Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo has been lavished with the highest praise following his display in the demolition of Roma, with team-mate Patrice Evra claiming the Portuguese can be "better than Pele or Maradona".

Ronaldo scored twice in the amazing 7-1 destruction of Roma at Old Trafford as he put in yet another scintillating performance to which the Italians rarely had an answer.

The 22-year-old is set to sweep the board in the player-of-the-year polls and Evra, who also found the back of the net on Tuesday, believes he can go on to become one of the game's all-time greats.

"Cristiano can do the same job as Pele or [Diego] Maradona or [George] Best," Evra said. "He can be like them. The great thing about him, he does not do it just in training, he does it on the pitch. And he does not do it for himself, he does it for the team, for the fans and for the winning of the game."

Ronaldo's sparkling form has helped United into the semi-finals of both the FA Cup and the Champions League, and the Red Devils are still on course for an unprecedented second treble as they stand three points clear at the top of the Premiership.

But Evra refuses to get carried away with thoughts of such success and remains focused on the job in hand.

The France international said: "If we win nothing, people will say, 'well, United played good football', but to me that is not enough. It we win nothing it will have been a bad season. We must win one trophy or two. Three would be unbelievable, but anything is possible."

"When everything is going well is when things can become dangerous," Evra told L'Equipe. "The end of the season can be brilliant or like a bad dream for us. In football only trophies count.

"I've already experienced [a title run-in like this] with Monaco in 2004. We had a 10-point lead on Lyon in January and we qualified for the final of the Champions League. By the end, we had won nothing. I know at what point things go wrong. I don't want to re-live that."

Meanwhile, the rumours linking Ronaldo to a move away from Old Trafford look set to continue, with the Guardian reporting that Real Madrid are set to table a £54 million offer to lure him to the Spanish capital.

The newspaper reported that 'Real Madrid have stepped up their attempt to sign [Ronaldo] by meeting his agent and agreeing a course of action that directors at the Bernabeu believe will end with the Portugal winger becoming their latest galáctico'.

Ronaldo has recently reiterated his desire to remain at United, but has not ruled out the possibility of playing in Spain at some stage of his career.

eurosport

wtf ?? Only thing he can do is tricks and no skills

Fine by me! I never liked Pele anyway.

Garrincha was da man!!!!!!!!!!!

But I hate these comparisons. CR will be CR! He's great and his future looks bright. But both Pele and Maradona also shined in International level! Can he do that? He hasn't been as effective for the Portugal NT as he's been for United.


He is a team player but he also plays a lot for himself!


I think he'll go to Barcelona if he leaves United... who knows?

Oh please Now THIS is taking it TOO far.

I admit the guy is probably in the form of his life but I think all this hype is ridiculous, Getting in 2 past Roma when they have already given up shouldn't be such a hard task.

I don't really know I never saw Pele on live TV or at a stadium I just hear things. I saw C.Ronaldo a few years ago and he was something else then, god knows what he's like now I remember trying to watch his feet when he had the ball and trust me there far quicker in life than they are on TV!

I don't think he's up to Pele's standards yet, from what I get told anyway

He'll never be, even, the best portuguese player of all time.

Eusébio in the 60's was the man. Portugal got the 3rd place in England's World Cup thanks to him.

Well, if we win the next World Cup... or in 2014, then maybe we can consider that. Otherwise... he'll be another Figo, Rui Costa, Paulo Sousa... like those.

Even though Rui is pure class and I have a lot of respect for him, I think Ronaldo will be better than all of those players you mentioned. It's only a matter of time until he wins the Golden Ball.

He has signed a new 5 year contract with United so it seems like he won't be going anywhere

Defintely not better than Figo IMO. I've never actually seen Eusebio, so Figo is the best football player from Portugal I've ever seen, and in the late 90ies and early 2000s he was, besides Zizou, THE player. Maybe Cristiano (whom I really admire as a player) will one day be as good as him.

Figo was great without a doubt but I think Ronaldo is more talented but whether he can fulfil his potential (ability and trophies) over the years is up to him.

I really don't think he's more talented than Figo. I mean OK, consideringhis age he's outstanding, but for me there are only a hand full of players or so in the last 50 years which were better than Figo.

I don't think Figo was that great but each one sees it differently

I think Rui in his Viola days was better than Figo.

Ronaldo cannot be judged from one season. Both Figo and Rui Costa had continuous great seasons while he is only in his first real world class one.

If you look back at Kaka's first season (full season, '03/'04) he was unstoppable. Every time he got the ball it was as if Milan were using some video game-style super special move... he was extraordinary. CR is in that position now. But as with Kaka, defenders will learn how to constrain him to some point and then is when great footballers stand out. If he still manages to be effective the next years he will be among the great ones of his generation. Now, he's got a super season... but almost everyone's got one!

Good, keeps the English league slightly more watchable, thing is now Madrid will maybe come calling for Kaka even more heavily now.

There's still Robben for them to get. Just need to hype him up a little and all will be fine! Or at least he's who I wish their next target is gonna be...

Good, he started off amazingly in the Premiership with some amazing runs and goals but since then all I've seen is a whingy, diving, 2nd rate player!

Ronaldinho signed 4 contracts on the last 5 years. So what? That doesn't mean anything. Real or Barca can get him this Summer.

This man speaketh the truth

That balding youngster...

Usually agree with you but disagree here, there is absolutely no chance that Ronaldo will leave United in the summer now.

1 word springs to mind with the younger ronaldo overrated

i don't like him as a player to me he optimise's manure, overrated, whinging cheat!

What?! I can understand Rooney but Ronaldo there is no way this boy is overrated especially with this season's performances.

CRonaldo wont go anywhere this summer.
I guess he just liked all this news/hype/talk about him and "played around".
He's content in ManUtd, and with SAF you don't get someone like him right under his nose easily.

He is M.United. If they win the title this year I'd say 50% of the success is because of him.

But he's also a fvckin' ****. (Like the English love to say)
A diver, an idiot sometimes... etc.

Overrated? Yes. Why? Simply because he plays in EPL and all the players are down there.

The Italian and Spanish league never hype up their players do they

I think the English always "hyped more" (wtf?!) their players than the Italians or Spanish. But by this time... I can undestand - EPL is the best league in the world like it or not.

I don't think he's over rated but the media is just making such a big deal out of it to the point that it's becoming sickening.

Comparing him to Maradona and Pele and saying that he is better then them.

Especially after the Roma game things have went into over drive, but what did you expect a player of his class to do when Roma practically didn't have a midfield and their defence was sleeping for the entire match? If you put players like him Kaka, R10 or Messi in that situation then it's obvious that they will tear you apart on their own.

He's world class no dount but this is too much, the English media are just overdoing it more then usual, plus this is only his FIRST consistant season with Man U.

I just hope this all get's to his head and he implodes in San Siro.

just kaka can be in that position right now (about being better than pele), in fact, in brazil, there are some people that say that kaka is playing in the same role than pele in his days...

simply kaka

He will stay there for sure. He has got the big contract that he wanted and United is willing to do everything for him.

...

He's very good. But if everyone keeps shouting it into your ear you just can't stand it. Once again; Time tells!! No player will ever be regarded as great just by one season...

I think he will stay at United for as long as SAF is there or for as long as they are successful. But it also seems to me that he wouldn't think twice if Madrid or Barcelona offered him twice the money he gets in United... so you can never tell for sure. The thing is that this new contract certainly does not rule out a summer move for him.

As for the English media, I think that they are the biggest "hypers" in the world. Not that the others don't do it but for them it's like a part of their job. They go to work and think like "Hmm... gotta write an article about Abramovic. Hmm... let's praise a couple of players too" . As every journalist they are quick to praise and quick to bring a man down... but in a more trigger-happy way. They got the gun and they like to use it A LOT! Second only to the Roman press when it comes to inflating matters!

Totally agree, on all points

Not trying to sound cocky or anything, but a lot of you say how the English media hypes up things on this forum, yet do you even read ENGLISH papers, see ENGLISH TV Broadcasts etc, just wondering...

www.soccernet.com has the answers...

Yes .. At least I do .. On that note, they had 3 guests on Real Madrid tv a couple of weeks ago; Spanish, Italian, and English .. plus the host was english .. They were discussing the different leagues and what not. Both English men shot down all the other leagues (german, etc..) and they even made the Spanish guy admit that the EPL is more interesting than La Liga, bcz of Madrid's performance over the years.

Then they had to give it a shot at the Italian, his reply was very modest about how Italian football has been on the decline after it was the best in the world for more than 10 years running (english men were laughing and making jokes ..), then he talked about the calciopoli (english talked about Milan and UEFA), then he talked about Juve (english reminded him of how Arsenal beat Juve last yr and how they can only win in the league..) .. He kept his cool and he then brought up the World Cup and said that Italia won the WC 4 times says that it has players of high quality and world class, and the fact that Italy won it in 2006 should underline how strong the Italian league is compared to the rest ..

.................

To aswer ur question, I do follow the englsih news, mostly not for football, but if it was for football, English news would be the last I would go for. Cuz they always tend to shoot down any foreign team, if they are in contest with english .. Skysports.com is a good example as bbc.uk ..

I read UK sites and watch Sky Sports yeah! Not on a daily basis but I do. Look what I'm saying has nothing to do with the English people... I should have said journalists of the UK (not just English). And by blowing up things I mean they tend to praise so much that whether who they praise is worth it (usually he/she is) or not it feels like they are trying to force us into believing what they are trying to say!

For example CR is worth the praise. But during a game you're going to hear that he's great every single time he touches the ball (even if he makes a mistake, it's like 'Oh, a great wrong pass to nowhere'...) and you're going to hear them compare him with all the greats... I mean... please, give me a break! I know he's great now shut up and let me enjoy it...

On the other hand, how many athletes have been labeled as great when they are not? There has been so much said about Tim Henman one might think he's the all time top grand slam winner. And he hasn't even reached a grand slam final for God's sake!!! I remember reading articles about how Ayrton Senna's record is going to look so unimportant when compared to Button's... And wasn't the English NT going to win the '06 WC or what?

*hic* yo ho yo ho a pirate's life for me....

Oh sheesh...this is the wrong topic...g'nite ladiesh and gentsh....

yeah the poms have got it all backwards...*hic* over estimate their fussball team and under estimate their cricket team.

Everything we get here in Malta is from England so basically yes.

For example, watching Chelsea TV and all they do is say that every player they have in their team is the best in the world at his position. Now this is sort of ok, they are Chelsea supporters and are entitled to feel this way.

But it is sort of like an example of how all the Brotish journalists behave toward their league, their national team and their clubs.

They do overhype things more then the others.

As dst said about CR's issue, ok he's been good this season, but this has only been his first consistant season after already being there for 3 years. CR is in the form of his life atm and everyone can admit that he is one of the best in the world, but when it gets to the extent that they are exxagerating things, then you just have to say that this is too much

I personally can't wait to see what happen if it's an all English final in the CL, we'll probably won't stop hearing about it for the next 50 years

Ohh come on .. it'll probablly die off in 35 yrs from now, don't over exagerate han

It'll suck if you live in the US, which fawns all over English football (and Barca and Madrid in the CL) in between our overdose of MLS (Most Languid Soccer) programming. It's almost as if Milan are representing Europe outside of England as a whole.

<begins rant>
I'm going nowhere with this it's 1000-1 so there really is no point of me replying to posts because it will get shot down and analyzed.

All I can say is this forum carries a hell of a lot of anti-Englishism about it and fair enough so do other countries but this one in particular. The amount of comments I hear about saying ah I hate them because they are English, in the Champions League "I want all the English teams out" etc.

The fact is (not hype, fact) that the EPL has 3 teams out of 4 in Europe's prestigious tournament. When Italy did this all we heard was how great there league was and we had ITALIAN pundits saying how great the league was how superior it was to every other league... Fair enough they achieved it and deserved it, this past decade the Serie A and La Liga have been streets ahead of the EPL but not now...

The minute anyone says who's ENGLISH that the EPL is great, it's over biased, hyped up, full of themselves etc...

I'm not trying to be mass-patriotic or anything but I really have no idea when 80% of you hate this country yet you have no clue, absolutely no clue what it's about... I know that's above football but so are most of the ENGLISH hatred posts on here.
</ends rant>

Me, I'm not anti-English. There are other countries I dislike but I have nothing against England (only against a small part of it, Merseyside). You may not feel this cause you're English yourself but in the rest of Europe the feeling is that it's the English vs everyone else. You always seem to cloister yourselves sometimes with an air of superiority and that is why IMO this anti-Englishism appears, only because you call it forth some times intentionally.

If you look back at time you can see that your nation has always distanced itself... you created football and because of this fact you refused to play internationally for many years because you thought that nobody else was good enough to play. Some characteristics (especially the bad ones - I know cause I'm Greek and we have always been faulty) never go, they stay there haunting nations.

Although this anti-Englishism is obvious noone will refuse the fact that the EPL is clearly the best league right now. I doubt though that all English admit Serie A or La Liga used to be a better championship. And you can see the bias on certain matters such as Milan being in the CL this year... every thread and article in English forums/sites begins with "Although Milan were initially out of the competition..." What is this??

My opinion is that there is bias and anti-ism from both sides equally...

Yeah that is very true to be fair.

Respect.