Ranking the 5 greatest attacking trios featuring Cristiano Ronaldo

Ronaldo formed a great understanding with Karim Benzema at Real Madrid

Cristiano Ronaldo has played for three of the biggest clubs in the world: Manchester United, Real Madrid, and Juventus. He has enjoyed success with each of these clubs, scoring plenty of goals and, more importantly, receiving great support from his teammates.

Football by nature is a team sport and unless a highly talented individual can count on his partners, winning games is out of the picture. To understand the importance of teammates, just compare Ronaldo's club record against his record with Portugal.

⏪ Cristiano Ronaldo 🔥

@Cristiano | @ManUtd | #UCL https://t.co/42Ho5tDhF6

He is without a win in four different World Cups and only won the EURO with Portugal in 2016. He has played with some great players in his career so far, forming solid partnerships in the final third.

Here, we take a look at the five greatest attacking trios featuring Cristiano Ronaldo.

#5 Cristiano Ronaldo - Ruud van Nistelrooy - Wayne Rooney

Ronaldo and Van Nistelrooy had a fallout at Manchester United

Manchester United were one of the best teams in Europe in the first decade of the 21st century and a great place for a young Ronaldo to hone his skills. He found a great partner in Wayne Rooney, who joined the club a year after him. But at the time, Ruud Van Nistelrooy was the big player at the club.

The Dutch striker, though a prolific scorer of goals, was a target-man and did not contribute in the buildup. Rooney, on the other hand, linked very well with the Portuguese star.

The trio won just one trophy in their two seasons together, lifting the League Cup in 2006. In the 2004-05 season, they combined for just 22 goals as Nistelrooy was injured but improved their tally next season with 46 goals.

#4 Cristiano Ronaldo - Alvaro Morata - Federico Chiesa

Ronaldo and Morata were reunited at Juventus

Cristiano scored more than 20 goals in Serie A in all three of his full seasons with Juventus. During that time, he has played wth a lot of different players up front. The best chemistry that he found was with former Real Madrid teammate Alvaro Morata and Federico Chiesa.

Chiesa is a young and energetic player, so his crosses were a great source of goals for both Cristiano and Morata. The Spanish striker had played with the five-time Ballon d'Or winner before and knew how to support him.

Though Juventus failed to win the Serie A last season, they won the Coppa Italia as the three players combined for 97 goals (70 goals, 27 assists) across all competitions.

#3 Cristiano Ronaldo - Karim Benzema - Gonzalo Higuain

Higuain played alongside Ronaldo at Real Madrid and Juventus

Real Madrid built a great squad in the last decade and for the better half of the decade, had two of the most expensive players of all time in their ranks. But before Gareth Bale's move to the Spanish capital, Cristiano and Benzema had another partner in crime in Gonzalo Higuain.

The trio won the La Liga, Copa del Rey, and Supercopa de Espana in their four seasons at the club, reaching their peak in the 2011-12 campaign as they scored 118 goals together across all competitions.

Benzema and Higuain had a similar style of play, so there was a bit of a clash going forward. They also competed for goals against the former Manchester United star.

#2 Cristiano Ronaldo - Carlos Tevez - Wayne Rooney

Carlos Tevez left Manchester United after just a couple of seasons

Carlos Tevez, Rooney, and Cristiano formed such an amazing trio because of how all three of them complemented each other. None of them were out-and-out strikers and could play in deeper positions, which allowed for the other two to move in from the flanks.

Cristiano won the first European Golden Boot of his career in the 2007-08 campaign, as the trio helped the club to the Premier League and the Champions League that season.

👹 Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez - 07/08 & 08/09
👕 293 apps
⚽ 140 goals
🅰️ 61 assists
🏆 07/08 #PL, 07/08 #UCL, 08/09 #PL

🔴 Salah, Mane, Firmino - 17/18 & 18/19
👕 300 apps
⚽ 160 goals
🅰️ 64 assists
🏆 18/19 #UCL

Which of these attacking trios would you rather have? 👇 https://t.co/TN8aNYwXps

The trio produced more goals in the first season together (79 goals) and picked up more assists in the second season (32). The league wasn't ready for a trio without a traditional striker back then and that contributed largely to their fame.

#1 Cristiano Ronaldo - Gareth Bale - Karim Benzema

Benzema and Bale provided good output in the final third for Real Madrid

Though Benzema, Bale, and Cristiano, known as the 'BBC', do not have a title as the best scoring trio in a season for Real Madrid, they are by far the most successful trio in the club's history.

The formation of the trio preceded the formation of MSN - (Lionel) Messi, (Luis) Suarez, Neymar - at Barcelona. El Clasico became a battle between the two deadly trios.

Between 2013 and 2018, they won the Champions League, including the three-peat between 2015 and 2018. They could win the La Liga just once as Barcelona dominated but lifted the FIFA Club World Cup three times.

Their best-ever output came in the 2014-15 season as they combined for 100 goals across all competitions, though their best tally in La Liga came in the following campaign (78 goals).