Al Nassr captain, Cristiano Ronaldo, has hit out against UEFA’s Ballon d’Or and FIFA’s world best award, saying the soccer awards were losing their credibility.
The former Manchester United and Real Madrid legend was critical of the laurels after Lionel Messi was named as the winner for both awards, suggesting that he had been robbed.
The Portuguese star pointed to ‘the numbers’ and argued that perhaps it should have been him that had won, rather than Argentine soccer star. He also credited his response to being axed by Manchester United as a further reason for why he should have won the award.
Speaking to Record, Ronaldo argued that the awards were not being given based on facts.
“I think that, in a way these awards are losing credibility. We have to analyse the entire season. It’s not to say that Messi didn’t deserve it, or Haaland or even Mbappe, I simply no longer believe in these awards and it’s not because I won at the globe soccer but these are facts, the numbers are there and the numbers don’t deceive. They can’t take this trophy away from me because it’s a reality, So it makes me even happier, because the numbers are facts,” he said.
Goal also reports that the striker recently claimed the Saudi Pro League was better than Ligue 1 and has been speaking often about his goalscoring feats of 2023.
In reality, few would argue Ronaldo deserved to win either of the awards and even less would agree that the 39-year-old is the best player in the world anymore – even if he believes it himself.