Zlatan Ibrahimovic Talks Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo Partnership at United

Cristiano Ronaldo may be widely regarded as the greatest Manchester United player of the modern era, but Paris Saint-Germain striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic believes the three-time Ballon d'Or winner would have been lost without Wayne Rooney.

Ibrahimovic gave his take on the former partnership as part of a BBC documentary chronicling Rooney's career, telling how the Evertonian "did all the work" while they were at Old Trafford, per Spanish newspaper AS:

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If I can’t play alongside Wayne, then I’ll just need to keep watching him on television. Great players have exceptional phases that last from between one to three years, it’s not normal that this phase lasts five years as in the case with Rooney.

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When Cristiano Ronaldo played at United, Rooney did all the work but Cristiano took all the glory as he was the one who was getting the goals. Rooney ran, fought and made far more of a team sacrifice than the player from Madeira.

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One can hardly argue with the notion that Rooney has had to sacrifice a lot in terms of positional preference during his 11-year stay at Old Trafford, as he's played just about every outfield position in the team.   

Rooney established himself as a supreme finishing talent during his development at Goodison Park and has scored goals in the double digits in each of his 11 Manchester United seasons to date.

Thibault Camus/Associated Press

The 29-year-old's versatility has proved to be both a blessing a curse as he's shifted about in order to allow the likes of Robin van Persie, Dimitar Berbatov and perhaps even Ronaldo more favour up front.

A potential Old Trafford return has been incessantly teased for Ronaldo since moving to Real Madrid in 2009, and the Portugal captain sent speculation into a frenzy again after admitting he misses playing alongside Rooney, per Squawka News:

Rooney and Ronaldo spent six seasons together at Old Trafford before the latter moved to the Bernabeu, topping the club's top goalscorer charts in two and three of those campaigns, respectively.

Those numbers could merely point out Ronaldo as the superior talent, or one could interpret it as Rooney—a super striker in his own right—opting to allow his old attacking partner the bigger limelight.

It's hardly a coincidence the 2009-10 season—the term that directly followed Ronaldo's move to Madrid—saw Rooney net a joint-personal best of 34 goals, 26 of which came in the Premier League and bagged him the Golden Boot.

Just as the more seasoned duo once reigned as a terrific and terrifying tandem for the Red Devils, Bleacher Report's Sam Pilger pondered whether Memphis Depay and Anthony Martial could be the second coming:

Ibrahimovic has never had the benefit of playing on the same team as either Rooney or Ronaldo, and there isn't a lot the Swede would have to gain from backing one player over another.

Rooney recently proved his evergreen scoring record by breaking Sir Bobby Charlton's all-time England scoring record with a 50th goal for his country in 107 appearances, an average of one goal every 0.47 games.

JON SUPER/Associated Press

Interestingly, Ronaldo is also Portugal's all-time top scorer with 55 goals in 122 games, falling just below Rooney in terms of strike rate with an average of one goal every 0.45 games.

Regardless of Ibrahimovic's view on how Ronaldo would have coped without Rooney or vice versa, fans will be content with having seen two such phenomenal athletes in the same team.

The only question that remains is whether they will ever be reunited.