Casemiro Names Former Teammate Who Was ‘More Complete’ Than Cristiano Ronaldo

Casemiro was Cristiano Ronaldo’s teammate at Real Madrid for four seasons, winning the Champions League in all four. He considers the Portugal icon the best, from “another world.” Yet there was someone else in that generational Real Madrid team who was more rounded: Gareth Bale.

It was often the case that Bale—and Karim Benzema—lived in Ronaldo’s shadow. But Bale, despite injuries and a strained relationship with the Spanish media, was a key figure in the club’s European dominance on a scale not seen for decades. The Welshman came up clutch with decisive goals in two Champions League finals—2014 and 2018—and did more for the team.

“Cristiano scores 50 goals, but Bale is attack, defend, head, score,” Casemiro enthused during an interview on Rio Ferdinand Presents.

“Cristiano is the best, another world. But Bale is more complete. Everything, he does very good. Very quick, too strong. For me, Bale is an unbelievable player.”

Bale wasn’t the only player Casemiro shared a locker room with who earned plenty of praise from the Brazilian.

The Trait Which Separates Bruno Fernandes From the Rest of the Premier League

Manchester United’s departing midfielder admitted a disdain for modern soccer players he considers guilty of “negative passing” that will preserve statistics. But the opposite of that is exactly why he loves playing in the same team as Bruno Fernandes.

Fernandes has been head and shoulders above any other creative player in the Premier League this season. The United captain has created an unrivaled 124 chances and 30 ‘big chances’ with only two games of 2025–26 left to play. The next most is 67 chances created, by Liverpool’s Dominik Szoboslai, and 18 big chances created, by Manchester City’s Rayan Cherki.

Fernandes’s pass accuracy in the Premier League this season sits at 82.1%, which means he gives the ball away an average of 18 out of every 100 attempted passes. By comparison, Szoboszlai’s accuracy is 87.7%, while Bernardo Silva sits north of 90%.

Casemiro views the risk of potentially giving the ball away as one worth taking.

“You finish the game and [a player] has [completed] 97% of passes. But what’s the pass? Pass back, pass back, pass back. Negative passing,” he said.

“You need to play forward. It doesn’t matter if you lose the ball. Of course, sometimes you need to play good [by keeping the ball]. But what I love about Bruno is he plays forward every time. Every time, he kills the opposing team: ‘You give me space, I kill you.’

“I love Bruno’s game because of this, assist, pass, pass, every time pass it forward.”

Fernandes is still one shy of matching the Premier League’s single season assist record. He has 19 to his name and needs one more to match the benchmark set by Thierry Henry in 2002–03 and equaled by Kevin De Bruyne in 2019–20.

His attempt at the record has wobbled in recent matches, denied a would-be 20th assist during the recent win over Liverpool by a touch on the ball from goalkeeper Freddie Woodman before it reached goalscorer Benjamin Šeško. The team then drew a blank against Sunderland last time out. Matches against Nottingham Forest and Brighton & Hove Albion remain.

READ THE LATEST SOCCER NEWS, ANALYSIS AND INSIGHT FROM SI FC

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow