Brazilian Soccer Legend Ronaldo Says Neymar Will Soon Become World's Best Football Player

Brazilian soccer legend Ronaldo has declared that compatriot Neymar will soon become the world’s best soccer player in an interview with a local Brazilian newspaper on Sunday.

Talking to Folha de Sao Paulo, a newspaper in Brazil, Ronaldo confidently declared that eventually Neymar will pass current soccer greats in Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi crediting Neymar’s stint for his vast improvement. Ronaldo also talked about the Brazil soccer national team and admitted that the country will live and die with Neymar’s potential to be great.

"Cristiano Ronaldo and [Lionel] Messi are the best right now, but Neymar has come a long way. The move to Europe has done him good," Ronaldo said in the interview. "We do not have many great players. We are living with hope in Neymar, who is excellent, the country's best, but at other times we had many others who we could rely on to play for the Brazilian team.

Brazil, the host country in the most recent World Cup, was blasted in the semifinals, 7-1 by eventual champion squad Germany and Ronaldo said that they want to forget about that embarrassing moment for the national team.

Neymar transferred to the Spanish club FC Barcelona in May 2013 and remains the captain for the Brazil NT. The 22-year-old winger/forward so far has had 38 appearances for the Spanish club and has scored 20 goals. For the national team, he has 60 caps thus far since joining the squad in 2010 and has scored 42 international goals.

Now 38-years-old, Ronaldo has been a legend not only for Brazil but in the entire soccer world for his exploits with the national team and club teams. He had 98 appearances for his country scoring 62 international goals from 1994 to 2011. The striker played for seven club teams spanning from 1993 to 2011 and had 247 goals in 343 matches. Ronaldo won a two World Cup titles first as a 17 year old in his debut in the 1994 tournament and another one in 2002 when he scored twice in the championship match and won the Golden Boot award.