The three best managers in football history according to Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo has had the pleasure of working with some of the best managers of all time, but who does he regard as the best coach in football history?
Over the last few years, Ronaldo has regularly spoken about the managers that he admires and three specific names always seem to pop up.
According to Ronaldo himself, these are the three best managers in football history.
Jose Mourinho
Ronaldo played 164 games under Mourinho and scored 168 goals – the most he’s ever scored under a manager.
While the Special One might have lost his spark in recent years, there can be no denying that he ranks among the greatest managers of all time.
“Work with Mourinho again? Why not? I would put him at the top, I always say that,” Ronaldo said during an interview in 2018.
“I have played for so many great coaches, but Mourinho was a big thinker analytically, he went into everything in great detail.”
CR7 averaged a goal or assist every 65.2 minutes while playing under the Portuguese coach and was arguably the best version of himself during that period from 2010 to 2013.
Sir Alex Ferguson
Ronaldo consistently speaks glowingly about Ferguson and he still shares a close bond with the Scotsman to this day.
Along with winning countless trophies under Ferguson, CR7 has always been appreciative of Ferguson’s man-management skills.
“Probably he doesn’t remember, but I will say it because it’s a beautiful story,” Ronaldo told the United website in 2021.
“One day, my father was in hospital, and I was so emotional, very low. And I spoke with him and he said: ‘Cristiano, go there for two or three days.’
“We had difficult games [coming up],’ he continues, ‘and I was a key player in that moment.
“He [Ferguson] said: ‘It will be tough because we have difficult games, but I understand your situation and I’ll leave you [out] and you can go and see your father.’
“For me, these are the most important things – apart from winning Champions Leagues, to win the Premier League, to win cups and stuff. So I have to appreciate him, because what he said to me, he always did. I have to appreciate that.”
During an interview last year, Ronaldo namedropped Ferguson as one of the two most successful managers of all time.
Pep Guardiola
The other manager that Ronaldo namedropped during that same interview was Guardiola.
“The people who understand football, 99% is the people who was there in the dressing room, who was player, who was the most successful coaches in the world,” Ronaldo said.
“Guardiola, Ferguson, they was player before and in the dressing room.”
CR7 never got the chance to work under Guardiola, although he did have the chance to join Manchester City in 2021, prior to returning to Old Trafford.
Over the years, Ronaldo has enjoyed some great battles with Guardiola and the respect these days is mutual between them both.
“He will score goals all his life,” Guardiola said in 2021.
“He will be 75 years old, maybe retired, but he would be at his own barbecue playing a game and he’ll score goals.”
READ NEXT: How Cristiano Ronaldo could still play at the 2025 Club World Cup
TRY A QUIZ: The Ultimate Cristiano Ronaldo Quiz: 30 tricky questions on the Real Madrid & Man Utd icon