Article by Daniel Grigore – Published Wednesday, 13 May 2026, 08:45 / Updated Wednesday, 13 May 2026 08:45
Casemiro (34 years old), midfielder who spent 8 years at Real Madrid, now in the last year of his contract with Manchester United, spoke, in an interview conducted by Rio Ferdinand, about some of the heavyweights he shared the dressing room with in Madrid: Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema.
The Brazilian surprised when he called the “most complete player” he shared the dressing room with.
About Cristiano Ronaldo, with whom he always seemed to have an excellent relationship at Madrid, he said that he is the best footballer, but suggested he is a formidable scorer rather than the “full package”. He kept this description for another former colleague, the Welshman Gareth Bale, already retired.
Casemiro calls Gareth Bale 'the most complete player I've met in my career'
“With Cristiano, everyone knows you started the season and you were guaranteed 50 goals. Minimum! And Benzema… He was a number 9, but not much. He was more of a number 10, dropping a lot to create space for Bale and Cristiano. Bale needed space. Benzema was creating space for them, Cristiano and Bale were running in the lanes.
Bale is the most complete player I have met in my career. Bale, yes. Cristiano scored at least 50 goals, but Bale attacked, defended, headed, scored.
Cristiano remains the best, from another world, let's take him out of the conversationbut in my opinion, Bale was the most complete. He attacked, defended, scored with his head, fouled. He did everything very well, very quickly. He was strong, for me he was an amazing player,” Casemiro said in Rio Ferdinand's interview with Sky Sports.
The Brazilian is preparing for the last matches in the shirt of Manchester United, the team he played for in the last 4 seasons. At Real Madrid, part of the formidable team in which the 3 mentioned names also played, Casemiro won 5 Champions Leagues, the last one after Cristiano's departure.
Bought for 100 million euros in 2013, Gareth Bale managed 106 goals and 68 assists in 258 games for Real Madrid. He retired in early 2023 at the age of 33.
