Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo is still going strong with the interviews, despite his movie “Ronaldo” already being released last Monday.
This time, the 30-year-old goalscoring machine sat with Jonathan Ross of ITV in a candid television interview on the Jonathan Ross Show, discussing various topics from his professional career, his personal life, and media-generated rivalry with Lionel Messi.
The most interesting aspect of the interview, though, which will be aired on Saturday, was talk of the 2015 Ballon d’Or race.
The Portuguese ace had previously confessed that he believes himself to be the best in the world, and despite claiming to have had “the best season of my career”, Cristiano admits that he believes Messi will beat him to the ultimate prize.
When asked who he thinks will be named as the best player in the world come January of next year, Cristiano said:
“To be honest I think Messi is going to win this year because this kind of trophy, it depends on votes. You win competitions, you win Champions League you win the league in terms of individual. I did probably the best season of my career which is good and I was the highest scorer in Europe [but] it’s all about votes, it’s difficult and to be honest I’m not very worried about that because as I said many times, I never [thought I’d] win three times to be honest.”
The former Manchester United ace was also asked about his supposed rivalry with the Blaugrana number 10, but the Blancos record scorer insists that there is no ill-relationship between the two.
“I don’t have rivals, we have a normal relationship. We shared this stage at FIFA [for] eight years. No one has done that in the past - only us - so it’s good. I have a good relationship with him, he plays for one club, I play for another club. He won the best for him, I won the best for me. We have a good relationship, we are not home friends but we respect each other.”
Messi and Ronaldo have mutual respect for one another, claims the Portuguese ace
The three-time Ballon d'Or winner also opened up about the topic of his father, who died of alcoholism back in 2005, stating that he holds nothing but respect for him despite his lifestyle decisions.
“I’m not complaining. It’s the life. Of course as I say in my movie, I wish to have a better dad in that way [but] it is what it is. I have to respect the decisions he made, the decisions I made in my life and I’m happy because it [taught] me many things, him and my mum and my brothers and I’m a happy man, you know, I just have him in my mind all the time but it's good that life is like that. And we have to respect and when I speak about him I feel so proud because he [taught] me many things and it’s great. I’m not unhappy, I’m so happy.”
Cristiano with his mother and son at the premiere of his movie "Ronaldo"
Several players venture into the coaching world upon retirement, but Ronaldo insists that managing is not on his mind.
“No passions to be a coach, I want to carry on with my brands… I have many brands and I want that still, I want still to grow with my brands.”
