Antonio Cassano says Manchester United striker Cristiano Ronaldo owes his career to former Real Madrid teammate Karim Benzema.

The pair forged a legendary partnership at Real Madrid in which they won two LaLiga titles and four Champions League trophies between 2009 and 2018.

Benzema rarely got the credit he deserved at the time as Ronaldo stole the headlines as he scored an astonishing 371 times in 355 games to become the club's all-time record goalscorer.

Cassano told Bobo TV, "In football, there are not only titles and goals, (Zinedine) Zidane scored few goals, but he is one of the greatest in history, (Juan Roman) Riquelme too.

"Goals are useful, titles are useful, but they are not the fundamental things.

"Cristiano Ronaldo has to pray in the morning and say, 'Thank you, Benzema, that you played with me'. Benzema, this year and last year, has scored 50 goals and assists this year and last year over 30 goals.

"Ronaldo scores and will always score, but he's a different player; Benzema is a goalscoring centre forward. But he's also Zidane, he's a nine, ten and a nine and a half."