Cassano, who believes the Frenchman was one of the key reasons Ronaldo scored so many goals for the Spanish giants.
Benzema again confirmed his status as one of the best strikers in Europe at this moment in time this week, with a hattrick helping Real Madrid to a 3-1 win over Chelsea in the Champions League quarter-finals.
The Frenchman has been flourishing in recent years, particularly since Ronaldo departed for Juventus in 2018.
He’s filled the hole since the Portuguese star’s departure, though, scoring 30 goals in 2018/19, 27 in 2019/20, 30 in 2020/21 and now 37 so far this season.
His hattrick this week has led to fierce debate about who is actually the better player, and Cassano has come out fighting for the Frenchman.
“In football, there are not only titles and goals, Zidane scored few goals, but he is one of the greatest in history, Riquelme too,” he told Bobo TV, relayed by Area Napoli.
“Goals are useful, titles are useful, but they are not the fundamental things. Cristiano Ronaldo has to pray in the morning and say, “Thank you, Benzema, that you played with me.
“Benzema, this year and last year, has scored 50 goals and assists this year and last year over 30 goals. Ronaldo scores and will always score, but he’s a different player; Benzema is a goalscoring centre forward, but he’s also Zidane; he’s a 9, he’s a ten and a nine and a half.”
That’s something that fellow retiree Christian Vieri couldn’t agree with, however, as he jumped to the defence of the Manchester United man.
“You can’t say that; Ronaldo was devastating. They were both in a very strong team,” he replied.
“At Juve, there was no Benzema, and Ronaldo scored 100 goals. Ronaldo is the greatest goal scorer in history.”
