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Journalism of Courage
Ronaldo labelled his former Brazil striking partner Romario as pretentious on Tuesday after the 1994 World Cup forward’s description of himself as the team’s most important player in 34 years. “I think it’s very pretentious for a player to call himself the best,” Ronaldo said. “I don’t have this habit.”
Romario, who scored five goals in 1994 as he led Brazil to their fourth world title, sparked the controversy two weeks ago. “This will probably cause another controversy and I’ll probably get a good hiding for saying it, but, yes I consider myself (to be the most important since 1970),” he said at a news conference.
Ronaldo’s reply came after the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) announced that he had overtaken Romario’s total of 55 goals in full internationals by scoring twice against Venezuela in a World Cup qualifier last Saturday.
The CBF said that Ronaldo was now the team’s second highest goal-scorer with 56 and was closing on Pele’s total of 77. Zico is fourth with 52.
However, the CBF said the order changed when matches against club and representative elevens — which have often been used in the past as official totals in Brazil — were included. Pele scored 95 goals in the latter category, followed by Romario (70), Zico (67) and Ronaldo (65).
Ronaldo, who once caused controversy when he was quoted as saying that Pele’s total had to be revised downwards, said he was not obsessed with reaching the legendary player’s target. “It’s not my intention to be better than Pele,” he said. “I want to be Ronaldo. I just think about playing well and scoring goals. The numbers are there for whoever wants to analyse them. I don’t have the idea of being the best in the world.”
Ronaldo is hoping to add to his total when Brazil face Colombia in Wednesday’s World Cup qualifier.
Brazil, unbeaten after nine games, lead the South American group with 19 points and Ronaldo is leading scorer with nine goals.
