Why Cristiano Ronaldo is not in the World Cup’s 50 greatest players

Good evening and welcome to this week’s Inside Sport Newsletter. When my colleague Kieran Jackson sent round a request to help compile a comprehensive list of the World Cup’s greatest players, I did not initially realise just how frustratingly difficult a task it would be. We were asked for 30 names, listed in order, with the criteria for inclusion set as achievements within the sport’s most illustrious tournament, rather than the best players to simply feature in them. 

I became gripped with stress as I got to work. Narrowing almost 100 years of World Cup history, after all, presented many conundrums: how, for example, can the achievements of different eras of the tournament be compared? Does a single, World Cup-defining moment outweigh significant contributions and deep runs over multiple years? How does the talent and inspiration of the individual factor against team success? I crossed out and rewrote my top 30 until I had lost count, and then stared at my completed list for long enough to convince myself I was deluded for putting Kylian Mbappe in my top five (on reflection, I think this is actually fair); I despaired that Gary Lineker didn’t make my final cut. 

Thankfully, the burden of selecting the World Cup’s greatest players was shared, and this week The Independent is revealing its top 50. The first 20 names were published this morning, with positions 30-11 added on Wednesday before the all-important top 10 is unveiled on Thursday. 

To kick things off, though, we felt compelled to address the fact that Cristiano Ronaldo, the chosen GOAT of many, is nowhere to be seen. As Richard Jolly notes, Ronaldo would most certainly be near or at the top of our rankings if we were compiling a list of any of the following: the best players in the history of the Euros, the best players in the history of the Champions League, the best players in the history of Real Madrid, an indeed the best players of all time. But Ronaldo has never scored a goal in the World Cup knockout stages; we could not justify his place in our list. 

Perhaps, at the sixth time of asking, Ronaldo will reach the pantheon of the World Cup greats. But, as Richard explains, he is not there yet.

Despite having dominated in other tournaments, both domestic and international, Ronaldo has so far failed to excel on football’s grandest stage

What World Cup record could Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi BOTH achieve at this summer’s tournament? 

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There was a time in George Russell’s seven-year Formula 1 career that he could afford a cruel instance of racing misfortune. In fact, every single one of those seasons, before this 2026 campaign. But not now. Not amidst an intra-team championship battle which, to his utter dismay, is currently only heading in one direction.

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Where Liverpool’s dismal Premier League title defence went so wrong

Liverpool limped to a Champions League finish on the final day, but off the back of a £450m spending spree, so much more was expected of the 2024-25 title-winners, writes Richard Jolly.

That pride stemmed in part from the circumstances. Liverpool’s campaign began under the shadow of the tragic death of Diogo Jota; as Andy Robertson admitted last week, it took a huge toll. Neither Slot nor his players ever used it as an explanation, let alone an excuse. There were, though, failings which could be examined. Fortune was involved as Liverpool won their first five league games; thereafter, though, they only took 45 points from the last 33. 

THE DISPATCH

The new reality that emerged during Arsenal’s euphoric Premier League title party

Arsenal lifted their first Premier League title in 22 years on Sunday and Chief Football Writer Miguel Delaney was at Selhurst Park for the celebrations. 

Arsenal had waited so long for this moment that, naturally enough, they didn’t want it to end. It was 90 minutes after a trophy lift 22 years in the making that the players eventually began to leave the Selhurst Park and Mikel Arteta conducted his proscribed post-game press conference.

This was his first as a champion.

It had been quite the takeover of Crystal Palace’s stadium. Chairman Steve Parish had even jokingly asked the Arsenal fans to “give us five minutes” for their own presentations. Fairly enough, Palace took about 25, just building up the anticipation.

So, when Martin Odegaard finally got to lift the trophy, players and staff made sure to maximise every moment. Kai Havertz even had to sit down for a few minutes. Chants of “set piece again, ole ole” became “champions again, ole ole”.

When the players eventually started to stream off, they were taken aside for a quick photo with their medal. Each had their own little stance, although many went with the Rafael Nadal bite. David Raya sat down and pointed to his wrist, eager to get celebrations going.

Maybe that’s the influence of the assertive Jens Lehmann, who’d just been having a chat with him and Kepa Arrizabalaga.

All were of course wearing the home shirt with ‘champions 26’ on the back, including the manager. The trophy was eventually taken off Odegaard to give to Arteta for one other lift with the fans, before he spoke to media.

One element of the celebrations already stood out for him. He’d been speaking on Thursday about how he hadn’t yet touched the trophy, and now that he had it was like a deeper realisation of all this had started to sink in.

 Read more here.

Arsenal lifted the Premier League trophy in a moment 22 years in the making (Getty)

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