Juventus and Portugal international star Cristiano Ronaldo’s reaction to Robert Lewandowski winning the FIFA The Best award created a lot of controversy in news outlets and on social media.
The Portugese legend previously won the award five times and finished second behind Lewandowski in this year’s award. When FIFA president Gianni Infantino surprised Lewandowski and handed him the award, Ronaldo clearly was not so happy about it.
It was evident that Ronaldo wanted to win the award for the sixth time and tie with his eternal rival Lionel Messi, who already has six. However, neither Messi or Ronaldo deserved to receive the FIFA The Best award this year despite being two of the greatest or arguably the greatest players to ever play soccer.
Ronaldo had a pretty mediocre season compared to his previous ones, winning the Serie A with Juventus. He was not even crowned as the Serie A’s top scorer, which went to Lazio’s Ciro Immobile.
Similarly, Messi had a mediocre season after not managing to win any trophies. Messi was La Liga’s top scorer and the Argentine legend also broke FC Barcelona legend Xavi’s assist record.
Due to having mediocre seasons, several people believed that Messi and Ronaldo were not supposed to be among the top three finalists. Other names like Neymar Jr. were perhaps more deserving.
Meanwhile, the award deservedly went to Lewandowski who won five trophies with Bayern Munich including being the top scorer of the UEFA Champions League and Bundesliga. Messi and Ronaldo dominated in the previous years, but Lewandowski won everything to deserve the award.
In his FIFA vote for the top 3, Ronaldo chose Lewandowski in first place, Messi in second and Kylian Mbappe in third. Messi chose Neymar Jr. in first place, Mbappe in second and Lewandowski in third. Lewandowski gave his vote to Thiago Alcantara in first place, Neymar in second and Kevin De Bruyne in third.
