Ronaldo and Messi have presented chapters of intense competition for individual titles and breaking records, in addition to winning championships with their clubs, especially with the shirts of Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively, in a fierce competition that lasted for years.
In a “podcast” with the famous British media personality Piers Morgan, Ronaldo spoke about many topics, including his famous conflict with Messi.
Morgan reviewed Ronaldo’s relationship with his former Manchester United teammate, Wayne Rooney, where he told him: “Well, he doesn’t hate you, but he still sees Messi as better than you.” Ronaldo interrupted him, saying: “That’s not true, I don’t agree with him on that. And I won’t claim humility about this matter.”
Ronaldo’s statement carries an explicit acknowledgment that he sees himself as better than Messi, who surpassed him in a private battle for the Ballon d’Or, as the Portuguese star’s tally stopped at 5 Golden Balls, while the Argentine star strengthened his tally by obtaining 8 balls, the last of which was two years ago, after winning the World Cup in Qatar in 2022 with his country’s national team.
From pride to skepticism:
Ronaldo has always been proud of the award he won for the last time in 2017, surpassing Messi and Neymar. But since his chances of competing for the award declined, after his departure from Real Madrid in 2018 and his finishing as runner-up in the same year behind Croatian Luka Modrić, he began to question the integrity of the Ballon d’Or and the criteria for choosing its winners, especially after the failure of Brazilian Vinicius Junior to win the award in favor of Spaniard Rodri, a Manchester City player, despite the influential goalscoring contributions of the Real Madrid star with his team.
A few months ago, Ronaldo downplayed the Ballon d’Or when he was asked on one occasion about the struggle for the award before Frenchman Ousmane Dembele recently won it, where the Portuguese star said: “It’s fake.”
Struggle of numbers:
Ronaldo has always considered himself the best historically in the game. “Al-Doun” is armed with a terrifying scoring record, as he reached 952 goals in his professional career, making him close to achieving the 1000-goal achievement, an achievement that the late Brazilian legend Pele was proud of. But when Ronaldo talks about this matter, he says that his goals are all recorded and can be referred to and verified, in reference to questioning the validity of calculating the number of Pele’s goals.
In contrast, Messi achieved the missing piece in a painting looking for completion for the career of a golden star. With the “Flea” Argentine winning the World Cup with his country’s national team, he broke the curse of major international tournaments, and dispelled the accusations that plagued him due to international failure, knowing that he had previously won the Copa America title as well.
If Ronaldo excels at the level of the Champions League, whether as the number of titles or as the historical top scorer in the competition, Messi is still continuing his journey of brilliance in the American stadiums and is preparing for a participation that will be the last in his international career in the 2026 World Cup, which Ronaldo is also waiting for and sees as a good opportunity to draw on the level of titles.
The current year was happy for Ronaldo at the international level, as he achieved his third title with Portugal, which is the European Nations League championship, by defeating the giant Spain, the Euro champion and the former World Cup champion as well.
Portugal’s victory, with a clear contribution from Ronaldo, was the most eloquent response to those who questioned the role of the Al-Nassr star with his country’s national team, especially since his move to the Saudi League in the 2023 winter Mercato, a campaign of questioning began about the ability of the 40-year-old player to continue giving, and some considered that his joining the list of coach Roberto Martinez is a compliment to him.
A special generation:
It can be considered that Ronaldo has a reasonable chance of competing at least for the title of the next World Cup, in light of the presence of a wonderful generation for Portuguese football, such as Vitinha, a Paris Saint-Germain player, who came in third in the struggle for the Ballon d’Or, and his teammate Nuno Mendes, in addition to Ruben Dias, Bernardo Silva, Bruno Fernandes, Gonçalo Ramos, and Rafael Leao. Portugal has not had a near-complete generation in various positions like the one it currently possesses, which may make the impossible possible in the upcoming edition of the tournament hosted by the United States and Mexico next summer, while the draw will be held in November.
