Manchester City midfielder Rodri has weighed in on the never-ending debate between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, revealing a strong preference for the Argentine forward.
Rodri what officially crowned the world’s best male player at this year’s Ballon d’Or ceremony, controversially spicing Vinicius Junior of Real Madrid in the title The European champion topped a shortlist that did not include Messi or Ronaldo for the first time in 21 years.
The pair have won 13 Ballon d’Or crowns between them and are widely considered two of the the greatest players of all time. The Messi-Ronaldo debate has been going on for over a decade, but Rodri has made up his mind.
“I have no doubt about it, Messi,” revealed Rodri Antenna 3the show The Anteater. “I always say that Cristiano has managed to match Messi in many things, maybe without the innate talent that Leo has, but those of us who actually play against them quickly notice the difference.”
Rodri first faced the legendary duo when he was young at Villarreal. messiah He scored within ten minutes of his first meeting with the Spanish midfielder, firing in the first of seven goals in eight matches. Ronaldo scored a memorable hat-trick for Juventus against an Atletico Madrid side that contained Rodri in the 2018/19 Champions League qualifiers.
“christianfor example, what you didn’t want him to do was enter the box, because when he entered the box he was lethal,” explained Rodri. “But Messi was lethal on all sides of the pitch. The ball came to him and you knew something bad was going to happen, you didn’t know what, but you knew something bad was going to happen.
“So I remember when I first started playing against him, when I was 17 or 18, he was going to get the ball from him and he was moving like a bullfighter stepping on a heifer.”
Rodri being a sincere message to his Spanish compatriot Dani Carvajal while accepting his award. The Euro 2024 The Player of the Tournament also praised the future potential of Lamine Yamal and the past impact of Andrés Iniesta after becoming the first Spaniard to win the Ballon d’Or since Luis Suárez in 1960. The last four balls of ‘or feminines have been for Alexia. Putellas and Aitana Bonmati.
“In my opinion, Spain has had the best generation or has lived one of the best moments in the history of football, not only with the national team, but also with the Spanish league, and that we have only had one Ballon d’Or. the truth is that it was a curious thing”, pointed out Rodri.
“And well, that golden generation that we had wasn’t able to win it, it made me want to pay tribute to him because honestly there are a lot of them that I think are better players than me and they don’t have at home, but they have lived through the era of two ‘Martians’ like Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo”.
