El Chiringuito journalist Edu Aguirre has made a highly controversial claim about Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, which has got the entire footballing world talking.
Aguirre has previously been accused of favoritism towards the Portuguese superstar following his biased TV interviews and quotes while working with El Chiringuito.
He added to his long list of contentious quotes by recently saying:
“Cristiano takes the best in the world to Saudi Arabia, and Messi takes his friends to Miami.”
Ronaldo was the first footballing mega-star to make the move to the Saudi Pro League, joining Al-Nassr in January 2023. A plethora of world-class European talent has followed his path since, making the league one of the most high-quality competitions in the world.
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Messi, on the other hand, joined newly-established MLS stragglers Inter Miami upon the expiration of his contract at Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) last season. Owned by David Beckham, Inter Miami have since signed Messi's former teammates Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets, and Jordi Alba.
The only parameter we have had to measure the variance in quality of the two leagues is the recently concluded Riyadh Season Cup. Messi scored and assisted against Neymar's Al-Hilal, but Inter Miami eventually lost the game 4-3.
When the Herons played Al-Nassr, both Ronaldo and Messi were not part of the squads. However, Al-Nassr still managed to demolish the American outfit 6-0, demonstrating the difference in quality of the squads.
Therefore, it may seem like Aguirre stirred up the pot with the comment, but Messi's Inter Miami truly did get a reality check in the pre-season. They need to improve their squad massively to live up to their pre-season hype as MLS title favorites.
Lionel Messi significantly higher than Cristiano Ronaldo on the MOTM awards list since 2009
French statistics expert @ThePopFoot on X revealed some interesting data about Man of the Match awards over the last 15 years. According to the data, Lionel Messi won a significantly higher percentage of awards than Cristiano Ronaldo.
In Europe's top five leagues (England, Germany, Spain, Italy, and France), Messi won an incredulous 324 awards across 628 games for Barcelona and PSG, making it a 51.6 percent winning rate.
Meanwhile, Ronaldo won the award 176 times in 612 games for Manchester United, Juventus, and Real Madrid, which places him second in the list at 28.8 percent. Although Ronaldo's stats are highly impressive, it pales in comparison to the Argentine's numbers.
More than a comparison, this statistic is just a measure of the longevity and dominance of the two footballing superstars and their incredible impact on European football.
