Zinedine Zidane: Cristiano Ronaldo’s bicycle kick as ‘one of the most beautiful goals in history’

Zinedine Zidane labelled Cristiano Ronaldo’s spectacular bicycle kick goal against Juventus as ‘one of the most beautiful goals in the history of the game’.

Ronaldo’s strike, which beat goalkeeper Gigi Buffon to his bottom left corner, was  Real Madrid’s second goal on Tuesday night during the 3-0 win over Juventus.

It helped put the Champions League holders in a commanding position ahead of the second leg of their quarter-final.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored one of the greatest Champions League goals ever for his second

Comparisons were made between Ronaldo’s goal and Zidane’s strike at Hampden Park in 2002

Zidane described the strike as one of the best he had ever seen but stopped short of comparing it to the goal he scored in the Champions League final for Real Madrid against Bayer Leverkusen at Hampden Park in 2002.

He said: ‘I played here [Turin] and I know how good the fans are,’ said Zidane. ‘It is a great thing for the sport. It was a spectacular goal and I take my hat off to him.

‘The Leverkusen goal was beautiful, but the most important goal is the last one. Only Ronaldo can score this type of goal.

Ronaldo became the first man to score in 10 straight Champions League games in the process

‘It is one of the most beautiful goals in the history of the game. I can’t say it is better than 2002.’

Ronaldo’s former Manchester United team-mate, Rio Ferdinand, was providing analysis on the game for BT Sport.

He added: ‘He’s phenomenal. Its laughable. He’s actually taking liberties. He’s playing against one of the most experienced back fours on the planet and still manages to find space. The difference with him is that he goes into these massive games expecting to score, others go in hoping to score.’ 

Rio Ferdinand said Ronaldo was ‘one of the greatest if not the greatest player on the planet’