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Portugal and Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo has tested positive for coronavirus, the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) has announced.
The 35-year-old is not showing any symptoms and has been sent home from international duty to self-isolate.
Portugal face Sweden in a Nations League Group C game on Wednesday.
It’s the most heated debate in football: who is the greatest of all time, Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi? Now Iker Casillas has had his say, claiming that his former team-mate’s feats in football are superior to those of his one-time rival in La Liga.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s achievements in football are “more impressive” than those of Lionel Messi, according to his former team-mate Iker Casillas.
While Messi has won six Ballons d’Or to Ronaldo’s five, Casillas has weighed in in favour of the man he shared a dressing room with at the Bernabeu.
Ronaldo’s work ethic is legendary and Casillas believes that the fact Messi has more innate talent means Ronaldo has in fact had to work harder to achieve what he has in football.
“Cristiano always had huge desire to be the best, ever since he was a boy and I believe he has achieved that,” said Casillas, in quotes reported by As.
“If I have to compare him to Messi, what Cristiano has done is more impressive because we all know the talent Messi has, but Cristiano was determined and worked hard to be the best.
“I feel we have been lucky to have been able to enjoy two phenomenal players. For people that don’t know Cristiano, he can appear to be cocky and arrogant, but it’s totally the opposite.”
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo will face off for the first time since the latter’s move to Turin from Real Madrid two years ago
Barcelona will face Juventus in the group stage of the Champions League after they were paired together in Group G in the draw, which took place in Geneva on Thursday.
The heavyweight fixture will see Cristiano Ronaldo come up against Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi for the first time since his move to Juventus from Real Madrid in the summer of 2018.
The two men, who have shared 11 of the last 12 Ballon d’Or awards between them, enjoyed a historic rivalry in La Liga, and will resume hostilities in Europe’s elite competition next month.
Barca and Juve have been joined in Group G by Dynamo Kiev and Ferencvaros, the Hungarian outfit who beat Celtic en-route to qualifying for the main draw for the first time in their history.
Meanwhile, Manchester United‘s return to the Champions League has been marked with a draw against last year’s Champions League finalists PSG, RB Leipzig and Istanbul Basaksehir in Group H.
Reigning champions Bayern Munich will play Atletico Madrid, Red Bull Salzburg and Lokomotiv Moscow in Group A for a place in the knockout stages, having got their hands on the trophy for the sixth time by beating PSG 1-0 in Lisbon on August 23.
Group D will see 2018 winners Liverpool, who suffered a surprise early exit at the hands of Atletico last term, square off against Ajax, Atalanta and Midtjylland.
13-time winners Real Madrid have been dealt a tough hand in Group B alongside Shakhtar Donetsk, Inter and Borussia Monchengladbach.
Manchester City were handed a more favourable draw against Porto, Olympiacos and Marseille in Group C, as they bid to win the competition for the first time in their history once again.
The last English side to qualify from the Premier League were Chelsea, who will play Europa League winners Sevilla, Krasnodar and Rennes, who will be making their first appearance on Europe’s biggest stage, in Group E.
In Group F, Zenit St Petersburg, Borussia Dortmund, Lazio and Club Brugge will do battle, with the 2020-21 edition of the Champions League set to kick off on October 20/21, with fixtures continuing through to early December to decide who will reach the last 16 stage.
Lionel Messi has been named No 1 in SportsPro’s 2020 list of the World’s 50 Most Marketable Athletes, with his rival Cristiano Ronaldo finishing in second spot.
The two lead the field globally, ahead of NBA star LeBron James and India cricket captain Virat Kohli, but it’s a shock to see the Barcelona player placed ahead of his rival at Juventus.
CR7 has often been listed as the world’s most marketable athlete and is the planet’s most followed person on Instagram (238 million compared to Messi’s 167 million).
But Messi is the reigning Ballon d’Or winner and SportsPro’s study allowed for factors such as “social following, content engagement, fanbase growth over time, media value, and the performance of branded versus organic content.”
There is an argument that because Ronaldo is seen to work with a greater number of sponsors and brands than Messi, the Argentine might be perceived as therefore more valuable to those he does choose to endorse.
SportsPro admitted it was “narrow” between the pair, who are undoubtedly the two most high-profile sportspeople on the planet. And there can be little argument with their putting the face of the NBA James in third, while Kohli – a sporting idol across India – is in fourth.
The top five is rounded out by the highest-placed female athlete: Canadian tennis player Bianca Andreescu, who won the US Open in 2019.
Football players dominate the list with three more in the top 10 alone: Brazil superstar Neymar (sixth), Liverpool’s Mo Salah (ninth) and Ronaldo’s teammate at Juventus, Paulo Dybala (10th).
In a surprise, the highest combat sports athlete is not Conor McGregor but his UFC rival Khabib Nurmagomedov, who takes seventh spot. Perhaps there is a feeling ‘The Notorious’ has damaged his standing with his outside the Octagon antics.
Anthony Joshua comes in at 31st, just ahead of his would-be heavyweight opponent Tyson Fury in 32nd (oddly, Mexican multi-weight champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez is absent altogether). However the highest British athlete overall is Lewis Hamilton, the Formula 1 ace who is in 21st place.
As usual, there’s a desire to show a variety of sports and to include some new names, which arguably skews the rankings (are there really 34 more marketable athletes on the planet than Roger Federer, who comes in at 35th?). But there’s plenty of interesting choices.
SportsPro’s full top 50 is below.
50. Russell Westbrook (Basketball)
49. Mikaela Shiffrin (Skiing)
48. Ashleigh Barty (Tennis)
47. Dorothea Wierer (Biathlon)
46. Katelyn Ohashi (Gymnastics)
45. Katrin Davidsdottir (Crossfit)
44. Giannis Antetokounmpo (Basketball)
43. Zion Williamson (Basketball)
42. Anthony Davis (Basketball)
41. Carissa Moore (Surfing)
40. Bethany Hamilton (Surfing)
39. Dele Alli (Soccer)
38. Kelia Termini (Surfing)
37. Charles Leclerc (Motorsport)
36. Luka Doncic (Basketball)
35. Roger Federer (Tennis)
34. Son Heung-min (Soccer)
33. Naomi Osaka (Tennis)
32. Tyson Fury (Boxing)
31. Anthony Joshua (Boxing)
30. Tom Brady (US Football)
29. Anna Gasser (Snowboarding)
28. Rafael Nadal (Tennis)
27. Sky Brown (Skateboarding)
26. Patrick Mahomes (US Football)
25. Megan Rapinoe (Soccer)
24. Jorge Masvidal (MMA)
23. Virgil van Dijk (Soccer)
22. Dina Asher-Smith (Athletics)
21. Lewis Hamilton (Motorsport)
20. Robert Lewandowski (Soccer)
19. Paul Pogba (Soccer)
18. Coco Gauff (Tennis)
17. Alex Morgan (Soccer)
16. Erling Haaland (Soccer)
15. Kylian Mbappe (Soccer)
14. Simone Biles (Gymnastics)
13. Steph Curry (Basketball)
12. Ryan Garcia (Boxing)
11. Eden Hazard (Soccer)
10. Paulo Dybala (Soccer)
9. Mohamed Salah (Soccer)
8. Rohit Sharma (Cricket)
7. Khabib Nurmagomedov (MMA)
6. Neymar Jr (Soccer)
5. Bianca Andreescu (Tennis)
4. Virat Kohli (Cricket)
3. LeBron James (Baskeball)
2. Cristiano Ronaldo (Soccer)
1. Lionel Messi (Soccer)
Cristiano Ronaldo is aging like a fine wine as his current goal stat shows that he has become a better goal scorer as time passes.
The Juventus superstar is continuing where he left off earlier this year as stats from Pro Football DB revealed that Ronaldo’s goal average has increased after turning 30 years old.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner tallied a total of 463 goals in 718 matches before turning 30 with an average of 0.64. Since then, “CR7” has become more efficient on the pitch and scored 279 goals in 299 matches to improve his average to 0.93.
At 35, Ronaldo has reaped the record books last season for the Old Lady. One of his latest accolades came in the derby against Torino on July 4. Ronaldo netted a free-kick goal, and in the process, set a new Serie A record. The phenomenal goal saw Ronaldo becoming the first player in 60 years to hit 25 goals for Juventus in a single Serie A season.
He followed it up by completing 50 career Serie A goals with his brace against Lazio on July 20, making him the first player in history to score 50 goals in Italy, England, Spain and the Champions League.
In the final match of Week 2 of the current Serie A season, Ronaldo once again proved that age is just a number with his sensational giant leap to score an equalizer against AS Roma Sunday. The 35-year-old came to the rescue after Adrien Rabiot was sent off, reducing Juve’s squad to just 10 men.
Ronaldo’s first goal came from the penalty spot after Lorenzo Pellegrini blocked his attempted shot with an extended arm. The second, however, saved the reigning Serie A champion from suffering its first loss of the season as Ronaldo soared for the ball and hung in the air to guide Danilo’s cross past Roma goalkeeper Antonio Mirante.
The goal was indeed a thing of beauty as the Juventus talisman managed to hit the back of the net after hitting the ball using his head.
Despite scoring a highlight-worthy goal, Ronaldo admitted that the team endured a difficult match. He also lauded newly-appointed Juventus coach Andrea Pirlo for building camaraderie in the team.
“It was an important point, it was a difficult game, we went twice behind, we were ten. We are at the beginning of the championship, with a new coach, with new ideas, we have to work but I see a great future for this team,” Ronaldo told Sky Sports after the match.
“With Pirlo, the team works harder and is happier,” he added. “The Italian league has so many strong teams, there is Inter, there is Milan, it is more difficult this year.”
Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the most accomplished footballers in the world and the Portuguese attacker is set to keep playing until he is 40, according to his national team manager, Fernando Santos.
The Portuguese attacker has shattered goal records at the different clubs that he has played for and at the age of 35, he is still going very strong at Juventus. He scored 450 goals in 438 games for Real Madrid before moving to Turin and he has already scored 68 goals in 91 matches for the Bianconeri.
He has also netted 101 times for the Portugal national team. After netting twice in Juve’s 2-2 draw against AS Roma the last time, it is clear to see that he will be around for a long time.
Fernando Santos has been the manager of the Portugal national team since 2014 and he has managed the talented frontman since that time.
They won the Euro2016 together as well as the Euro Nations League last year.
Quoted by TuttoJuve, he said: ‘I don’t know if it will happen, because he might feel like he’s no longer at the top physically or technically, but Cristiano Ronaldo can play until he’s 40. He won’t lower his level, he’s going to stop if he finds out. If he understands he can’t be Ronaldo it won’t be Ronalndinho. Of course I’m not talking about the Brazilian.”
