Cristiano Ronaldo turned 39 a few days ago, and one can’t help but look back on his illustrious career and wonder how great it’s been. The veteran started from the streets of Madeira in Portugal and conquered Manchester, Turin, and Madrid before going to Saudi Arabia to reap the rewards of all these years of hard work with a bumper contract.
Even with the less competitive nature of the Saudi Pro League, Cristiano Ronaldo has shown no signs of slowing down, as he became the top scorer in the world in 2023. However, his latest antics in the team’s recent loss against bitter rivals Al-Hilal earned him another villain outlook in the media, as fans latched on to him with Lionel Messi references.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s controversial gesture rubs fans the wrong way
Cristiano Ronaldo is a sore loser, and everyone knows he doesn’t handle losing very well. This was the case in Al-Nassr’s pre-season friendly match against bitter rivals Al-Hilal. The league leaders beat second-placed Al-Nassr 2-0, thanks to goals from Milinkovic-Savic and Salem Aldawsari.
As if the loss wasn’t enough, Cristiano Ronaldo was taunted with Lionel Messi chants throughout the game, which made him lose his cool at full-time when the home fans threw some jerseys at him. Ronaldo rubbed one of these jerseys on his groin before throwing it in the air.
The video quickly made the rounds on social media, provoking many soccer fans, who were appalled by Cristiano Ronaldo’s gesture. Some of them even made Messi references, talking about how the World Cup winner was a country mile ahead of his Portuguese rival in terms of being the face of the sport.
“A dirty player, he lost a lot of respect,” one fan commented on Twitter.
“Disgusting behavior by Ronaldo. He will never have the class of Lionel Messi. Imagine being rattled over a friendly. He will never be the face of football,” another angry fan said.
This was Cristiano Ronaldo’s first appearance since his return from the injury that kept him out of the Inter Miami vs Al-Nassr game, which would have seen him go head-to-head with Lionel Messi again.
Ronaldo tops Lionel Messi in unique list
Despite losing his cool over Lionel Messi chants yesterday, Cristiano Ronaldo got one over his bitter rival as he was declared the highest-paid athlete in 2023, ahead of the likes of LeBron James, Kylian Mbappe, and Neymar.
Ronaldo joined Al-Nassr in January 2023 and signed a reported two-year deal worth £175 million annually. This, alongside some other bonuses from his brand sponsorships and many more, took his total yearly earnings in 2023 to £218 million, £57 million more than the second-placed Jon Rahm. The golf superstar raked in a total of £161 million in 2023, with Lionel Messi coming in third with £103 million, less than half of Ronaldo’s earnings.
LeBron James (£99.8 million), Kylian Mbappe (£99.2 million), Neymar Jr. (£96 million), and Karim Benzema (£61 million) also made the list of the highest-paid athletes in 2023.
