One of Lionel Messi's teammates has insisted that Cristiano Ronaldo stopped his compatriot from achieving a remarkable Ballon d'Or feat.
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Monday night proved an historic occasion for Messi as he extended his record of Ballon d'Or wins to eight, pipping 2022/23 treble winner Erling Haaland and 2022 FIFA World Cup final hat-trick goalscorer Kylian Mbappe to the award.
It seems it was ultimately the attacker's performances at the global showpiece in Qatar late last year that earned him the illustrious prize, but before the icon lifted the award, his international teammate Lautaro Martinez made a striking claim about his Albiceleste captain and his long-time rival Ronaldo.
Martinez, who finished in 20th place in the 2023 Ballon d'Or rankings, said the Portuguese legend essentially stopped Messi from possibly winning the award close to double the number of times he has already held the prize aloft.
"He [Messi] had to share this era with Cristiano Ronaldo, otherwise he would have won the Ballon d'Or 15 times," the Inter Milan captain told ESPN.
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With Ronaldo having won the honour five times, the pair have had a duopoly on it ever since Kaka won it in 2007, with only two other players who have won it in the next 16 years being Real Madrid star Luka Modric (2018) and Karim Benzema (2022), now of Al Ittihad.
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