Manchester United have had some truly legendary players over the years, and picking between them isn’t easy.
From Wayne Rooney to David Beckham, Manchester United have had some legendary players over the years, and it’s hard to pick who is the best of the bunch.
Paul Scholes reckons Ryan Giggs is United’s greatest ever player, while Amad Diallo picked Wayne Rooney as the best United player of all-time.
Speaking to Goal, Edwin van der Sar has been given the unenviable task of picking between some the United greats over the years, and, when doing so, he made a rather interesting claim.
Van der Sar, ultimately, picked Paul Scholes above the rest of his contemporaries, but the Dutchman made an interesting claim when asked to compare Rio Ferdinand and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Edwin van der Sar picks Rio Ferdinand over Cristiano Ronaldo
Of course, comparing Rio Ferdinand to Cristiano Ronaldo is like comparing chalk and cheese.
Ferdinand was a £30m centre-back who was incredible when it came to keeping the ball out of the net.
Meanwhile, Ronaldo was an attacker who has gone on to be perhaps the greatest goalscorer in the history of the game.
However, despite Ronaldo’s achievements in the final third, Edwin van der Sar picked Rio Ferdinand ahead of the Portuguese legend.
Van der Sar made a number of other claims about legends from United’s past too.
| Question | Van der Sar’s answer |
|---|---|
| Wayne Rooney or Paul Scholes? | Paul Scholes |
| Roy Keane or Bruno Fernandes? | Roy Keane |
| Rio Ferdinand or Nemanja Vidic? | Rio Ferdinand |
| Cristiano Ronaldo or David Beckham? | Cristiano Ronaldo |
| Paul Scholes or Roy Keane? | Paul Scholes |
| Rio Ferdinand or Cristiano Ronaldo? | Rio Ferdinand |
| Paul Scholes or Rio Ferdinand? | Paul Scholes |
Rio Ferdinand compared to Cristiano Ronaldo
It’s very hard to compare Ferdinand and Ronaldo as players, but you can compare what they achieved at United.
Of course, Ferdinand and Ronaldo were teammates for a long time at Old Trafford, but, in a lot of ways, Ferdinand does have a greater legacy than CR7.
Indeed, Ferdinand won more league titles than Ronaldo, while he featured in the Team of the Year more often than his attacking counterpart too.
| Rio Ferdinand at Manchester United | Cristiano Ronaldo at Manchester United | |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | League titles | 3 |
| 1 | Champions League wins | 1 |
| 2 | Domestic cup wins | 3 |
| 6 | Team of the Year appearances | 5 |
| 21st | Highest Ballon d’Or finish | 1st |
| 0 | PFA Player of the Year awards | 2 |
Of course, the fact that Ronaldo was a Player of the Year and Ballon d’Or winner shows just how good he was, and, individually, his career does outshine Ferdinand’s in almost every way.
However, Ferdinand did achieve more at United, and after helping Van der Sar to 14 consecutive clean sheets in the 2008/09 season, it’s easy to see why the Dutchman may be slightly biased towards the defender.
Ferdinand and Ronaldo are undoubtedly two United legends, that’s for sure.
