“Ronaldo always makes comments like that, he always tries to be the best, but unfortunately he was born in a generation where there was another player who could turn everything he touched into gold, that was Messi.
Reality has been proven by numbers, Messi has won 8 Golden Balls while Ronaldo only has 5. And there are many other differences but the most noticeable is that Messi has won the World Cup while CR7 has not,” Di Maria said in an interview with Argentina’s Infobae news agency.
Di Maria was Ronaldo’s teammate at Real Madrid from 2010-2014, before moving to Man Utd. He is in the Top 5 players who have created the most goals for CR7, with 25 passes, only behind Karim Benzema (47 assists), Gareth Bale (32) and Mesut Ozil (31).
The Argentine midfielder said that Ronaldo always tries to find a way to become the number one player on the planet, which is commendable. “However, Ronaldo was born at the wrong time, in my opinion Messi is the number one player in world football,” the star born in 1988 stated his opinion.
Di Maria said Messi always played football calmly as if he were in his own backyard. He could score accurately, day in and day out for 20 years.
“People always say ‘we all know what Messi will do’, but when you give him the opportunity, he will score no matter what, even at 40, the Miami striker will still show his Tiki Taka magic,” said Di Maria.
At the international level, Di Maria has been with Messi from 2008 to 2024. They have been teammates from the youth ranks to the national team. Messi and Di Maria together won the 2008 Olympic Gold Medal, the 2022 World Cup, the 2021 and 2024 Copa America.
Cristiano Ronaldo has turned 40, he won a major collective title with the Portuguese team, Euro 2016. But he holds the record as the player who scored the most goals in the world at all levels with 924 goals (Messi is second with 850 goals).
