At the 2024 Global Football Awards ceremony, Cristiano Ronaldo was honored with the Best Middle East Player of the Year award and also received the Best Historical Goalscorer award. In an interview, Ronaldo discussed topics related to the Ballon d'Or, Manchester United, Manchester City, and once again brought up the comparison between the Saudi League and Ligue 1, which caused a stir. An official response! Ligue 1 announces a new decision, leaving Ronaldo embarrassed.
Ronaldo had previously stated that the Saudi league is better, and he reiterated his stance. Ronaldo said, "The Saudi league is undoubtedly stronger than Ligue 1; try sprinting in temperatures of 38, 39, or 40 degrees. Apart from Paris, the other teams in Ligue 1 are not good enough." Ronaldo's remarks upset many Ligue 1 fans, and now Ligue 1 has responded strongly to Ronaldo.
The official Spanish-language social media account of Ligue 1 reposted a previous dynamic responding to Ronaldo, which quoted Messi's previous comments. At that time, Messi said, "Ligue 1 places more emphasis on physical confrontation than La Liga; Ligue 1 teams have stronger physical endurance, the matches are more intense, and there is very limited space for players; Ligue 1 players are all very strong." Additionally, the media stated that this is the view of Ligue 1 players and referred to Messi as the greatest player in history and the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time).
Ligue 1 cited Messi's words; in Messi's opinion, Ligue 1 is better than La Liga in certain aspects. Compared to La Liga, Ligue 1 excels in some areas. Messi is Ronaldo's biggest career rival; Messi has won more honors than Ronaldo and holds a higher status in the football world. Ligue 1 takes pride in Messi's tenure in the league and uses his words to counter Ronaldo.
Furthermore, the media shared a photo of Messi caressing the World Cup trophy and wrote, "Messi played in 38-degree heat." It was accompanied by the Argentine flag and the goat emoji once again. This direct response from Ligue 1 indicates that they believe Messi led Argentina to win the World Cup in the high temperatures of Qatar, while Ronaldo lost his starting forward position for Portugal at that time, was replaced by Ramos, struggled to save the team as a substitute, and Portugal was eliminated by Morocco, ending their World Cup run in the quarter-finals.
Ligue 1 openly provokes Ronaldo, believing that Messi is the best player. Additionally, we can see that Ronaldo has been eliminated twice by Lyon in the Champions League (Real Madrid, Juventus). In this season's Champions League, Brest and Lille are currently in the top 8; Lille defeated Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, drew with Juventus, and Monaco beat Barcelona. Ronaldo's claim that the Saudi league is superior to Ligue 1 is not reasonable.