"Ball knowledge has improved" - Fans react as Cristiano Ronaldo picks Barcelona superstar as a potential future Ballon d'Or winner
Fans on the internet reacted after Cristiano Ronaldo named Barcelona superstar Lamine Yamal as a potential future Ballon d'Or winner. The 17-year-old made it to the 30-man shortlist for the coveted award for the first time this year after his stunning performance in Euro 2024.
Lamine Yamal was key to Spain's triumph in the 2024 Euros, scoring one goal and making four assists in the competition. The youngster was also one Barcelona's best players last season and has held on to his incredible form this season with one goal and four assists to his name so far.
In his latest interview with Rio Ferdinand on his YouTube channel, Cristiano Ronaldo named Yamal as one of the players who could win a Ballon d'Or in the future. He said:
"Kylian Mbappe can win the Ballon d’Or for the next few years, probably Haaland, Bellingham. Also Lamine Yamal.”
Fans were left delighted with Ronaldo's opinion, with many agreeing with his views. One X user wrote:
"His ball knowledge has improved."
"Ronaldo might know ball lately," a fan said.
"First time I agree with penaldo 😂🤝," another user added.
"finally a W sentence from ronaldo," an individual chimed in.
"Big win Ronaldo," an X user wrote.
Meanwhile, some fans wondered why Ronaldo did not mention the likes of Vinicius Jr and Alejandro Garnacho.
"At least he is spot on in this 😭," a user mentioned.
"First Messi now Ronaldo, everyone is recognizing lamine yamal's greatness," another fan said.
"Biggest Madrid legend doesn’t rate Vinicius?," an individual joked.
"garnacho must be feeling bad right now," an X user quipped.
When Cristiano Ronaldo reacted to posts questioning former Barcelona star Lionel Messi winning the Ballon d'Or
In the past, Cristiano Ronaldo has reacted to social media posts questioning Lionel Messi's Ballon d'Or wins, particularly in 2021 and 2023.
Messi won his record seventh Ballon d'Or award in 2021 after winning the 2021 Copa America with Argentina and the Copa Del Rey in his last season at Barcelona.
Shortly after the former Barcelona legend's win, Ronaldo commented on an Instagram post that questioned the Argentine's win, citing reasons like his apparent poor performance in recent years. Ronaldo appeared to agree with the post's views, and wrote:
"Factos (facts)."
Two years later, Lionel Messi won his eighth Ballon d'Or award in October 2023 after winning the 2022 FIFA World Cup with Argentina. Cristiano Ronaldo made his feelings clear about the former Barcelona star's win, as he liked and commented with four laughing emojis on a post questioning the Argentine's win. The post said (via Barca Universal):
"Hello friends. What we knew happened, they were going to give Messi another Ballon d'Or again. He went to retire in Miami, even though he already looked like he was retired at PSG preparing for the World Cup. He won the World Cup, yes, good, but with 6 penalties... The World Cup was 10 months ago, it's November. Messi has 8, he should have had 5. He has Iniesta/Xavi's award, Lewandowski's who won 6 trophies in one season and Haaland's who was the top scorer."
Cristiano Ronaldo reportedly later deleted the comment from the aforementioned post, which quoted the words of AS editor-in-chief Tomas Roncero.