Throughout the past ten years, discussions among football fans have been dominated by comparisons between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. With Messi leading Argentina to the FIFA World Cup triumph and Ronaldo falling out of favour at Manchester United and moving to Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia, the discussion has, nevertheless, gotten somewhat unbalanced in the last six months.
In Saudi Arabia, Cristiano Ronaldo was greeted by cheers for Messi from the fans of the opposing club, and a similar incident occurred after his team defeated Al Baten. The Portuguese has had some tough mast months, watching his all-time rival return to form with PSG, lead his nation to World Cup glory, and finally win FIFA The Best award. On the other hand, Ronaldo’s Portugal got ousted in the quarterfinals by Morocco in Qatar, he himself got sacked by United and moved out of Europe to join Al Nassr.
And that was an easy game – Cristiano Ronaldo reacts to fan’s GOAT claims
Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr welcomed Al-Batin last week to the Mrsool Park in their Saudi Pro League clash. The Riyadh based outfit came on top with in an enthralling but controversial 3-1 win, where all of the home side’s goals came in the 14-minute stoppage time. However, Ronaldo was wasteful throughout the game missing some glorious chances.
An incident at the end of the game was rather the highlight from the night where a young supporter shouted that “Messi is so much better,” in front of Ronaldo as he was passing down the tunnel. In a video hitting the rounds of social media, the former Real Madrid forward was seen dismissing the fan before yelling, “And that was the easy game,” to the others around him.
A kid told Ronaldo that Messi was the GOAT. Ronaldo wasn’t impressed ? pic.twitter.com/SZ1K609mnp
— Football Transfers (@Transfersdotcom) March 5, 2023
The Knights of Najd defeated Al-Batin to extend their winning streak in the Saudi Premier League, with Cristiano Ronaldo having had a difficult game. The Portuguese star failed to score and squandered numerous scoring opportunities throughout the contest by heading the majority of crosses over the crossbar. Ronaldo recorded two hat-tricks in the three games prior to this one, including a four-goal barrage against Al-Wehda, and had assisted both of Al-Nassr’s goals in their 2-1 victory over Al-Taawoun.
He appeared to be at his best with the team since his arrival, but last weekend he lost steam once more and gave a dreadful performance that almost cost his team the victory. Meanwhile, at a ceremony in Paris on Monday, Lionel Messi was presented with the 2022 FIFA Men’s Player of the Year award. Messi earned the award for the second time since it was introduced by FIFA in 2016.
The 35-year-old won the prize ahead of his Paris Saint-Germain teammate and World Cup rivals Kylian Mbappe as well as Karim Benzema and. The votes cast by a select group of national team captains and coaches determine the award winner. Cristiano Ronaldo, despite being the captain of the Portugal national team didn’t come forward to vote, and instead, Pepe voted as the Selecao’s skipper.