Berlin: Gerd Mueller paid tribute to Ronaldo on Tuesday after the Brazilian broke the former West Germany striker’s World Cup scoring record.

Ronaldo’s 15th goal, at a World Cup finals, in the match against Ghana eclipsed ‘Der Bomber’, who held the record after scoring in the 1974 final to take over from Frenchman Just Fontaine.

“Although Ronaldo is now (playing) in his third World Cup, this is nevertheless a great achievement on his part,” Mueller told the Fifa website in an interview. “Playing at such a high level over such a long period of time, always managing to be fit at the right moment is unusual nowadays.

“In my opinion, he’s the best, most complete attacker there is at the moment,” added Mueller, who scored his World Cup goals in the 1970 and 1974 tournaments.

“Even before the tournament started, it was obvious that he (Ronaldo) would get at least two goals and draw level, if not three and set a new record. It wasn’t a surprise.

“I’ve always said that I wasn’t the record-holder. That honour, for me, goes to Just Fontaine, who scored 13 goals in one tournament. He’s the best in my book.”

Meanwhile, Brazil striker Robinho is recovering from the right thigh injury that ruled him out of Tuesday’s match against Ghana and should be ready for the quarter finals, adds a report from Bergisch Gladbach.

(Reuters)