A Cristiano Ronaldo fan claims to have evidence that the Ballon d'Or award is biased against Lionel Messi after the Argentine won the prize for the eighth time.
As expected, Messi claimed the France Football award at a ceremony in Paris after leading Argentina to their first World Cup triumph since 1986 back in December.
The Inter Miami star received the award from David Beckham, the man who brought him to the MLS.
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100 journalists from the top 100 FIFA-ranked countries had their say, with Messi beating Manchester City sensation Erling Haaland and his former Paris Saint-Germain teammate Kylian Mbappe.
After coming sixth and 20th in 2021 and 2022 respectively, Ronaldo was not included in the 30-man shortlist and is now three behind Messi.
And one of his biggest fans has posted a lengthy thread on X claiming that the awards are against Ronaldo.
@CristianoXtra_ started by sharing a video where one of the hosts tells Ronaldo that Messi's 'image' may be a factor in votes, and followed it up by reminding fans of when the Portuguese superstar was rinsed at the Ballon d'Or ceremony for a magazine cover in underwear alongside Didier Drogba.
The supporter was also not fond of former FIFA president Sepp Blatter calling Messi a "good boy" and Ronaldo "a commander" and apparently stating that the Barcelona legend gets more votes because he's a nice guy.
He also brought up quotes from ex chief Michel Platini saying he didn't deserve the 2014 Ballon d'Or.
The thread was finished off with Ronaldo's words on the alleged disrespect he receives from FIFA - though they haven't been anything to do with the Ballon d'Or for a number of years now.
In 2013, Ronaldo reference a video of Blatter impersonating him and wrote: "This video shows the respect and consideration that FIFA has for me, my club and my country. Much is explained now."
After the result, Ronaldo liked and commented on an Instagram post by Spanish publication AS where they posted quotes from journalist Tomas Roncero.
He said: "Hello friends what we already knew has happened. They were going to give another Ballon d’Or to Messi. He went to retire in Miami, but he was already looking like retired at PSG to prepare for the World Cup, he won the World Cup, yes, well, but with six penalties.
"The World Cup was 10 months ago, we’re in November. Messi has eight Ballon d’Ors well, he should have five. He has the Ballon d’Ors of [Andres] Iniesta and Xavi, [Robert] Lewandowski who won 6 trophies in one season and [Erling] Haaland who was the top scorer of everything.”
Ronaldo, who didn't attend the Ballon d'Or event, added four laughing emojis in the comments.
Topics: Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Ballon d'Or
Josh Lawless