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Football

04th Apr 2018

Buffon compares Cristiano Ronaldo to Maradona and Pele after worldie last night

James Dawson

Last night we witnessed greatness.

I probably don’t need to tell you that last night Cristiano Ronaldo scored a goal so majestic that opposition fans at the Juventus Stadium stood up and applauded.

Let’s just watch it again.

The overhead kick helped Real Madrid to a 3-0 win over Juve in the quarter-final first leg, almost certainly ending the Italian’s hopes in the competition.

Speaking after the match, legendary goalkeeper Buffon said: “Ronaldo is an extraordinary champion.

“Together with Lionel Messi he is the only one that punctuates his team’s most important victories, and is to be compared to Maradona and Pele.

“We were playing against incredible champions.

‘There is great regret and it will not be possible to go forward in this event, for me it is a great regret but against certain opponents it takes a clear examination: they are objectively stronger.”

Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane, meanwhile, said: ‘It’s not easy to put three goals past Juve on their own field.

“We put in a great performance, but Juve also did very well, put us under pressure and had the chances to score goals, but we were more clinical.

“Of course Juventus aren’t happy with the result tonight, but I will always have Juve in my heart.

“Cristiano Ronaldo is different. He’s a different player to everyone else and he always has this desire to do something extraordinary in the Champions League, he never rests on his laurels.

“His overhead kick was remarkable, yet he missed two much easier chances. That’s football.”