Impressive, considering he has managed the following players previously.

Parma: Buffon, Zola, Cannavaro, Crespo, Thuram, Asprilla
Juventus: Van Der Sar, Zidane, Del Piero, Inzaghi, Davids, Montero, Ferrera, Trezeguet
Milan: Maldini, Rui Costa, Shevchenko, Pirlo, Redondo, Kaka, Seedorf, Nesta, Rivaldo, Cafu, Vieri, Ronaldo, Beckham, Ronaldinho
Chelsea: Lampard, Drogba, Anelka, Carvalho, Cech, Torres, Deco, Ballack, Terry
PSG: Ibrahimovic, Lavezzi, Silva, Sirigu

Along with CR7, he has also managed 7 other Ballon d'Or winners: Shevchenko, Kaka, Cannavaro, Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, Zidane

Perhaps it is true that he is saying this to motivate CR7 and because he is currently the manager of Real Madrid, but Jose Mourinho has said the same thing as well. Personally, I consider Zidane to be better than CR7, and R9 and Ronaldinho to be more talented, but neither R9 nor Ronaldinho sustained their talent long enough to establish themselves into the Top 10 echelons of football. Perhaps CR7 might be able to do that, when his career is finished and all is done and dusted.

On that side note, I don't think we understand how goddamn talented Messi and CR7 yet. When their careers are over, we'll lament over two of the all-time greats.

not surprised. Cristiano Ronaldo will go down as the greatest player in history of football when (if, lol) he retires.

Personally for me Zidane is number choice . He could ignite dead team and turn things around when everything seemed hopeless . He was brain that made difficult tasks seem easy to everyone . His retirement comeback in 2005 ( if i am not mistaken ) was inspiration for France to go to 2006 world cup and his brilliance and genius football elevated team all the way to final at age of 35 . At age of 35 he was shaking young and their prime ballon Dor winners like they were sunday league footballers .

Ancelotti can claim whatever he wants. And Jose never coached Zidane . Plus , this days such claims like 'out of the planet ' and 'greatest' blah and blah such regular words spoked by managers and media. Speculations and hype around any top player is incredible and highly exaggerated .

Welbeck last game scored hatrick and people started to compare him to Great Thiery Henry . Ridiculous.

@Marcus

Yes, you're right. Zidane was, and probably will always be, better than Cristiano Ronaldo. But you have to realize that they're completely different players, and both are unique in their own right. Zidane is one of those players who suddenly makes the entire team look better. CR7 is even more unique - an inverted winger who surges forward and scores 50+ goals per season, and gives 15+ assists. They're very unique in their own right, but yes, I find Zidane to be the better player historically.

But Jose's claim of Ronaldo being the best player he's ever coached makes sense. The only other legends he's directly managed are Lampard, Drogba, Terry, Cech, Casillas, Kaka, Deco, Zanetti, Eto'o, and Ibrahimovic. CR7 is no doubt better than all those players.

Didn't José say that Drogba was the best player he's ever coached? Maybe not from a sole footballing point of view, but including other traits like personality etc.