Al Nassr star, Cristiano Ronaldo has made an awkward reaction to Lionel Messi’s 8th Ballon d’Or victory earlier today, October 31.
Recall that on Monday, October 30, Lionel Messi extended his Ballon d’Or record to eight, three more than Cristiano Ronaldo, his career arch-rival.
In 2017, Messi and Ronaldo had five Ballon d’Or apiece after the 38-year-old Portuguese icon emerged winner of the 2017 edition of the award.
Ronaldo was close to winning the 6th in 2018 after winning virtually everything in club football with Real Madrid, but a conspiracy theory states that his departure to Juventus months before the 2018 edition of the award gave his former teammate, Luka Modric the room to win it.
Interestingly, Messi won it in 2019, 2021, and now 2023, to become the first and only player to win it a record 8 times, a number the 38-year-old Portuguese icon can never match due to his current age.
Earlier today, it was noticed that Ronaldo liked a post and dropped laughing emojis via the comments section of a video criticizing Lionel Messi’s eighth Ballon d’Or victory.
Recall that Messi won the 8th Ballon d’Or after helping Argentina win the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and also helped Paris Saint Germain win the French Ligue 1 and French Super Cup last season with his 21 goals and 20 assists in 41 games.
Despite those achievements, some pundits and football fans believe Haaland who scored 52 goals and provided 9 assists in 53 games in all competitions deserve it more especially because he helped Manchester City to win an historic treble – UEFA Champions League, Premier League, and FA Cup.
Hence, a pundit who spoke in the video Ronaldo liked, stressed that Messi did not do much at the 2022 World Cup apart from scoring 6 penalties.
The journalists also stressed that Messi should have had just five Ballon d’Or in his career because Haaland deserved to win the 2023 edition, Robert Lewandowski ought to have won the 2021 edition, and Xavi or Andres Iniesta ought to have won the 2010 edition of the Ballon d’Or ahead of Messi.
If that had happened, it means Ronaldo and Messi would have had the same number of Ballon d’Or (5 each).
