Cristiano Ronaldo

Never lacking in confidence, Cristiano Ronaldo chose himself this week during a discussion about the greatest soccer player of all time.

As part of an interview Monday on Spanish television show El Chiringuito (h/t ESPN's Alex Kirkland and Rodrigo Faez), Ronaldo called himself the most complete player in history, saying:

"I'm talking about numbers. I think I'm the most complete player to have existed. In my opinion, I think it's me. I do everything well in football: with my head, free kicks, left foot. I'm fast, I'm strong.

"One thing is taste—if you like [Lionel] Messi, Pelé, [Diego] Maradona, I understand that and I respect that—but saying Ronaldo isn't complete... I'm the most complete. I haven't seen anybody better than me, and I say it from the heart."

Ronaldo, 39, is the all-time leading scorer in major professional soccer with 923 career goals, although there have been times when he has been considered somewhat one-dimensional since he doesn't contribute much defensively, nor does he set up his teammates particularly often.

The Al Nassr star argued against that narrative, though, noting that he is the most complete player due to the vast array of ways in which he is able to score.

"Who's the best goal scorer in history? It's about numbers. Full stop.

"Who's the player in history who's scored most goals with their head, their left foot, penalties, free kicks? I was looking the other day, and not being left-footed, I'm in the top 10 goal scorers with their left foot in history. And with my head, and with my right foot, and penalties. All of them."

Messi, who is second on the all-time scoring list with 850 goals, is seemingly more often considered the GOAT than Ronaldo due to his combination of scoring and playmaking.

Additionally, the current MLS star has significantly more individual accomplishments than Ronaldo does.

Ronaldo has won the Ball d'Or Award as the top player in the world on five occasions, plus he is a five-time UEFA Champions League winner, and he won the European Championship with Portugal in 2016.

Messi, 37, has won the Ballon d'Or eight times to go along with four UEFA Champions League titles and two Copa América titles with Argentina.

What perhaps sets Messi apart from Ronaldo most of all is his success in the FIFA World Cup. Messi won the World Cup in 2022, and he won the Golden Ball as the World Cup's best player in both 2014 and 2022.

A World Cup is the one major accomplishment Ronaldo has never achieved, and when considering that Messi, Pelé and Maradona all won the World Cup, it is fair to wonder if not winning a World Cup takes the Portuguese star out of the GOAT conversation.

Cristiano Ronaldo may not be plying his trade in one of the best leagues in the world anymore, but the Portuguese star continues to enjoy a following that rivals almost any athlete around.

On Thursday, Ronaldo published an interview with noted YouTuber MrBeast. The video garnered more than four million views within three-plus hours of its release.

MrBeast has more subscribers than any other channel with 331 million and counting. He marveled at how quickly Ronaldo amassed a sizable audience base with 67.5 million subscribers only months after launching his account.

"Honestly, I thought you were gonna do 20-30 million in the first month," MrBeast said, per TMZ Sports. "When you did 60, I was like, 'Oh my gosh.' The most ever gained before in a month was 20 million, and that was us."

Between all of his social media accounts, Ronaldo surpassed 1 billion followers in September and became the first person ever to hit that benchmark.

MrBeast might want to take a few pointers.

Manchester City's Erling Haaland scored his 100th goal for Manchester City in his 105th appearance for the club, tying Cristiano Ronaldo's European record as the fastest man to reach 100 goals with a European club.

Haaland achieved the feat early in Sunday's crucial Premier League showdown against Arsenal, a match featuring the league's two title favorites.

Ronaldo accomplished the feat back in 2011 during his time with Real Madrid.

The 24-year-old forward has been on an absolute tear this season, with 10 goals through his first five Premier League matches. It's an even more stunning form than he showed in his debut season at City back in the 2022-23 campaign, when he notched 36 goals in 33 EPL starts.

Last year was a more muted—albeit still incredibly clinical—campaign, with 27 goals in 29 EPL starts.

Haaland's blistering form comes has accompanied a perfect start to the 2024-25 season on the pitch for Manchester City, but it also comes while the team is on trial for an alleged 115 breaches of the EPL's financial regulations.

Per Reuters (h/t ESPN), City is facing charges related to "failing to provide accurate financial information; failing to provide full disclosure about player and manager remuneration; breaches of Premier League and UEFA financial fair play regulations; and a failure to cooperate with Premier League investigations," among others.

If found guilty, City is facing punishments that could range from fines and point deductions to potentially being removed altogether from competitions like the Premier League and Champions League.

That has cast something of a pall over the 2024-25 campaign for the defending champs, though it certainly hasn't affected Haaland's form.

It's a new era in world football.

The field for the 2024 men's Ballon d'Or trophy was released on Wednesday, showcasing the 30 nominees for the award. For the first time since 2003, neither Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo were featured on the list.

The two superstars have combined for 15 of the 21 awards issued since 2003, including every one from 2008-2017.

Ronaldo has not won the award since 2017 and was not nominated for the award in 2023 but Messi was the 2023 winner, so his omission may come as a bit of a shock. Additionally, both players continue to produce excellent statistics.

Messi—who is currently dealing with an injury—has scored 12 goals and 10 assists in 12 matches for Inter Miami CF while Ronaldo scored 35 goals in 2023-24 and has scored two goals in two games for Al-Nassr in 2024-25.

These statistics have come in leagues that are considered lesser level of competition. According to GlobalFootballRankings, the Messi's MLS is rated as the No. 12 league in the world while Ronaldo's Pro League in Saudi Arabia is rated No. 33.

This is certainly a major contributor to the omission, as well as both player's elder age and the emergence of some strong talent across the major leagues.

The 2024 Ballon d'Or is set to be awarded Oct. 28 in Paris.

Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored the 899th goal of his professional career on Tuesday for his Saudi Pro League club Al-Nassr, says he wants to record 1,000 goals before retiring.

"Soon I will do 900, and after I will beat 1,000... I want to reach 1,000 goals," Ronaldo said on his official YouTube channel in an interview with former England national team star Rio Ferdinand (21:40 mark.)

The Portuguese star, who will turn 40 in February, said he believes he can accomplish the goal by age 41.

"If I [don't] have injuries, this is, for me, it's the most important," Ronaldo said. "I want that. I want that. For me, it's the best mark that I can have in football, is to reach, first, 900 goals.

"After, my challenge is to beat 1,000 goals, with one difference— all the goals that I score, they have video, so I can prove that."

Ronaldo scored goal No. 899 on Tuesday with a free kick during a win over Al Feiha that marked the 64th free-kick goal of his career.

It sounds like Ronaldo intends to score the 101 goals remaining between himself and the quadruple-digit mark for Portugal and for Al-Nassr, where he told Portuguese TV channel NOW on Tuesday he plans to retire.

"I don't know if I will retire soon, in two or three years, but probably I will retire here at Al-Nassr," Ronaldo said (h/t BBC's Sam Drury.)

Ronaldo confirmed in his interview with Ferdinand that he still saw himself as being some distance from retirement.

"The day that I start to feel that I'm not [producing] nothing, listen, I pack my bags and I go away," Ronaldo said. "But it's far from that."

Ronaldo will have the opportunity to score No. 900 when Al-Nassr returns to action on Sept. 13.

Cristiano Ronaldo celebrated the historic debut of his YouTube channel on Wednesday.

The legendary soccer star released a video unveiling a golden "play button," which is given to channels for surpassing one million subscribers, in front of his children.

The channel was an immediate success, hitting one million subscribers within 90 minutes of launching and becoming the fastest channel to ever achieve the milestone, per ESPN's Adriana Garcia.

The five-time Ballon d'Or winner posted 19 videos to the account, which has now racked up 21.6 million YouTube subscribers.

Ronaldo is no stranger to breaking social media records, as his 636 million Instagram followers are the most among any account on the platform. He also boasts 170 million followers on Facebook and 112.6 million more on X (h/t Garcia).

The 39-year-old forward is coming off a historic season on the field with Al Nassr in the Saudi Pro League. Ronaldo recorded 35 goals, representing a new single-season scoring record for the league.

He should also be receiving some more hardware for his YouTube accomplishments, as the former Real Madrid star's account is already eligible for the diamond play button by surpassing 10 million subscribers.

Cristiano Ronaldo led the line for Portugal during the 2024 Euros, starting all five games, though he failed to score a single goal in the tournament despite having the most shots of any player (23). It seemed possible it would be his final international appearance for his country, given that he's 39 years old.

But it's possible he isn't done with Portugal just yet, as he hinted Monday on a social media post (h/t ESPN's Adriana Garcia).

"We wanted more. We deserved more. For us. For each one of you. For Portugal," he wrote in regards to the team's quarterfinal loss against France, which went to penalties. "We are grateful for everything you have given us and for everything we have achieved so far. On and off the field, I am sure that this legacy will be honored and will continue to be built. Together."

His potential return may not be met with open arms, however, as his performance at the Euros was widely criticized:

Ronaldo's career with Portugal has been nothing short of brilliant, but all good things eventually end. Perhaps somebody needs to remind him of that fact.