Superstar footballer, Cristiano Ronaldo has said that football’s individual awards are losing credibility in the wake of Lionel Messi’s controversial FIFA triumph.
Lionel Messi picked up FIFA’s The Best prize last week and many were surprised he won it over the Treble-winning Erling Haaland. The Argentine superstar also won the Ballon d’Or after his World Cup triumph but FIFA’s prize was awarded over a period that did not include that.
Speaking after winning three prizes at the Globe Soccer Awards, Ronaldo, hinted that his arch-rival Messi was not a deserving winner.
‘I think that, in a way, these awards are losing credibility,’ he said. ‘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 Globe Soccer. But there are facts, there are numbers. 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.’
Ronaldo added he was unlikely to be in the running for the major awards in the future as he now plays in Saudi Arabia.
He said: ‘We know how other organisms work. Obviously, I always think about my club and the national team first. The awards come after a good season for the club and the national team. I don’t think about it much, honestly.