With the one-and-only Ronaldo set to celebrate his 40th birthday on Thursday, Goal has decided to ask you, our beloved readers, whether the Brazilian should be regarded as the greatest No.9 in history.
Obviously, there are a plethora of players with a legitimate claim on that particular title, including Dutch master Marco van Basten, whom many believe to be the complete centre-forward of all time.
West Germany ace Gerd Muller, meanwhile, was arguably the greatest goal-poacher the game has ever seen, while Eusebio took the game by storm at the start of the 1960s with Benfica and Portugal.
Ferenc Puskas became a legend because of his goalscoring exploits for two iconic teams, Hungary and Real Madrid, but he never got his hands on the Ballon d’Or, an award that the prolific Karl-Heinz Rummenigge lifted twice.
Italy has produced many great centre-forwards, including Silvio Piola and Giuseppe Meazza, but it is Gigi Riva who holds the all-time goalscoring record (35) for the national team.
Gabriel Batistuta used to be Argentina’s record goalscorer until a certain Lionel Messi came along but that does nothing to lessen the former Fiorentina forward’s achievement in netting 54 times in just 77 international outings.
Of course, when it comes to landmark tallies, it is hard to compete with Romario, who scored more than 1,000 goals during his long and illustrious career.
However, there are also those that did things that nobody had ever done before, like George Weah, who, in 1995, became the first African to ever win the Ballon d’Or.
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