“We were contractually obliged to say the best was Cristiano Ronaldo” - When James Rodriguez claimed Real Madrid banned publicly admiring Lionel Messi
James Rodriguez once claimed that his former club Real Madrid contractually obliged its players to choose Cristiano Ronaldo over Lionel Messi as the best in history. The rivalry between Messi and Ronaldo was at its peak during their time in Spain for Barcelona and Real Madrid, respectively, until the Portuguese icon left in 2018.
James Rodriguez played alongside Ronaldo at the Bernabeu from 2014 to 2018, before leaving the club in 2020. He then had short stints at multiple clubs, including Everton, Olympiacos, and Sao Paulo.
Shortly after joining the Brazilian side Sao Paulo in 2023, the Colombian attacker had claimed in a press conference that he was forced to name Cristiano Ronaldo as the best in history over Lionel Messi due to contractual obligations from his former club. He said (via La Opinion):
"I have always thought that Messi is the best in history, but at Real Madrid we were contractually obliged to say that the best was Cristiano."
Rodriguez recently played against Lionel Messi in the 2024 Copa America final and won the Golden Ball award for being the best player in the tournament. La Albiceleste secured a 1-0 victory over Colombia as Lautaro Martinez scored the winner in extra time. However, Messi injured his ankle during the game and has been out of action since then.
After his campaign with Colombia in the Copa America, Rodriguez returned to Spain to join Rayo Vallecano this summer.
When Magnus Carlsen claimed Real Madrid asked him to name Cristiano Ronaldo as his favorite player despite preferring Lionel Messi
In an interview with YouTuber Lex Fridman in 2023, chess maestro Magnus Carlsen made similar claims to James Rodriguez, revealing that Real Madrid once asked him to name Cristiano Ronaldo as his favorite player.
Although Carlsen has always been a die-hard Madridista, he revealed that he felt Lionel Messi was better than Ronaldo. The chess legend said:
"I think it’s pretty hard to make a case for anybody else than (Lionel) Messi for his all-round game. My Real Madrid fandom sort of predates the Ronaldo era – the second Ronaldo, not the first one (Ronaldo Nazario). I always liked Ronaldo, but I always kind of thought that Messi was better."
Further, Carlsen recalled how he once named former Los Blancos star Isco as his favorite player, but was asked by Real Madrid to name Cristiano Ronaldo on camera. He continued:
"I went to quite a number of Madrid games, and they’ve always been super helpful to me down there. The only thing is that they were going to do an interview, and they were going to ask me who my favourite player was."
He added:
"I said somebody else. I think it was Isco at that point, and they were like, ‘Okay, take two, now you say Ronaldo.'So for them it was very important, but it wasn’t that huge to me."
Despite being in the twilight of their respective careers, both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo continue to remain at the top. Ronaldo recently hit another milestone in his career, crossing the 900 career goals mark, while Lionel Messi has been working on recovering from his injury to return to the pitch for Inter Miami ahead of the MLS playoffs.