THis words seem to have lost none of their weight over time. Jos Mourinho is known not only for his work as a coach, but also for not hiding his thoughts.
Now, a video from 2012 in which he speaks and distinguishes between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi has regained relevance thanks to a “like” from the Portuguese star on the clip.
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What did Mourinho say?
More than a decade ago, the 63-year-old Portuguese coach compared Ronaldo’s career to that of Lionel in an interview with newspaper A Bora. At the time, ‘Mu’ was coaching Real Madrid and had CR7 in his team, but he knew what it was like to play against Messi’s Barcelona.
Ahead of the 2012 Ballon d’Or, Cristiano scored 58 goals in a calendar year for Real Madrid, while Messi broke the world record with 91 goals in a calendar year (79 with Rose and 12 with Argentina). Therefore, the Argentine player received the award.
However, before announcing the winner, Mourinho did not hesitate to defend his player, stating that CR7 deserves more recognition because unlike Leo, he had to do competitive conditions and defensive work, giving him a rating of 10 or higher.
Now, the video has resurfaced after being re-shared on social media by @cr7historyal, with a like from Cristiano.
“I still say it’s harder to be Cristiano than Messi,” Mourinho said. “Messi has grown in the team he plays in, with the teammates he plays with. Cristiano came to England with a huge team that was on the verge of losing. He has had to grow in the last two years with this team that is still under construction.”
“Messi plays as a number nine in a space of about 50 square meters, closer to the goal and with less defensive work. Cristiano, on the other hand, is a winger,” he added. “How can a winger score the same number of goals as a centre-forward? A defensive winger who follows Pedro in the goal-scoring moments and ends the game in the 94th minute. A winger who reaches his own area 20 times on set-pieces because he is such an important player for the defense. A player who is protected by nothing and no one… It’s much, much harder to be Cristiano. Let’s not joke,” the coach pointed out. Messi also received increased protection from referees.
CR7’s digital gesture was enough to return fans to the eternal debate about who has the more successful career and why. Some were reminded of Mourinho’s latest words in 2019, that Leo was “a god of football”.
Meanwhile, this statement and CR7’s gesture only prove that even though both legends are in the final years of their professional careers, the discussion among soccer fans remains very active, and that their every little gesture and gesture continues to be a global topic of discussion among fans.
Deciding who is the best soccer player of all time is difficult and unlikely to reach a consensus, but Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are definitely part of the discussion.
