Cristiano Ronaldo has hit back at comments made by Ballon d'Or organizer Pascal Ferré, saying the editor-in-chief of France Football "lied" about his rivalry with Lionel Messi.
Ferré told the New York Times on Friday that Manchester United forward Ronaldo's sole ambition was to retire with more of the awards for the world's best player than Messi.
Lionel Messi won his record-extending seventh men’s Ballon d’Or on Monday. Anyone who watched him carry both Argentina and Barcelona over the last year knows he absolutely deserved it. But even Messi admitted on Monday that Robert Lewandowski deserves the 2020 Ballon d’Or.
Lionel Messi edged Robert Lewandowski for the men’s 2021 Ballon d’Or, the Argentine’s record-extending seventh trophy as the best men’s player in the world. But Cristiano Ronaldo, who didn’t even attend the award show in Paris, still managed to make it all about him.
Messi, who this year helped Argentina win the 2021 Copa América and Barcelona win the Copa del Rey (lol), was also named the world’s best men’s player in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2019.
HERE IS THE WINNER!
On Sunday morning, for the first time this season, all of Paris Saint-Germain’s heavy hitters graced the pitch together, including a debut for Sergio Ramos at the heart of defense alongside Marquinhos. Up top, Saint-Étienne squared up with the quartet of Neymar, Kylian Mbappé, Lionel Messi and Ángel Di María.
When these teams met in Paris a couple of months ago, Manchester City bossed the game but PSG still won by two. In Manchester, the Citizens didn’t quite dominate as much, but they came away with what matters most: more goals.
PARIS — Lionel Messi scored his first Ligue 1 goal as Paris Saint-Germain opened a 13-point lead in Ligue 1 despite playing almost half an hour with 10 men in a 3-1 home win against Nantes on Saturday.
Messi found the back of the net with a curled left-footed effort from outside the box three minutes from time, adding to Dennis Appiah's own goal after Randal Kolo Muani had cancelled out Kylian Mbappe's first-half opener.
Cinco partidos, 416 minutos o 19 tiros al arco. Cualquiera sea la medida, eso es lo que le costó a Lionel Messi convertir su primer gol defendiendo al PSG en la Ligue 1 de Francia.
La Pulga ya había anotado por los parisinos en Champions League, pero su estreno en las redes locales continuaba siéndole esquivo. Tanto que varios comenzaban a poner en duda su fichaje. "Se está marchitando", llegó a decir incluso el periódico Le Parisien.
No obstante, este sábado, Messi cortó la mala racha, sellando la victoria por 3-1 sobre el Nantes.
For as long as soccer players have had toned, athletic bodies hiding under their shirts, they’ve loved to take off their jerseys to celebrate scoring a goal. But when you really want to make a statement, you need something more than rock-hard abs under your shirt — you need one of these iconic goal celebration shirt messages.
Much has been said about Lionel Messi’s slow start to life in Paris, which is basically just to say that the 34-year-old hasn’t played much. Given his reluctance to ever miss a minute with Barcelona — regardless of whether it was a Champions League or second round Copa del Rey match — it’s been weird seeing Messi go over one-third of the league season without scoring or assisting yet.
PARIS — Paris Saint-Germain forward Lionel Messi will miss Saturday's Ligue 1 trip to Bordeaux through injury but could feature for Argentina in this month's World Cup qualifiers, manager Mauricio Pochettino said on Friday.
The 34-year-old Messi, who signed from Barcelona in the off season, is still recovering from "knee and hamstring pains", the club said. He also sat out the 2-2 draw against RB Leipzig in the Champions League in midweek.