Cristiano Ronaldo has come under strong criticism, with a lack of sportsmanship and an inferiority complex among the terms being thrown at the player.
Pascal Ferre reported that Ronaldo told him about his ambitions of retiring with more Ballon d’Or awards than Lionel Messi. The Argentinian was awarded his seventh career Ballon d’Or on Monday, extending his record. His 36-year old rival, on the other hand, has five to his name. The most recent award was given to him in 2017.
The Manchester United forward took to Instagram to rubbish the statement and type out a paragraph about the issue. He said that Ferre lied about the statement and used the opportunity to promote himself and his publication house.
Two days after posting this, Ronaldo commented “factos” on a post that argued Ronaldo deserved the 2021 Ballon d’Or award instead. It compared the two athlete’s seasons and slandered Messi and Lewandowski for finishing higher in the ranking than the Portuguese, who finished 6th.
Cristiano Ronaldo commented 'facts' under an Instagram post questioning Lionel Messi's Ballon d'Or award 👀 pic.twitter.com/i7PwBNLZQE
— GOAL (@goal) December 1, 2021
The situation surrounding Ronaldo looks even worse given the respectful statement that Messi made towards Lewandowski while accepting the Ballon d’Or award. Messi acknowledged that Lewandowski would’ve won the award had it been given in 2020, but it was cancelled due to the pandemic.
The United no. 7 is no doubt one of the greatest players of all time. But, the lack of sportsmanship on display is something that cannot be set aside. If Ronaldo does manage his own social media, then such an act does not reflect well on his personality off the pitch.
