Argentina legend Diego Maradona believes “I’d have more Ballon d’Ors than Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.”
Speaking to AS, Maradona also disagreed with Cristiano Ronaldo’s claim that he was the best ever, felt Messi lacked his charisma and noted football was harder in his day.
“Ronaldo said he is the best ever? Tell him to stop talking nonsense!” began the Al Fujairah boss, who wore Barcelona’s No 10 shirt between 1984 and 1986.
“The best? For me… From what little I saw of them, Alfredo Di Stéfano, Cruyff… and Messi, but It can be Cristiano too.
“What does Messi lack to be Maradona? It can’t be bought, it’s inside of you and comes as standard.
“Messi wouldn’t be able to sit down 20 players, talk to them and motivate them, like I did.
“He’d say, ‘what do you want to ask me, lads?’ They’d ask him the questions.
“Was it harder to play before? For me, it was more difficult. Ronaldo? He’s wonderful. I like his definition.
“Another thing that I like about Cristiano Ronaldo is that when the team need him, he delivers. There haven’t been many players since Cruyff with that quality.
“Ballon d’Or? As a trophy… it’s very difficult to give a Ballon d’Or to only one player because always giving it to Ronaldo or Messi is boring.
“Who else deserves it? Maybe Cavani, Mbappe, Ibrahimovic, but I don’t know. There were more [contenders] before. I’d have more than Ronaldo and Messi.”
