羅賓奴: 在曼城我會取代C朗成世界最佳球員

Robinho: I'll knock Cristiano Ronaldo off world number one spot at Manchester City
By David McDonnell 5/02/2009

Robinho claims he is just as good as Cristiano Ronaldo and has vowed to steal his Manchester United rival's status as the best player in the world.


Ronaldo was named World and European Player of the Year for his heroic exploits last season, which saw him notch 42 goals to inspire United to the Premier League and Champions League double.

Although Robinho has some way to go to match those achievements with Manchester City, British football's most expensive player believes he is on course to be the best in the world.

The £32.5million Brazil star, who has scored 11 goals in 16 Premier League appearances for City, claimed he has what it takes to usurp Ronaldo and be recognised as the best player on the planet.

"Cristiano is an excellent player and he deserves to have won the Ballon D'Or and FIFA World Player awards," said Robinho. "But I am neither better nor worse than him.

"Cristiano has his style and I have mine. I don't like making comparisons. I focus on playing football and it is up to others to judge who is better.

"I never thought that at Real Madrid I could achieve my objective of being the best in the world. Neither could I be the leading goalscorer. So the best thing was to leave.

"Some Brazilian players have had bad luck in the Premier League because they haven't adapted but in this sense I've had luck. I hope to show my best football in England.


"When I left Santos and signed for Real Madrid I was convinced I was going to be the best in the world.

"Now I'm at City, I think the same. In Manchester I can fulfil my dream of being the best."

City stunned the football world in a whirlwind 24 hours on transfer deadline day last August, by following up their £200m Arab takeover with the audacious capture of Robinho, who seemed destined to join Chelsea.

Sheikh Mansour, City's megarich owner, has followed up the box-office signing of Robinho by splashing out £50m on four players - Wayne Bridge, Craig Bellamy, Nigel De Jong and Shay Given - in the January transfer window.

But not everyone has been impressed with City's spending habits and the club have come under attack from Bayern Munich general manager Uli Hoeness, who claimed they have invested their money "very badly".

Hoeness, famed for keeping to a tight budget at Bayern during more than two decades in charge of the German champions, criticised City for spending so heavily and claimed their poor results - notably last weekend's 1-0 defeat to Stoke - proved his point.

"I noticed millions have been invested by certain people there very badly," said Hoeness.

"I saw that they can do absolutely nothing, even though they were very expensive."Mirror