Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho believes “it would be a crime” if Cristiano Ronaldo does not win the Ballon d’Or this year.
In an interview with ‘A Bola TV’ a new television channel launched by the prestigious Portuguese sports newspaper, Mourinho also explained that Ronaldo has faced more challenges in his career than Leo Messi, and said the Real Madrid forward was “from another planet”.
His comments after el Clásico, when he said ‘questions about who is better, Ronaldo or Messi, should be banned’: “On Sunday, after a fantastic game, I was asked who was better and I tried to come up with a fair answer and show respect, not only to my player but also to a rival player. But now, when someone with my responsibilities is asked to say who he thinks is the best player on the planet, I say: ‘The best player wasn’t born in Madeira, he was born in Mars, and therefore, he is not from planet earth. He is the best in the universe.'”
Different challenges: I’ll say it again. It’s harder for Ronaldo than it is for Messi. Messi grew up in that team alongside his team-mates, who he plays with now.
Cristiano was in England and he was brought to Spain, to a team that were on a losing streak. He had to grow as a player in a team that was in a process of transition for two years.”
Different positions: “One of these players plays as a ‘number 9’ or a ‘nine and a half’and plays where he wants, with 50 metres squared to play with, and in this area the distance to goal is smaller and the defensive space is less intense. The other player plays on the flanks and is a winger. How is it possible that a winger can score as many goals as a striker?
Different treatment by referees: “Ronaldo is protected by nothing and no-one. His opponents see that he has the body of an animal and they give him a kicking, and they only get a yellow card if they give him a proper kicking. That’s not true for Messi. If you foul him you get booked straight away, and then can’t foul him again or you’ll be sent off!
The Ballon d’Or: “If they give it to the best player, they’ll give it to Cristiano or Messi or Messi. And my question is, if they are equal, then why does one player [Messi] have four and the other [Cristiano] just one?
It makes more sense for one player to have two and the other to have three. If Cristiano doesn’t win it this year, it’ll be because he doesn’t seem like a nice guy, because he doesn’t give off a good image of himself and because he doesn’t give interviews to apologise every time he argues with a team-mate on the pitch.”
Real Madrid: “I was only worried about us not playing as well as we did last year. Because it is only by playing like that that we’ll be able to go on a long run of victories. We’ve recovered our form, and there was no better place than the Camp Nou to show that we are back.”
Conflicts in the dressing room: “I don’t have a difficult dressing room, the most difficult part is controlling what they do off the pitch. I’m a 24 hour coach but I’m only with the players for three or four hours per day.”
Champions League: “The Champions League is not an obsession for Real Madrid this season. My personal ego has already been satisfied [by winning it with Porto and Inter]. I have more experience now and I’m more mature. I’m not trying to prove anything to other people anymore, now I want to prove something to myself.
Other people don’t put pressure on me, I put pleasure on myself.”
On his popularity: “Not everyone liked Jesus Christ, and even less people like me.”
