Guardiola makes big statement on Messi-Ronaldo rivalry – ‘The father of that monster’ | OneFootball

Lionel Messi signed off on his saga in Europe with his eighth Ballon d’Or last year and this year’s race already saw a severe drop in quality with no one player clearly standing out as a winner.

In the end, it was Manchester City’s Rodri who took home the award over Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr. in a saga that created massive controversy in Spain.

The Merengues, in fact, did not even travel for the ceremony in Paris despite being named the best club in the world.

Guardiola makes a huge statement

Speaking to the media in a press conference earlier today, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola touched on the topic of Rodri winning the Ballon d’Or.

The conversation soon boiled down to the historic rivalry between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo who dominated the accolade for over a decade.

The greatest rivalry in modern football. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

Speaking on his former pupil and his days at Barcelona, Guardiola made a juicy statement that will go down as a topic of conversation for years.

“No one could beat Messi, only Cristiano. Cristiano was a monster and the father of that monster is Messi. The two have achieved something incredible in the last 20 years,” he said via Mundo Deportivo.

He then echoed Rodri’s thoughts on how the Ballon d’Or was an award for the entire nation of Spain which has had several deserving candidates in recent decades including Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta.

“Maybe Xavi and Iniesta deserved it at that time, so I think yesterday Rodri achieved what Spanish football deserved worldwide.”

As part of his speech, the midfield star insisted the same and even urged Lamine Yamal to keep working hard and that he saw him as a future Ballon d’Or winner.