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Xavi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Samuel Eto’o are putting fanboys and internet trolls to shame with their ongoing war of words. It's all starting to sound eerily familiar to anyone who’s ever braved the comment section of any article concerning Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
Xavi triggered the argument a week ago by declaring that Messi “is without doubt the best in the world . . . Cristiano is an elite footballer, but he just has had bad luck to be around at the same time as Leo. The only people who draw comparisons with the two are in Madrid.”
Ronaldo did not take kindly to Xavi’s assessment, launching a stinging tirade against the former Barcelona midfielder.
“I’m the most searched player on the internet,” replied Ronaldo. “Anyone who wants free publicity or media attention talks about me. I couldn’t care less what Xavi says about me, he plays in Qatar or I don’t even know where.
“He’s won every collective trophy, including a World Cup and the European Championship, but he’s never won a Ballon d’Or.”
Ronaldo’s reply, frankly, was savage. The Catalan media were outraged by the dismantling of their “Puppet Master”, the man who’d won eight La Liga titles with Barca.
And so, at the height of all this unseemliness, Samuel Eto’o, the Cameroonian striker who spent five seasons with Barca, has now decided to lend his voice to this constructive conversation.
“A player can’t say because they have four or five [Ballons d’Or], they’re the best. If the Ballon d’Or was fair, Xavi would have won five or six,” said Eto’o. “He deserves all the respect in the world.”
“Xavi did not say what he said out of a lack of respect. Xavi is Xavi.”
Not satisfied with just defending Xavi, Eto’o went on to offer his opinion on who’s better because, well, everyone has to prefer one or the other, right?
“I’ll always go with Messi because of the things I’ve seen him do,” said Eto’o.
Fantastic. Anyone else care to continue the most incessant sporting feud of the last 10 years? Just when we thought it was safe, just when media outlets started peddling the idea that the two players are friends and have a massive amount of respect for each other, we get this.
Don't worry. This argument will probably only carry on for the rest of 2016.
Follow me on Twitter: @ConmanFleming
