He once claimed he was not obsessed with Messi, but Ronaldo’s statements mocking League 1 and criticizing the Golden Ball show the opposite.
Striker Cristiano Ronaldo has just won the Best Player in the Middle East award thanks to his excellent performance for Al Nassr and the Portuguese national team in 2024. But what caught many people’s attention was the star’s statements after being honored. Accordingly, CR7 once again affirmed the fairness of this award when compared to FIFA THE BEST or BALLON D’Or – where Lionel Messi has dominated over the years. Is Ronaldo suffering from narcissism?
The Globe Soccer Awards Gala takes place annually in Dubai, UAE, and is sponsored by the Middle Eastern elite, including CR7 Underwear (Ronaldo’s own underwear brand). The main awards are decided by two votes: fans vote in the first round, before a panel of judges joins in the second round.
According to the rules, the jury’s vote determines 80% of the final result, while the fans’ vote is 20%. In other words, this award is voted for by “buying” votes. As expected, Ronaldo holds the record of winning six Dubai Golden Balls, raising many questions about the fairness and honesty of this award.
Not only that, Ronaldo also said that “Saudi Pro League is more competitive than Ligue 1” because the number one tournament in France only has PSG as champion. I will not analyze the professional aspects of each tournament, but why does CR7 aim for Ligue 1 and not any other tournament in Europe? Serie A has Juventus with nine consecutive championships, Bundesliga has Bayern with 11 consecutive championships, isn’t it similar? Meanwhile, PSG’s longest championship streak is only four consecutive seasons. Is it because Messi used to play there?
Let’s take a look back at Ronaldo’s statements: When he lost to Messi in the number of Golden Balls in 2015, the Portuguese star said that “The Golden Shoe is more prestigious because it doesn’t need to be voted for.” Just two years later, Messi became the person who won the most Golden Shoes. A year later, after winning the Euro, Ronaldo affirmed that “a great player must have titles with the national team.” Then six years later, Messi won the entire continental, world and intercontinental titles with Argentina.
In 2019, Ronaldo said he would retire if Messi won the Ballon d’Or. Since then, the Argentina captain has won two more Ballons d’Or, but Ronaldo has no intention of retiring despite approaching his forties. Ronaldo has said he is not obsessed with Messi, but the striker’s statements and actions have been completely different.
On the other hand, look at Messi from 2015-2020 when he continuously suffered defeats in the Champions League, World Cup and Copa America, but we have never seen M10 criticize this tournament or that award. Even when he was recognized as the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time), becoming the one who dominated the most prestigious awards of a player’s life, Messi did not bother to “take revenge” on the press who had scorned and criticized him in the past. That is a quality that Ronaldo will probably have for a long time.
Young players idolize Ronaldo, many fans follow Ronaldo, but I hope they only learn from this player’s spirit of progress, his tireless will to practice. If in terms of expertise, Ronaldo is always worthy of being Messi’s rival in every arena, then in terms of personality, there is still a very long way for the 39-year-old star to reach the GOAT standard.
