Former Italy and Real Madrid forward Antonio Cassano has slammed Portuguese great Cristiano Ronaldo. Cassano, who retired in 2017, said that Ronaldo can score as many goals as he wants but “doesn’t know how to play football”. Cassano played briefly for Real Madrid between 2006 and 2008, leaving a year before Ronaldo arrived at the club on a world-record transfer from Manchester United.

Ronaldo went on to become the club’s highest-ever goalscorer, netting a whopping 450 goals in just 458 appearances across nine seasons in the Spanish capital. The 39-year-old recently scored his 900th goal for club and country. “Cristiano Ronaldo doesn’t know how to play football,” Cassano said on Viva El Futbol podcast.

Cassano said that he puts the likes of Sergio Aguero, Robert Lewandowski, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Luis Suarez and Ronaldo’s former Real Madrid teammate Karim Benzema above him because they are better at linking up with teammates.

“He could score 3000 goals, I don’t give a f**k. [Gonzalo] Higuain, [Sergio] Aguero, [Karim] Benzema, [Robert] Lewandowski, [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic and [Luis] Suarez knew how to link-up with the team. They knew how to do a lot of things, unlike Ronaldo whose only objective has always been to score,” he said.

Ronaldo helps Al-Nassr make good start under new manager

Ronaldo helped Al-Nassr make a good start to life under new coach Stefano Pioli, scoring the first goal in a 3-0 win over Ettifaq. Ronaldo, who missed Al-Nassr’s 1-1 draw in the AFC Champions League Elite with Al-Shorta of Iraq on Monday due to a viral infection, fired home from the penalty spot after 33 minutes for his third goal of the season.

In the second half, Salem Al-Najdi and Anderson Talisca added to the scoreline. The defeat was the first this season for Ettifaq but the team coached by Steven Gerrard stayed third. Al-Nassr moved to fourth.