Ballon d’Or season is officially upon us, and with this annual influx of individual accolades comes an unruly (and honestly, completely unnecessary) number of comparisons between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
One of the original GOAT’s of world fútbol, former Brazilian international and galáctico Ronaldo Nazario, has weighed in, and given the fact that he’s one of only four players to ever win three or more FIFA World Player of the Year awards (along with Zidane, Messi and Cristiano), we feel that we should perhaps take his opinion a bit more seriously.
Ronaldo declared Messi to be a “more complete player” than his Madrid counterpart. “He is out of this world,” the legend said. “Cristiano too, but I see Leo as more complete. He’s great. I like him much more than any other player. Everything he does is spectacular.”
His declarations come only a few days after Messi’s most recent individual honor; the Barça crack took Best Player of the Year at the Globe Soccer Awards this past weekend. Messi will be looking to add another golden ball to his trophy cabinet during the FIFA Ballon d’Or Gala on January 11.
(Ronaldo clarified and contextualized his comments by stating that Pelé and Maradona were “much better than all of us.” Respect where respect is due ?.)