Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo reportedly attempted to leave the Premier League this past summer transfer window. However, the 37-year-old was unable to exit.
Furthermore, newly appointed manager Erik Ten Hag has shifted away from using the Portugal international. As Ronald struggles heading into the 2022 FIFA World Cup, his rival, Paris Saint-Germain forward Lionel Messi, is thriving.
After struggling in his first season in the French capital, Messi has found his scoring boots and has settled into the playmaker role on the team. With Messi in good form for club and country, Fox Sports soccer analyst Alexi Lalas believes the PSG star is hurting Ronaldo’s legacy.
“I stan for Ronaldo right in this evergreen back and forth between Messi and Ronaldo,” Lalas said on the recent episode of his “State of the Union Podcast.” “However, it gets a little bit more difficult, especially at the moment right now when people ask you that evergreen question and you come up with Ronaldo, especially relative to what Messi is doing with club and country right now.
“I think his legacy is being hurt right now. And everybody has a twilight of their career, and a lot of times it’s not playing, it’s not scoring, and you’re a shell of your former self. I get that. Very few actually go out on high, but Messi still hasn’t had that, and it remains to be seen whether he will ever have that.”
"Is this hurting his legacy, especially relative to Messi?" 👀@AlexiLalas and @StatManMosse debate whether PSG has uplifted Messi's legacy and if he has overtaken Ronaldo's legacy due to CR7’s recent struggles with Manchester United and Portugal ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/xJwHqJjn4i
— Alexi Lalas' State of the Union Podcast (@SOTUWithAlexi) October 4, 2022
