Crisitano Ronaldo aiming to be world's best footballer

November 17, 2006

LISBON (AFP) - Manchester United's Portuguese striker Cristiano Ronaldo is working towards becoming the world's best footballer, he has said in an interview.

"It's one of my goals. I want to be up there. I would like to be the best player in the world. I have to work hard for that. Nothing is impossible," he told the Portuguese sports daily A Bola on Friday.

The 21-year-old said taking part in the 2006 World Cup, during which Portugal lost to hosts Germany in the third-place playoff, had given him maturity and he hoped to surpass veteran Portuguese playmaker Luis Figo's football career.



"I am more mature, more confident. The World Cup gave me experience. I have some things to fine tune, I'm not 100 percent complete," he said.

"Figo had a spectacular career. He's a big reference in Portuguese football. If he's not the greatest he is among the greatest, beside Eusebio, Rui Costa, Fernando Couto, examples all of us young players must follow," he said.

"I hope to go as far as possible, win many titles, create my own image, which is built over the years. If my career is the same as that of Figo it already would be gratifying. But I want to do better than Figo. I have that ambition."

Figo announced in August that he would stop playing for Portugal after a 12-year career in which he was the country's standout player having scored 31 goals in 110 caps, a national record for appearances which he shares with Fernando Couto.

Figo's retirement from international football has placed more pressure on Ronaldo, who has come to be seen as the Inter Milan player's successor in the Portuguese national team