In a video posted by Diario AS on Instagram, Cristiano Ronaldo reacted with tears of laughter about Lionel Messi not being deserving of winning the eighth Golden Ball. Ronaldo was referring to Messi’s performance at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Today, October 31, AS replied on Messi getting the 2023 Golden Ball from France Football magazine by posting a video on Instagram. Editor-in-Chief Tomas Roncero was featured in the film. In this video, Roncero is heard saying in Spanish that Messi arrived to Inter Miami with the intention of retiring, but while he was playing for PSG, he acted as if he had already retired.

Roncero said, “It’s true that Messi won the World Cup, but with six penalties,” and he was being serious. Additionally, the World Cup was held exactly ten months ago. Messi has been awarded a total of eight Golden Balls, yet he should really only be deserving of five. The Golden Ball that belonged to Andres Iniesta or Xavi, a player who won six titles in a single year, is in Messi’s possession. Robert Lewandowski had a great season, and now Erling Haaland is the leading scorer across all tournaments.

Ronaldo, using the alias “cristiano,” posted a remark under a video in which he stated that Messi should only receive five Golden Balls. Photograph: a screen grab

Ronaldo enjoyed AS’s video and commented on it with four emojis showing him crying from laughing until he was crying. In just six hours, Ronaldo’s comment earned more than 16,000 likes and more than 4,000 reactions, whereas AS’s video only received 13,000 likes.

This is not the first time that Ronaldo has shown support for content on social networks that criticize Messi’s play. After the Argentine superstar won the Golden Ball in 2021, Ronaldo also liked a post on Instagram that criticized Messi. He then commented: “Factos,” which translates to “truth” in Portuguese.

With 609 million followers, Ronaldo is far and away the most popular individual on Instagram. Messi came in at number two with a total of 490 million followers. The two celebrities are also responsible for eight of the ten postings on this social network that have received the most likes.

Messi converted four of the five penalties that he attempted during the 2022 World Cup. In addition, he scored three more goals, which contributed to Argentina’s victory in the championship match against France, which was decided by penalty kicks. Messi has only attempted a penalty kick once in each of the last four World Cups, but he has never been successful in converting one.

After scoring a goal in every round of the 2022 World Cup and being named the tournament’s Best Player, Lionel Messi was presented with his eighth Golden Ball on the evening of October 30 in Paris. The trophy was given out by France Football magazine. Even though the Norwegian striker won three titles with Man City, broke the record for scoring goals in a Premier League season, and won the Champions League top scorer, he was still eclipsed by the Norwegian’s compatriot, Erling Haaland, who earned the Silver Ball.

Ronaldo has won five Golden Balls, the most recent being six years ago, when he equaled the “score” 5-5 with Messi. Since then, Messi has won three more Golden Balls in odd-numbered years, going up 8-5. The French magazine calls Messi “infinity”, with a horizontal number 8 symbol.

Ronaldo was not nominated for the 2023 Golden Ball, after a forgettable World Cup with only one goal. He has also moved to Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia since January 2023, causing his chances of winning another Golden Ball to decrease. The 38-year-old striker still retains his desire to play and wants to participate in Euro 2024, even the 2026 World Cup.