Amman – Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo, the star of the Saudi Al-Nasr club, spoke frankly about his opinion on the historical comparison that has been taking place over nearly two decades between him and the Argentine star Lionel Messi, the American player for Inter Miami.

Ronaldo and Messi presented chapters of competition for individual titles and records in their respective careers, in addition to winning championships with their teams, especially with the shirts of Real Madrid and Barcelona, ​​respectively, after fierce competition between them for years.

Ronaldo spoke on a podcast with the famous British journalist Piers Morgan about many files, including his famous conflict with Messi.

Morgan reviewed Ronaldo’s relationship with his former Manchester United teammate Wayne Rooney, where he told Cristiano: “Well, he doesn’t hate you, but he still thinks that Messi is better than you.” Ronaldo responded, interrupting: “This is not true. I do not agree with him on that. I will not pretend to be humble about this matter.”

Ronaldo’s statement is an explicit admission that he sees himself as better than Messi, who surpassed him in a private, heated struggle for the Ballon d’Or after the Portuguese star’s tally stopped at 5 gold balls, while the Argentine star strengthened his tally by winning 8 balls, the last of which was two years ago, after he had won 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 that he last won in 2017, ahead of Messi and Neymar, but since his chances of competing for the award have declined, since he left Real Madrid in 2018 and finished runner-up in the same year behind Croatian Luka Modric, he began to question the integrity of this Golden Ball and the criteria for selecting its winners, especially after the Brazilian Vinicius Junior had failed to win the award on behalf of the Spanish Rodri, the Manchester City player, despite what… The Real Madrid star made impressive scoring contributions to his team.

Ronaldo returned a few months ago to belittle the importance of the Ballon d’Or when he was asked on one occasion about the conflict over the award before the Frenchman Ousmane Dembélé recently won it, where the Portuguese star said: “It is false.”

The struggle of numbers
Ronaldo has always considered himself the best historically in the game, as “The Don” is armed with a terrifying goalscoring record, as he reached 952 goals in his professional career, which makes him close to 1,000 goals, an achievement that the late Brazilian legend Pele was always proud of. However, when Ronaldo talks about this matter, he says that his goals are all recorded and can be returned to and verified. This is an indication of questioning the validity of calculating the number of Pele’s goals.

On the other hand, Messi achieved the missing piece in a picture looking for the completion of a golden star’s career, as the Argentine “flea”, by winning the World Cup championship with his country’s national team, broke the curse of major international tournaments, and dispelled the accusations that had long been leveled against him due to international failure, knowing that he had previously won the Copa America title as well.

If Ronaldo excels at the Champions League level, whether in terms of the number of titles or the title of the competition’s all-time top scorer, then Messi is still continuing his journey of brilliance in American stadiums and is preparing for what will be the last participation in his international career in the 2026 World Cup, which is the tournament that Ronaldo is also waiting for and sees as a good opportunity to equalize at the title level.

This year was a happy year for Ronaldo at the international level, as he won his third title with Portugal, the European Nations League, by defeating the giant Spain, the Euro champion, and also the former World Cup champion.

Portugal’s victory, with a clear contribution from Ronaldo, was the clearest response to those who doubted the role of the Al-Nasr star with his country’s national team, especially since his move to the Saudi League in the 2023 winter Mercato, a campaign began to question the ability of the currently 40-year-old player to continue giving, and some considered his joining the coach Roberto Martinez’s roster to be a compliment to him.

A special generation
It can be considered that Ronaldo has a reasonable chance to compete at least for the next World Cup title, in light of the presence of a wonderful generation of Portuguese football, such as Vitinha, the Paris Saint-Germain player who is ranked third in the Ballon d’Or competition, and his teammate Nuno Mendes, in addition to Ruben Diaz, Bernardo Silva, Bruno Fernandes, Gonzalo Ramos, and Rafael Leao, as Portugal did not have an almost complete generation in various positions like the one it currently has, which may make the impossible possible in the next edition of the World Cup. The tournament will be hosted by the United States and Mexico next summer, while the draw will be held next November.

Koora