How did Ronaldo and Messi react to the 2025 Ballon d'Or?

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi displayed distinct behaviors at the time of the 2025 Ballon d'Or award event.

The Ballon d'Or ceremony concluded perfectly when Ousmane Dembele was announced as the new winner of this prestigious award.

After the event ended, attention focused on the reactions of fans, experts, and football legends. Among them were Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, the two superstars who have won the most Ballon d'Or titles.

Regarding Messi, the Argentine superstar did not post any images or congratulations for the current Ballon d'Or winner. This was surprising because Dembele used to be Messi’s teammate at Barcelona, and they had a period of good on-field chemistry.

Meanwhile, Ronaldo only shared a photo from a padel event, a sport gaining popularity in Europe, on his personal Instagram. This indicates that the Portuguese star showed no interest in this year’s Ballon d'Or ceremony.

Previously, CR7 himself had stated that the Ballon d'Or and FIFA The Best awards were gradually "losing their value".

In a 2024 interview with Record, Ronaldo declared: "We have to evaluate players’ performances over the entire season. I’m not saying Messi doesn’t deserve the award, nor Erling Haaland or even Kylian Mbappe. I simply don’t believe in these awards anymore. The Ballon d'Or and The Best are losing credibility. The stats are what really matter."

In August this year, Ronaldo also stated "The Ballon d'Or is just a fiction", signaling his boycott of this prestigious individual award.

This year, neither Cristiano Ronaldo nor Lionel Messi appeared on the list of 30 Ballon d'Or candidates, marking the second consecutive season the duo was absent.

For the previous 20 years, at least one of them always featured. Messi still holds the record with 8 wins in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019, 2021, and 2023. Ronaldo follows closely with 5 titles in 2008, 2013, 2014, 2016, and 2017.

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