Cristiano Ronaldo as good as Pele and George Best, says Phil Neville

Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo has elevated himself into the echelon of all-time greats such as Pele and George Best, according to Phil Neville. On Tuesday, Ronaldo scored a hat-trick to guide Real Madrid to a 3-0 Champions League semi-final first-leg victory over Atletico Madrid.

"I listened to my dad talk for 20 years about George Best and Pele and Cristiano Ronaldo is easily the equal of those," Neville, who was at Bernabeu to witness the game, wrote in his column for BBC. Neville was an integral part of the Manchester United team that beat Bayern Munich 2-1 in the 1999 Champions League final. He also helped United win six English Premier League championships and three FA Cup titles.

On Tuesday, Ronaldo became the first player in history to surpass 50 goals in the knockout stages of the Champions League, which includes 13 goals in the final four stage (10 for Madrid, 3 for United). Amazingly, his overall Champions League tally of 103 gals has surpassed Atletico Madrid's 100 goals (in club history). The 32-year-old is now just one goal shy of 400 goals for Real Madrid alone. Simply incredible!

At 18, Cristiano Ronaldo knew he was destined for greatness: Neville

Neville and Ronaldo were teammates at United between 2003 and 2005 when the latter burst onto the soccer world as a teenage sensation. Neville was amazed at the work ethic and passion displayed by an 18-year-old Ronaldo.

"When we were at Manchester United he said he wanted to go on to be the best player in the world. He had the self-belief to get to the very top. I look at Chelsea's Eden Hazard sometimes and wonder if he has that. United's Carrington training ground is maybe a mile, two miles around. Every single day he used to take a ball after training and run and do his tricks for a mile, two miles at a time. His drive and his ability to practise every single day is just phenomenal," wrote the former defensive ace.

Meanwhile, Ronaldo, the man of the hour, credited his teammates for Tuesday's victory. "It was a total team match. We have a good advantage, but this is not closed. Atletico are very strong, they are not in the semi-finals by chance and we have to concentrate on Wednesday." Last year, Cristiano Ronaldo led Portugal to the UEFA Euro 2016 championship, the first major tournament victory in the country's soccer history. Ronaldo has scored 71 goals from 138 international appearances for Portugal.