A massive career that has spanned over twenty years and includes 1200 games has come into question thanks to Eden Hazard. While he may have scored more than 850 goals, the focus is on whether he truly enjoyed the journey rather than just the end result. Wayne Rooney and Eden Hazard seem to agree on this point. After Hazard claimed that Ronaldo is not superior to him in terms of gameplay, Rooney supports this notion by explaining why Hazard is actually better than Ronaldo when it comes to ‘pure football’.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s dedication to the game is boundless. The captain of the Portuguese team has made it clear that he is not finished and intends to keep playing, even at the age of 39. However, despite his ability to lead teams through goal-scoring, he is not seen as passionate as other players. Perhaps the rivalry stemming from the Euro red card incident is still simmering.
Rooney, who took a jab at Ronaldo’s second stint at Manchester United over a year ago, now believes that Ronaldo doesn’t care much about enjoying the sport. During a podcast with Youtuber Lyes Bouzidi, Rooney stated, “So, for example, Cristiano Ronaldo’s focus is solely on goals. He doesn’t care about anything else, just scoring goals. Whereas if you look at Messi, for instance, he wants to play more, and I think this is what Hazard is saying.” The former Everton player also claims to be more like Hazard and Messi, who take pleasure in being with the ball.
Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo, who were teammates for four years and formed a successful partnership, have been at odds for some time now. However, this time, Rooney directly supports the claim that Ronaldo is not the greatest player in terms of on-field performance. He states, “Cristiano is a bigger player than me, but when it comes to pure football, I honestly don’t think so.”
Cristiano Ronaldo is often hailed as the greatest goal scorer of all time, with 873 goals to his name. However, he has yet to receive the title of the best player. Rooney also uses the example of his rival Lionel Messi, who is known for his dribbling skills and has more assists to his name.
Furthermore, Rooney mentions that he prefers to cover a larger area of the field and enjoy the gameplay, rather than just playing in attacking positions and focusing solely on scoring goals. He explains, “I wanted to play football, you know, and I could have been more selfish by staying up top and scoring more goals, but I wanted to play and enjoy the game.” Hazard’s comments have also sparked backlash from the fans of Al Nassr’s captain.
According to the Source essentiallysports.com