Cristiano Ronaldo kept his obsessive quest to win seven Ballon d’Ors and sire seven children before he’s put out to pasture (yes, he actually admitted this out loud) by winning trinket number five in Paris last night.
The Real Madrid man beat Lionel Messi and Neymar into second and third place respectively to win the award for the second year in a row.
To celebrate, Ronaldo gave an interview to award denizens France Football, in which he spouted off some typically humble and self-effacing appraisals of his work…
Cristiano Ronaldo to @francefootball: “I don’t see anyone better than me. No player does things that I cannot do myself, but I see things others can’t do. There’s no more complete player than me. I’m the best player in history — in the good and the bad moments” 😳 pic.twitter.com/z8ZOpSpx7k
— Oliver Kay (@OliverKayTimes) December 8, 2017
Those quotes in full:
I don’t see anyone better than me. No player does things that I cannot do myself, but I see thing others can’t do.
There’s no more complete player than me. I’m the best player in history – in the good and the bad moments.
Assuming the transcript is correct: Bloody hell. It’s all rooted in childhood insecurities, of course – but still… what a pillock.
Once again, Messi emerges as the people’s champion simply by virtue of keeping his mouth shut, at least as far as English-speaking audiences are concerned.