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AC Milan and Ajax legend Marco Van Basten made a startling claim about his career, saying he would have been as successful as Cristiano if not for an injury that forced him to retire in 1993
Marco Van Basten, a legend for AC Milan, Ajax, and the Netherlands national team has made bold claims about his career, implying that only injuries stopped him from doing as well as modern-day great Cristiano Ronaldo.
Van Basten’s career
Van Basten is regarded as one of the greatest players of his era after winning three Ballon d’Or awards between 1988 and 1992, as well as being named the UEFA player of the year on three occasions and the FIFA World Player of the Year once.
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He won two European Cups with AC Milan and a European Cup Winners Cup with Ajax, as well as three Serie A titles and three Eredivisie titles, and famously scored the winning goal in the 1988 European Championships, which remains the Netherlands’ only international success in Men’s football till date.
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Van Basten’s successful career was halted prematurely when he was only 30 after he was forced to retire due to an injury that had kept him away from football for two years, meaning his final appearance as a footballer came when he was 28, during the 1993 UEFA Champions League final against Marseille.
Van Basten vs Ronaldo
After being forced to retire at such a young age, many have wondered how Van Basten’s career could have gone if he had not suffered niggling ankle injuries, the last of which ultimately retired him, and the Dutch legend recently set a bold marker for how he would have fared.
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The Dutch goal scorer believes that if he had 10 more injury-free years in the game, he would have matched the feats of Ronaldo, having done as well as the Portuguese at the age that he was forced to retire.
He was quoted as saying, "I think if you compare my career with Cristiano Ronaldo's career until I had to quit (injury), I get very close to him, and maybe mine was even better, but I was unable to continue my career after that."
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Van Basten scored a total of 283 club goals in 379 games across AC Milan and Ajax at a ratio of 0.75 goals per game, slightly higher than Ronaldo’s overall ratio of 0.74 goals per game, lending minor credence to the Dutchman’s belief.
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