Cristiano Ronaldo has drawn further controversy by suggesting that the Ballon d'Or and Best FIFA Player awards are losing their credibility, and implying that he might have been overlooked in the voting.
Ronaldo's rather bitter-sounding remarks come after Lionel Messi doubled up his 2023 Ballon d'Or victory by scooping Best FIFA Men's Player earlier this week.
It's now been seven years since the the Portuguese superstar won either honour; Messi has got his hands on both prizes three times during that period, cementing his status as surely the greatest player of all time.
In an interview with Record, Ronaldo said: "It's not to say that Messi didn't deserve [to win both awards] or [Erling] Haaland or even [Kylian] Mbappe – but the numbers are there and the numbers don't deceive. You have to consider the entire season.
"The numbers are facts. If you go back and see what happened at Manchester United [who Ronaldo left acrimoniously in November 2022] and the national team, people actually considered me lost – but the truth is that I focused and had a great period at Al Nassr; that's why I scored 54 goals [for club and country in 2023]."
Unfortunately for Ronaldo, whether he knows it deep down or not, it's been quite some time since the five-time Ballon d'Or recipient could realistically be considered the best player in the world.
And moving from the best league in the world to the Saudi Pro League has hardly helped – even if the 39-year-old claims that the latter is better than Ligue 1...
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