Rodri isn’t dodging one of football’s oldest debates. The Manchester City midfielder and reigning Ballon d’Or winner named Lionel Messi as the more talented of the two era-defining rivals in a conversation with El Hormiguero, drawing on his own experience facing both.
Softfootball learnt that Rodri didn’t hold back on the comparison, saying:
Messi is the best, I have no doubt about that. Cristiano is equal to him in many aspects, but he does not have the innate talent that Leo has. Messi was lethal wherever he was on the pitch.
He only had to touch the ball to know that something was going to happen. That’s the difference that makes him unique.
Rodri also reflected on his own Ballon d’Or win, dedicating it to Spain’s golden generation of players who never claimed the individual honor themselves, calling their collective achievements one of football’s most extraordinary stretches.
