Over the last couple of days, the future of Cristiano Ronaldo at Manchester United, with Paris Saint-Germain being one of the clubs linked to the 37-year-old. However, that rumor was quickly discarded.
Nonetheless, Tony Cascarino stated on talkSPORT that Paris Saint-Germain forward Lionel Messi could fuel Ronaldo’s potential exit from Old Trafford. The English pundit says the Portugal international wants to protect his UEFA Champions League goal record.
Ronaldo currently sits atop with 141 and Messi at 125. Nonetheless, Manchester United will not be playing in the competition next season, allowing Messi to have the opportunity to close the gap.
Cascarino adds that the Manchester United man wants to go down as the best goal scorer in Champions League history and doesn’t want to give Messi the chance to threaten his record next season.
“Ronaldo is a player, as always, that has an ego,” Cascarino said. “A lot of it is about him, but the teams he’s played in have been successful, so you always go with that as a team player. Great, he scores goals, he gets the accolades, he’s one of the greatest that’s ever played the game. You can have all that, and that’s fine, as long as you’re winning.”
“When you don’t win, now you’ve got a problem. I said to you off-air, I’m a bit suspicious because he’s got 141 goals in the Champions League. Messi has got 125. He doesn’t want to not play Champions League football because he wants to be the greatest Champions League goalscorer of all time, and that’s how Ronaldo is made.”
Messi is 16 goals behind, and the Argentine could close that should he has a good tournament and Ronaldo miss out on games next season should he choose to remain with The Red Devils.
