Real Madrid forced me to ‘say Ronaldo’ is better than Messi: Chess great

Considered by many to be the best footballer in the world, Cristiano Ronaldo has amazed fans and experts since his professional debut.

Although the Manchester United attacker is 37-years-old, he is still considered to be the greatest by many, but reigning five-time World Chess Champion Marnus Carlsen doesn’t think so. The Norwegian grandmaster recently revealed that for him Lionel Messi is a better player than Ronaldo.

Speaking on YouTuber Lex Fridman’s channel, Carlsen revealed that once during an interview with Real Madrid he was forced to name Ronaldo as his favourite player. “I think it’s pretty hard to make a case for anybody else than (Lionel) Messi for his all-round game.

My Real Madrid fandom sort of predates the Ronaldo era – the second Ronaldo, not the first one (Ronaldo Nazario). I always liked Ronaldo but I always kind of thought that Messi was better”, he said.

“I went to quite a number of Madrid games and they’ve always been super helpful to me down there. The only thing is that they were going to do an interview and they were going to ask me who my favourite player was. I said somebody else, I think it was Isco at that point, and they were like, ‘Okay, take two, now you say Ronaldo.’So for them it was very important, but it wasn’t that huge to me”, he further added.

Currently, Messi is in his second season with PSG and hasn’t been in good form. He was recently substituted in the final minutes of PSG’s Ligue 1 draw against Monaco, and didn’t seem impressed.

Meanwhile, Ronaldo also hasn’t had a good start to the ongoing Premier League season and is expected to depart Manchester United. The forward has reportedly fallen out of favour within the club’s hierarchy and also the dressing room. The former Real Madrid man is currently being linked to Napoli, who are reportedly offering Victor Osimhen in a swap deal.