Cristiano’s ‘pique’ with Messi in the Ballon d’Or: “I know because he told me …”

Next Monday, Paris will once again be the epicenter of world football for several hours on the occasion of the celebration of the Ballon d’Or gala. The prestigious magazine France Football will deliver an award that could crown Messi as the only one with seven awards in history. Pascal Ferré, editor-in-chief of the prestigious magazine, spoke at New York Times about the ceremony and also had words for the rivalry between Messi and Cristiano.

“Ronaldo only has one ambition and that is to retire with more Ballons d’Or than Messi and I know it because he told me,” said Ferré, who considers that the award is more a recognition than a question of money: “It has nothing to do with the money the Ballon d’Or. It’s just the trophy. But to have one is to have a place in history. I think if we look at the statistics of Messi and Ronaldo, we will see that they always score a lot of goals in September and October, when the voting. That is not a coincidence. “

Cristiano's photo

Messi photo

In addition, he added: “We are very careful. But the identity of the winner of the Ballon d’Or is a big secret. There is no equivalent in the rest of the sport, I think.” He sounded a bit hesitant when he was told that the most immediate parallel was, perhaps, the results of the Oscars. “Ferré confessed that, in 2018, when Modric received the Ballon d’Or, the Croatian” cried like a child ” , to end by describing next Monday’s gala as a Christmas for the players.