6 football superstars Cristiano Ronaldo has insulted over the years: Messi, Pele…
Former Barcelona, Manchester United and Santos players are among the football superstars that Cristiano Ronaldo has insulted over the years.
While Ronaldo is undoubtedly one of the greatest footballers of all time, he has landed himself in hot water on numerous occasions as a result of the comments he’s made in the press.
We’ve taken a closer look at Ronaldo’s career to date and have found six examples of when he’s taken aim at football superstars.
Pele
It’s fair to say that Ronaldo’s comments about Pele haven’t gone down well in Brazil. During an interview with Rio Ferdinand, Ronaldo claimed it was his objective to be the first player to score 1000 career goals – with all of his goals being on video.
“Soon I will do 900 and, after, I will beat 1,000,” Ronaldo said.
“I want to reach 1,000 goals. If I don’t have injuries, this, for me, is the most important. I want that.
“It’s the best marker I can have in football. There will be one difference: all of my goals have videos, so I can prove that.”
Ferdinand then burst out laughing and replied: “You’re a b*****d. You’re talking about Alfredo Di Stefano, Pele, Eusebio.”
While Ronaldo himself didn’t name Pele in the interview, it was obvious that he was the player being spoken about. Guinness World Records credits the Brazilian with 1,279 goals but only 767 were scored in official matches.
Lionel Messi
These days, Ronaldo speaks about Messi in a professional and sometimes warm manner, but that wasn’t always the case.
Especially during the peak of their rivalry, Ronaldo aimed several digs at the Argentine forward over the years.
Arguably the most infamous insult came after Messi won the 2021 Ballon d’Or as Ronaldo clearly wasn’t happy about it.
Shortly after the award ceremony, Ronaldo took to Instagram and commented ‘factos’ on a post that claimed Messi didn’t deserve to win the award.
Xavi
Ronaldo once claimed that Xavi had ‘no relevance’ and also joked that the Spaniard had never won the Ballon d’Or, while he had three at the time.
“Yesterday I saw that the most searched for player on the internet is me. So when a player or manager want to appear on front cover of newspaper they speak about me. It’s normal, I’m like a promotion,” Ronaldo said.
“What does it matter to me what Xavi says? Xavi plays in Qatar or used to, I don’t know. He has no relevance. What do you want me to tell you?
“He’s won everything but he’s never won a Ballon d’Or. I have three. So I don’t care what he says.”
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Wayne Rooney
Once close friends at Man Utd, it’s fair to say that Ronaldo’s relationship with Rooney has turned sour over the years.
Rooney has made it no secret that he thinks Messi is the greatest player of all time and that has clearly rubbed Ronaldo the wrong way.
When speaking to Piers Morgan about Rooney’s criticism, CR7 took aim at Rooney’s looks: “Probably because he finished his career and I’m still playing at a high level. I’m not going to say that I’m looking better than him. Which is true.”
Alessandro Florenzi
Ronaldo was involved in a heated exchange with Florenzi back in May 2019 when Juventus faced Roma.
After the Italian tried to square up to Ronaldo, the Portuguese star put his finger to his lips, gesturing for the Italian to be quiet before mocking the full-back’s height with another hand signal.
During the exchange, Ronaldo reportedly said: “You’re too short to talk.”
In the end, Florenzi had the last laugh as he got himself on the scoresheet as Roma went on to win the game 2-0.
Cho Gue-sung
Alright, Gue-sung is hardly the biggest name in football, but Ronaldo’s spat with the South Korean star did get people talking during the 2022 World Cup.
CR7 was unhappy when he was withdrawn in the 65th minute against South Korea and he didn’t take kindly to Gue-sung when he tried to hurry him off the pitch.
“What happened was before my substitution, the South Korea player told me to get off quickly,” Ronaldo explained. “I told him to shut up as he doesn’t have that authority.”