Bruno Fernandes Names GOATs of 5 Sports Including Cristiano Ronaldo As Football’s Greatest

• Sports media and fans have oftentimes found a way of crowning one superstar as the greatest of all time in the game
• For football, the unending GOAT debate has been between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo for about two decades
• Portugal star Bruno Fernandes name-dropped the GOATs of five sports when asked for the greatest athlete of all time

Sports generally crown at least one superstar as the greatest of all time, though this is debatable. Fans can have favourites they try to impose as the best ever to play the game.

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are considered two of the greatest football players ever, even though the Argentine edged his rival after winning the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

The debate extends to who the greatest athlete of all time is, one which Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes had to answer in an interview quoted by Sportskeeda. Instead, he named the GOATs of five sports.

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Who are the contenders for the greatest athlete of all time?

1. Cristiano Ronaldo

Fernandes named his Portugal national teammate and former United star Cristiano Ronaldo as football’s greatest-ever player. This is highly contestable, with Messi winning the World Cup and three more Ballon d'Or awards.

2. Michael Jordan

Jordan is widely regarded as the undisputed basketball GOAT even though that place is threatened by LeBron James, who is now the NBA's all-time top scorer and has played 20 seasons professionally. MJ is a tier ahead of King James in achievements. According to NBA.com, the MVP award is named after him.

3. Michael Phelps

Phelps is the undisputed GOAT of swimming and the greatest Olympian of all time. He won 66 gold medals across multiple events in his career, including 23 gold medals in the Olympics. He retired after the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

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4. Roger Federer

Federer’s status as the GOAT of tennis is contestable. Rivals Rafael Nadal (22) and Novak Djokovic (24) have more grand slam titles than the Swiss superstar (20). He retired from the sport in 2022 after recurrent injuries.

5. Tiger Woods

Fernandes also identified Woods as the GOAT of golf. Many new-generation fans won't debate this, but the older generation holds Jack Nicklaus in high esteem, and the 84-year-old’s achievement is some tiers above Tigers'.

Who are the other sports stars who picked Ronaldo over Messi?

Sports Brief previously analysed other sports stars who picked Ronaldo over Messi as football GOAT, including Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, due to his affiliations with Manchester United.

Retired UFC fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov, a close pal of the five-time Ballon d'Or winner, also rates the Al-Nassr star over the World Cup winner.