By Chris Wright
With spurious gossip whipping up a minor frenzy in the Spanish press, Cristiano Ronaldo has actually been forced into denying, in a public forum, that he doesn’t, hasn’t and also never plans to secretly refer to Lionel Messi as “The Motherf**ker”.
We know what you’re thinking and no, this isn’t a spoof…sadly.
The spat stems from a passage in a new book about Messi by noted spewer of bum rubbish, Spanish journalist Guillem Balague, who claims that while Ronaldo shows nothing but respect for his rival in public, it is an entirely different story behind closed doors.
Indeed, Ronaldo has allegedly even coined a secret nickname for Messi – “The Motherf**ker” – which he apparently routinely uses within the safe confines of the Real Madrid dressing room.
This is the offending passage in question, from Balague’s book “MESSI”:
“Ronaldo, perhaps as a symptom of the immaturity that marks so many footballers, thinks it necessary to put on a brave face in front of his team-mates, not be scared of Messi and to rise to the challenge. All very macho; all very false.
“And that is why, according to some Real Madrid players, CR7 has a nickname for him: ‘motherf**ker’; and if he sees someone from the club speaking to Leo, he also ends up being baptised ‘motherf**ker’.”
Yep.
Anyway, this is now happening…
It’s really quite laughable that, despite the tabloid media’s relentless attempts to cultivate a feud between the two players, both Messi and Ronaldo are nothing but amicable about one another when pressed.
They’re not close friends – why would they be? – but they’re never anything less than civil, courteous and respectful of each other – and the soap opera bullshit-merchant hacks of the world can’t bloody stand it.
Brilliant!