Ronaldo Nazario has named his four greatest footballers of all time

Real Madrid and Brazil icon Ronaldo Nazario has named Lionel Messi among his four greatest players of all time.

Ronaldo is one of the greatest footballers of all time himself, having initially starred at Barcelona before making the move to Inter Milan.

It was at the Italian side where the Brazilian suffered two career-threatening knee injuries, which were partially due to degeneration.

But 'El Fenomeno' recovered from those huge setbacks and enjoyed some of the finest years of his career as one of the 'Galacticos' at Real Madrid.

He also won the World Cup in 2002 with Brazil - four years after huge controversy surrounded his participation in the final.

Ronaldo suffered a seizure hours before the final against France, but was passed fit to start the game. However, he didn't make a major impact as Brazil lost 2-0.

The three-time FIFA World Player of the Year remained at the Bernabeu for five years after his World Cup success, and retired in 2011 following spells with AC Milan and Corinthians.

With over 400 career goals to his name for club and country, he is one of the best forwards to ever play the game.

And speaking at an event hosted by Santander Bank in 2021, Ronaldo declared his picks for the four greatest players he believes have ever graced a football pitch.

He said (quotes via Goal): "For me, in the classification of the best in history, the four names would be Pele, [Diego] Maradona, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

"They are the top four in the history of football."

Although he understandably left himself out of his own list, Ronaldo has been named as the greatest player of all time by some of his contemporaries.

Speaking in 2021, Zlatan Ibrahimovic told Discovery Plus: "I always say you have the players that play the game, and the players that are the game.

For me, Ronaldo is the game. When you watch him play, everyone wanted to play like him and become like him.

"The way he was moving, the way he did his stepovers, the way he did 'the snake'. For me, he's the greatest player through history, no doubt."