Cristiano Ronaldo’s reply after a former Barcelona player said he was made to say Lionel Messi is better
Cristiano Ronaldo just shared his thoughts after a former Barcelona player admitted to lying during his first Nou Camp press conference.
The rivalry between Ronaldo and Lionel Messi is at the center of one of football’s most talked-about debates, and thankfully, World Cup 2026 is bringing us closer to the finish line.
Messi is younger and will turn 39 during the tournament, but right now, any mention of either player online still sparks endless, often empty, discussions.
It’s a bit more interesting to hear from players who actually played alongside one of them. Between them, they’ve won 13 Ballon d’Or awards, and their rivalry peaked when Ronaldo was at Real Madrid, directly facing Messi and Barcelona in La Liga.
Kevin-Prince Boateng, a former Premier League star, joined Barcelona on loan from Sassuolo in 2019 and played in four league games.
The Ghana international shared in an interview how his respect for Ronaldo caused an issue when he signed for Barça.
“I always said I wanted to play for Real Madrid,” Boateng told the Unscripted podcast.
“Two years before, when I was at Las Palmas, I said my favorite player was Cristiano Ronaldo and my favorite team was Real Madrid!
“But when I signed for Barcelona, they told me, ‘Your favorite team has to be Barcelona, and the best player in the world is Lionel Messi. Otherwise, you can’t play here, it’s impossible.’
“The first question at the press conference was ‘Who’s the best player in the world?’ and I said ‘Lionel Messi.’
“I basically lied.”
That podcast clip recently popped up again on Instagram without credit and caught the attention of one of the stars involved.
Among almost 30,000 comments and over 400,000 likes, Ronaldo himself showed up with some laughing emojis — you know the ones — and received tons of likes on his reply.
Portugal’s captain will now lead his team against DR Congo in their first World Cup 2026 match after a FIFA ruling lifted his red card suspension.